The
Obama administration has proposed dramatic rules changes under the Fair Labor
Standards Act for determining which employees must be paid time and a half for
working more than 40 hours per week. Current rules exempt white collar salaried
workers earning more than $35,000.00 per year from overtime requirements. The
proposed new rule would require time and a half pay past 40 hours per week to
white collar workers earning between $35,000.00 and $50,440.00 per year.
Businesses
responding to the proposal say it will not result in higher earnings for
current employees, rather it would cause hiring of part time workers without
benefits to perform the extra hours of work, eliminating overtime for current
staff. It remains to be seen what the final rule will look like after the
comment period expires.
