Ever since the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a new rule on overtime pay last year, business groups and employer advocates have raised a number of objections.
The proposed rule, which is expected to soon be put in place, will raise the minimum salary at which a worker is no longer required by law to be paid overtime, from $23,660 to $47,000. That is lower than the $50,440 initially proposed, but it is nonetheless a drastic change.
Last year, for instance, the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) presented concerns of nonprofit groups that claimed the rule would disproportionately impact charitable organizations whose employees often make between the current threshold and the proposed one. It also predicted employers would respond by cutting hours at all types of organizations.
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The newest argument against the policy highlighted by SHRM is that increasing the number of workers who are owed overtime pay for work that exceeds 40 hours a week could force businesses to abandon telecommuting.
Essentially, SHRM reasons that the new rule will require employers to keep a closer watch on salaried employees who would otherwise be given broad scheduling discretion.
"Of particular concern for employers is the risk that employees will underreport hours worked and then later present claims for alleged off-the-clock work, likely at overtime rates," Paul DeCamp, an attorney with Jackson Lewis in Reston, Va., in an SHRM article on the subject.
Employers may risk depressing workplace morale if they allow employees to telecommute based on whether they are above the threshold or not.
But Denise Drake, an attorney with Polsinelli in Kansas City, Missouri, suggested that employers will not need to radically alter their work schedules to accommodate the rule change.
"The change from exempt to nonexempt does not require that an employer change its telecommuting arrangements," she said. "It does require a change in the employer's policies, expectations and monitoring of the employee's work."
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