Under both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other federal laws applicable to public works projects, employers must pay overtime to employees who work in excess of 40 hours per week. However, the law exempts certain kinds of jobs from overtime requirements if they meet specific criteria in the law and in U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations. The FLSA exempts broad categories of “white-collar” jobs from minimum wage and overtime requirements if they meet certain tests regarding job duties and responsibilities and are paid a certain minimum salary. These categories of employees are commonly known as “exempt” employees and include executive, administrative, and professional employees. The FLSA also provides exemptions for outside sales personnel, certain specialized computer personnel, certain highly compensated employees (HCEs), certain retail sales employees, and employees covered by the Motor Carrier Act (MCA).
DOL’s proposed overtime rule. The DOL’s proposed overtime rule increases the current minimum salary threshold for overtime exemption. Under the proposed rule, employees would have to earn at least $679 per week ($35,308 per year) in order to be exempt from overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek. This is an increase from the current $455-per-week threshold ($23,660 per year). The proposed rule also increases the total annual compensation requirement for “highly compensated employees” (HCEs) from the currently enforced level of $100,000 to $147,414 per year. The DOL’s proposed rule makes no changes to the duties tests required to determine overtime eligibility. Under the proposed rule, employers may use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive ...
