Wednesday, March 16, 2016

SWEEPING DOL OVERTIME EXEMPTION CHANGES ARE COMING SOONER THAN ANTICIPATED



Sean Darke, Attorney
Sean Darke
James Sherma

By: James B. Sherman, Esq. and Sean F. Darke, Esq.
Yesterday, the U. S. Department of Labor delivered to the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) its final rule on the minimum salary level for exempt status from the FLSA's overtime pay requirement. The DOL sparked national controversy last summer when it issued its proposed new rule to more than double the minimum salary to qualify for the FLSA's white collar overtime exemptions.  It has been estimated that by raising the minimum salary from $23,660, to an estimated annual salary of $50,440, between 5 and 6 million American workers could be reclassified from exempt, to nonexempt status.  Review by the OMB is the final step before the final rule is made official.  Typically, this takes no more than one or two months and some are saying the White House will act even sooner. As a result, previous predictions by business groups and advisors stating that the DOL's final rule would issue in July, may be off by several months.  With the final rule now coming as early as April, 2016, any employer with employees who may be reclassified from exempt to nonexempt (and thus entitled to overtime pay) must prepare immediately for these sweeping changes, if they have not already done so.

To assess what impact the DOL's new overtime regulations could soon have on your organization and/or to develop strategies and solutions to mitigate their impact to your bottom line, contact our Wessels Sherman Wage and Hour litigation team members:

Chicago, IL: Sean Darke at (312) 629-9300 orsedarke@wesselssherman.com
Minneapolis, MN: James Sherman at (952) 746-1700 orjasherman@wesselssherman.com
St. Charles, IL:  Jennifer Murphy at (630) 377-1554 orjemurphy@wesselssherman.com
Davenport, IL:  Joseph Laverty at (563) 333-9102 orjolaverty@wesselssherman.com
Milwaukee, WI: Alan Seneczko at (262) 560-9696 oralseneczko@wesselssherman.com

***Watch for our webinar on the final rule once it is made official!!!***