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Society, coalition support new DOL overtime proposal
Written on May 24, 2019
OSCPA staff report
The Ohio Society of CPAs has signed a letter supporting a proposed U.S. Department of Labor overtime regulation that would result in the first increase to the salary level since 2004.
The DOL on March 7 released its new overtime proposal that would update the salary thresholds at which workers are entitled to overtime compensation from $455 per week (or $23,660 annually) to $679 per week (or $35,308 annually).
This week OSCPA joined other members of The Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity in signing a letter of support for the proposal.
In 2014 the Obama administration attempted to significantly raise the overtime threshold to $47,476 annually – a proposal opposed by the Society and the coalition, and one that was ultimately blocked by a federal court. The current proposal formally rescinds that rule, and it is not only more modest but calls for periodic review requiring notice-and-comment rulemaking to update the salary level, rather than the automatic adjustments included in Obama administration proposal.
The new regulation includes many recommendations the coalition made in 2014, including the salary threshold, future salary updates, no changes to the duties tests and an increase in the total annual compensation requirement for “highly compensated employees” from $100,000 to $147,414 per year.
The DOL said in the news release that the proposal does not change the overtime eligibility for a number of jobs, including “police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, nurses, and laborers including: non-management production-line employees and non-management employees in maintenance, construction and similar occupations such as carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, iron workers, craftsmen, operating engineers, longshoremen and construction workers.”
The new proposal is expected to be published late this month in the Federal Register. The DOL has invited interested parties to submit comments about the proposal for 60 days following the rule’s publication.