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Expecting Overtime Pay in 2016? Not so fast.

On Behalf of | Feb 19, 2016 | Employment Law

In March 2014, President Obama decided to address wage stagnation with an executive order that would update which white-collar workers qualify for overtime pay. The changes broadened the definitions of exempt and nonexempt employees to include more of the American workforce.

Those changes were supposed to take effect January 1, 2016, but now they won’t.

Although the orders to begin the review of overtime pay regulations were issued in March 2014, it was July 2015 before such a recommendation was finally issued from the Department of Labor. The DOL’s proposed changes would raise the threshold for exempt workers to $50,440, and the threshold for highly compensated employees to $122,148. The new rules also include automatic annual increases for the thresholds in the future.

After these new rules came out, the DOL was flooded with nearly 300,000 comments on the rule change. Because of the large volume of comments and the complex nature of the issue, the DOL elected to delay the implementation so they could sort through it all. Of course, there may be a chance that they are waiting until after the election to change things, since a mid-2016 rule change wouldn’t go into effect until 2017.

What does this mean for employees? Keep an eye on this development and keep in touch with your HR department on how they plan to notify employees who will be affected by the change. If your salary does go up when the new rules go into effect, you may need to adjust withholding or 401k benefit allocation to keep from owing additional taxes on your new income.

If you have been the target of workplace harassment, discrimination or unfair termination, please call us to talk about your case. Bouchillon, Crossan & Colburn, L.C. represents clients in federal court and before the EEOC, MSPB and in state and union grievance hearings.

Our attorneys have more than 40 years dedicated to giving clients the attention, advice, support and empowerment they need to effectively meet their goals. We are committed to the principle that all persons shall have equal justice under the law. Call Bouchillon, Crossan & Colburn, L.C. at 304-523-8451 or contact us online to schedule an appointment.

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