DOL’s Latest Proposed Regulations Addressing the FLSA White Collar Exemption Salary Test Are Drawing Closer but May Be Delayed by the Shutdown
Posted on 01/17/2019 at 01:58 PM by Mike Staebell
According to several sources, including Bloomberg Law, the DOL has sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for pre-publication approval proposed regulations that would raise the minimum salary requirement for the FLSA White Collar Exemptions (aka the “Overtime Rule”)
If approved, these regulations would replace an Obama era DOL rule issued in 2016 that was never implemented, but would have increased the minimum salary level to qualify for the exemption as an executive, administrative or professional employee from $455 per week ($23,660/yr) to $913 per week ($47,476 yr). We have traced the tortured history of these regulations in three previous Wage and Hour Watch posts; you may read them here:
- DOL Requests Public Input on FLSA White Collar Overtime Exemptions
- The Tortured Path of the DOL white Collar OT Regulations
Upon OMB approval, which typically occurs within 90 days, the DOL will release the proposed rule for a public-comment period of 60 days. This aligns with the agency's regulatory agenda, which anticipated a release of the proposed rule in March 2019. However, the Office of the Federal Register is part of the partial government shutdown. It will only publish “documents directly related to the performance of governmental functions necessary to address imminent threat to the safety of human life or protection of property.” It is doubtful that the DOL proposed regulation meets this standard, so its publication may be delayed.
Details of the proposed rule have not been released, and the public will not see it until after OMB approves it for publication in the Federal Register. DOL is expected to set an annual minimum salary requirement in the $33,000 range, based on comments made by Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta at his confirmation hearing and after.
Stay tuned to Wage and Hour Watch for more information as it becomes available.
Categories: Wage & Hour Watch, Mike Staebell, Employment & Labor Law
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