The Overtime Rule

On May 18, the U.S. Department of Labor announced an updated regulation that increases the minimum salary for paid overtime from $455 to $913 per week. Salaried workers were previously only entitled to paid overtime if they made less than $23,660 annually. Now, employees who earn yearly salaries of $47,476 or less will be entitled to paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours a week. There is a range of ways for employers to accommodate the new regulations. They are able to raise employee salaries to release them from overtime qualification, pay the authorized time-and-a-half overtime for employees who do work more, or monitor employees to make sure they aren’t working overtime. The effective date of the final rule is Dec. 1.