Some numbers just stick in your head, like phone numbers, well not so much since the advent of cell phones. If I ever got thrown in jail, I’d stay there for a long time because I haven’t memorized a phone number since 2001. Ok, how about pi? We all had to know that mathematical constant to calculate a circle’s circumference in geometry class, but I’m not sure I could make it much past reciting that out to the hundredth decimal place.
Alright, those are bad examples, but everyone has to know the threshold that makes most salary workers exempt from overtime pay, right? I mean that number could affect your paycheck, so you knew that as a white-collar worker making less than $23,660 a year you were entitled to overtime pay, right? Well if you could rattle that number off before, get prepared to replace that tidbit of knowledge with a new number. Starting December 1, 2016, that threshold increases to an annual salary of $47,476. Lots of different figures were tossed around before they settled on the figure in the Final Rule that replaces the old threshold from 2004, and it was about time for this update. The Final Rule also has a mechanism built-in whereby that threshold will be updated every three years, rather than letting the limit sit stagnate. This revision does not change the fact that hourly workers were and are still entitled to be paid time and a half when they work over 40 hours in a week.
So what are employers going to do with themselves to deal with this change? They can do the Oprah, “and you get a raise….and you get a raise…and you get a raise!” to get salaries above the new threshold. Or salaried workers can use timesheets to help track hours to ensure employers are paying overtime when appropriate. If you are interested in learning more the changes, you can read the DOL’s press release or sign up for one of their informational webinars taking place between May 26 and June 8.