In its waning days, the Obama administration is close to striking a blow for workers’ rights that could have long-term implications for employers, particularly small businesses that historically have had less flexibility when meeting significant changes to the way workers are to be compensated.
In testimony before the House Small Business Committee recently, small business owners told committee members that the overtime rule changes proposed for the Fair Labor Standards Act would represent an extreme hardship for employers and might not have the effect on worker wages that the new rule intends to have.
The change to the exempt salary threshold is a major one. It would raise the exempt threshold from the current $23,660 to $47,476. The U.S. Department of Labor has estimated that the wages of 4.2 million workers would be increased because of the new rule.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
