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Are the changes to the overtime rules going to take effect or not? Ever since a federal court issued an injunction in late 2016 stopping major changes to the federal overtime rules, employers have anxiously been waiting for an answer to that question. Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) turned the tables, and asked employers and others whether the overtime rules should change and, if so, how they should change. More specifically, the DOL published a formal Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register on July 26 acknowledging concerns about the previously proposed changes and asking the public for its help in formulating a new proposal.
The DOL’s RFI poses eleven specific questions and asks interested individuals and organizations to provide written answers to those questions within 60 days. The questions suggest that the DOL may be open to considering increasing the minimum salary level for exempt employees, but perhaps not increasing it as much as the DOL had proposed in 2016. The questions also suggest the DOL may revisit the idea of automatic increases to the minimum salary level and may explore other overtime rule changes.
Many commenters view the DOL’s action as a positive sign for employers, especially given certain business-friendly comments made by Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta during his March 2017 confirmation hearing. At the very least, this is the first step in a process that will hopefully result in more balanced and reasonable changes to the overtime rules. We will certainly continue to monitor the issue.