The DOL’s last update to the overtime regulations was just three years ago - strongly suggesting there is no need for urgency in issuing more changes.
This week, NSBA joined more than 100 national-level advocacy organizations in signing on as supporters to a letter opposing anticipated overtime regulations. With the Department of Labor (DOL) expected to alter overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sometime this summer, the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity, NSBA, and the 100+ other organizations signed on to the letter are urging DOL’s Wage and Hour Division to abandon or at least postpone issuance of the anticipated rulemaking.
In Fall 2021, the DOL announced its plan to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to change overtime requirements and exemptions for certain categories of employees under the FLSA. Applicable to bona fide executives, administrative officials and other professional employees, the changes to these so-called “white collar” categories of employees would disrupt a vulnerable economy still recovering from the effects of COVID 19 and unprecedented supply chain disruptions spanning the pandemic.
NSBA has long believed that employers and employees are best served by a system promoting maximum flexibility in structuring employees’ hours, career advancement opportunities, and clarity for employers when it comes to their employees’ classifications, rather than be rushed into compliance for regulations that were just changed less than three years ago.
For some context, to comply with DOL’s expected new overtime regulations, employers will be obligated to monitor non-exempt employees’ worktime, but that may not be compatible with these new workforce dynamics. Consequently, changes to the white-collar exemptions may leave many workers unable to enjoy the part-time or remote work that many people have come to enjoy since COVID.
NSBA urges the DOL to abandon or postpone announcement of the NPRM until the current economic situation stabilizes and improves. This extra time will allow the American workforce, employer community, and DOL itself to more fully understand how the pandemic has shifted the paradigm of work in America.
Read the entire letter here, and follow NSBA as we continue advocating for commonsense policy to serve the small-business community.