President Obama will order the Department of Labor (DOL) to roughly double the threshold for exempt employee status from $455 to $984 a week — from $24,000 to $50,000 a year in salary — to qualify more American workers for overtime, the Wall Street Journal is reporting today.
Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute, and Jared Bernstein, a former White House economist, recently proposed that the limit be increased,.
"That would mean between five- and 10-million people could be affected, but they might choose a lower number," Mr. Eisenbrey told the Journal about the White House plans.
The new rule would hike the threshold set in 2004 for qualifying employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for exempt (salaried) status, precluding them from receiving overtime pay.
Later in the day, the New York Times reported:
On Thursday, the president will direct the Labor Department to revamp its regulations to require overtime pay for several million additional fast-food managers, loan officers, computer technicians and others whom many businesses currently classify as 'executive or professional' employees to avoid paying them overtime, according to White House officials briefed on the announcement.