Obama Administration Proposes New Overtime Rules

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage & Hour Division announced its long-awaited proposal to amend 29 CFR Part 541, the “white collar” exemption for executive, administrative, and professional employees. Somewhat surprisingly, the Division only made specific proposals with respect to the salary levels required for the exemption and the highly-compensated exemption. In 2016, which is when the salary increase would be expected, the standard salary is projected to be $970 per week or $50,440 per year, indexed to the 40th percentile of weekly earnings for full-time salaried workers; the highly-compensated employee standard would be set at $122,148, indexed to the annualized value of the 90th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers. Given the size of the increase, even California and New York employers will need to be more alert to federal wage and hour compliance. 

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