LANSING – The US Department of Labor is working toward rescinding its judicially enjoined overtime rules. These rules were published during the Obama Administration and dramatically increased the exemption salary level test from $433/week up to $913/week. It was intended to reduce the number of jobs that could be classified non-exempt by employers.
The salary level test is one of three tests a job must meet in order to be classified “bona fide executive, administrative, or professional” and exempt from the DOL minimum wage, overtime, and some record keeping requirements. The other two tests are the salary basis test and the job duties and responsibilities test.
The new salary level test was scheduled to be finalized last December 1st (2016), but a federal district court in Texas blocked the final rule based upon its determination the DOL was overstepping its powers. The regulatory power to control what positions are exempt and non-exempt by simply moving the salary level test did not sit well with the Court, and its decision noted that the US Supreme Court had found the law “intended the EAP (Executive, Administrative, and Professional) exemption to depend on an employee’s duties rather than an employee’s salary” Therefore the District Court in Texas found that by raising the salary level to the extent that it supplanted the duties tests, the DOL had exceeded its authority and ignored Congress’s intent.
To read the rest of this column, click on https://www.sbam.org/Resources/tabid/97/ArtMID/2980/ArticleID/2883/US-DOL-walks-a-fine-line-as-it-walks-back-overtime-rules.aspx
