A Texas federal court has struck down the Obama-era Department of Labor (DOL) revised overtime exemption rule, which sought to more than double the salary level required for overtime-exempt workers.

The Current Test for Overtime-Exempt Status: In order to be exempt from overtime, a white-collar employee must meet three tests: (1) the salary basis test – the employee must be paid on a salary basis, not subject to reductions for fluctuations in quantity or quality of work; (2) the salary level test – the employee’s salary must currently be at least $455 per week (equaling $23,660 per year); and (3) a duties test – the employee must perform certain duties specific to the executive, administrative or professional exemption in question. There is also a highly-compensated employee exemption under which an employee must currently make at least $100,000 per year and perform at least one exempt duty.
Continue Reading DOL Overtime Rule Struck Down

dollar_sign_imageOn May 17, 2016, the Department of Labor announced the release of its long-awaited revisions to its overtime exemption rule. The new rule doubles the salary requirement for white collar (executive, administrative and professional) employees from $23,660 per year ($455 per week) to $47,476 per year ($913 per week).  The required minimum salary for the highly compensated employees’ exemption also has been raised from $100,000 to $134,004. These salary levels will be subject to automatic adjustments every three years. The new rule does not change the duties test for any of the exemptions. It will take effect on December 1, 2016. Our firm will be holding a complimentary webinar on Wednesday, May 25 to discuss the changes and offer practical suggestions on how to comply with the new rules.
Continue Reading NEW OVERTIME RULE

As the Wall Street Journal reported this week, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) highly anticipated rules regarding employees’ eligibility for overtime are not likely to be finalized until sometime in mid to late 2016. This timeline, which is later than the Spring-time anticipated date, was acknowledged by the Department of Labor (DOL) Solicitor, Patricia Smith, during the American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Section Conference two weeks ago. I attended the panel at which Solicitor Smith spoke, and counsel for both management and employees were surprised by this revelation.

portraitAs my firm previously reported, in June 2015, the DOL proposed revisions to the overtime rules. The proposed rules significantly increased the required salary for employees to qualify as exempt. The current salary threshold is $23,660. The proposed rules more than double it to $50,400! Clearly, this is a significant increase and would make many more employees eligible for overtime pay.

Solicitor Smith said the reason for the delay in the issuance of the final rules is the significant number of comments that were received by the DOL, which are in excess of 200,000!  This is three times more than the number of comments received by the DOL when it revised the regulations back in 2004.Continue Reading From the DOL Solicitor’s Mouth to Our Ears: Update on DOL’s Overtime Rules