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New overtime regulations
April 20, 2004
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today released its long-
awaited final regulations on the "white-collar" exemptions to
federal overtime pay requirements. Although national news reports
have concentrated on the concessions that the administration made
in allowing white-collar workers who earned up to $100,000 to be
eligible for overtime pay, the regulations still represent a
victory for employers, who have wanted certainty and security
in coping with the complex and confusing overtime law.
Employers will be scrambling to come into compliance with the
requirements of the new regulations, which become effective in
120 days.
Among other things, the final regulations:
- clarify and simplify the old long and short tests for determining whether an employee meets a white-collar exemption;
- raise the minimum salary requirement for exempt employees
from as little as $8,060 per year, or $155 per week, to
$23,660, or about $455 per week;
- allow employers to deny overtime to "highly compensated"
employees who make at least $100,000 per year and have
minimal exempt duties or responsibilities;
- allow employers to suspend an exempt employee for misconduct
in one-day increments;
- provide a new "safe harbor" making it easier for employers to
fix improper deductions from an exempt employee's pay; and
- loosen the educational requirements for employees to be
classified as exempt professionals.
The new regulations cover a host of other overtime issues,
including stronger overtime protections for blue-collar workers,
police and fire officers, emergency medical technicians and
paramedics, and licensed practical nurses. The regs will be
explored in depth in future issues of TN Attorneys Memo.
Copyright © 2004 M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC.
Additional Resources
Full text of regulations
Subscribers Area of HRhero.com
If you subscribe to one of our Employment Law Letters, you can find the full text of the new regulations plus links to DOL Fact Sheets in the Subscribers Area.
Audio Conference
Mastering the DOL's New Overtime Pay Regulations
This HR Hero Audio Conference will feature two Washington, D.C. attorneys to explain what the new regulations mean, and you can listen by phone from the convenience of your office.
In-depth report
Overtime Revisited: The DOL's Final Regulations
Now that the DOL has released the final version of its overtime regulations, we'll quickly publish this in-depth analysis of what the new regulations mean to you. This will be one of the first detailed examinations of the new regulations from an employer's point of view.
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