DOL Revives Obama Administration’s Overtime Pay Expansion with Revisions

In March, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a proposal to extend mandatory overtime pay to 1.3 million more workers after Obama administration rule that would have extended pay for 4 million workers was struck down by a federal judge.

The current rule states that workers who earn less than $23,660 a year (a threshold set in 2004) are eligible for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. In May 2016, the Labor Department under Pres. Obama doubled that maximum salary to about $47,000. However, in late Nov. 2016, just before the rule was set to take effect, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the increase was too high and would have included employees in management, supervisory, and other high responsibility roles that have been exempted from overtime pay rules.

Instead of appealing the ruling, Pres. Trump’s Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta introduced a new proposal that raises the maximum salary to $35,308, splitting the difference between the current threshold and the doubled maximum from Obama’s rule.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said in a statement that the proposal would “bring common sense, consistency, and higher wages to working Americans.”

The public may submit comments to the DOL through May 28, 2019 regarding the proposed regulations and whether the exemption ceiling should be indexed to inflation.