Businesses and nonprofit organizations have been readying themselves to comply with the new regulations on Overtime; i.e. which employees must be paid at time-and-a half for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Alexandria SBDC HR Consultant Patricia Frame of Strategies for Human Resources presented a webinar on the subject, which can be seen in its entirety here. In addition, there are annotated slides which set forth the particulars of the new rules available.We urge all small businesses and nonprofit organizations to review both the PowerPoint and the Webinar to make sure that they are in compliance. We recently asked Patricia Frame a few basic questions that employers have about the new laws:
Q: Am I covered by the rule change?
A: The simple answer is that if your organization brings in at least $500,000 in gross receipts, contributions, etc., or if you are engaged in Interstate Commerce (any business or communication across state lines – Virginia to DC or Maryland, for example), you are covered and need to comply with the law. Some special exceptions (for some charities) to this general statement are included in the PowerPoint and the Webinar.
Q: Everyone in my organization makes over $47,474 annual salary, so I can ignore this rule change, right?
A: Wrong. Exempt status is tied to the duties of the job, not just salary or job title. Again, see the resources linked above for a complete explanation. In addition, full details are available from the Department of labor E-Laws at www.dol.gov/elaws.
Q: I hear that there are some lawsuits that have been filed and pending bills in Congress. Can I ignore this until they are settled?
A: While there are challenges, it is unlikely that these will delay implementation of this new rule, and you should be prepared for it when it goes into effect on December 1, 2016.
Webinar: https://alexandriasbdc.org/interactive_resource/understanding-new-overtime-rules-webinar/
Annotated Slides: https://alexandriasbdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/OvertimePresentation624.pdf