Public commentary on the proposed new overtime rule closed the Friday before Labor Day, but not before some 25,000 comments were received by the Department of Labor (DOL).
The rule would raise the minimum salary necessary to be exempt from being paid overtime on an hourly basis from $455 a week to $970 a week, or from $23,660 a year to $50,440 annually. In addition, it would raise the raise the salary threshold for highly compensated employees (HCEs) from $100,000 annually to $122,148 a year.
Salary thresholds are one standard for an employee to be considered exempt from overtime. There are also what are called duties tests to determine eligibility for all workers except HCEs.
The rule also calls for adjusting the thresholds annually based on the rate of inflation.
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