It’s Here! DOL Notice of Overtime Rule Proposal Officially Released

The Department of Labor on Thursday, March 7 answered over a year of conjecture by employers by releasing its Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for the Overtime Rule, which proposes to increase the salary threshold from the current $455 per week ($23,660 per year) to $679 per week ($35,308 per year). The Department used the same formula from the last adjustment in 2004 and proposes no changes to current duties tests. ANCOR will officially respond to the NPRM and create a tool for our members to directly submit their comments. Public comment is now open for the proposed rule and the Department is estimating that a final rule will be implemented by January 2020.

As part of our advocacy efforts on this regulation, on February 27 ANCOR met with Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and DOL staff to request that the Administration take into consideration the unique nature of supports for people with intellectual / developmental disabilities. This is due to I/DD providers’ reliance on Medicaid funding, and the destabilizing effect the direct support professional workforce crisis is having on supports. Given the limitations set on providers by Medicaid funding, ANCOR also discussed the need for cooperation between DOL and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees Medicaid. In 2017, ANCOR had also responded to the 2017 Request for Information (RFI) and a Washington, D.C. based listening session mentioned in Thursday’s Wage and Hour Division announcement of the NPRM.

As written by Wage and Hour:

“Under currently enforced law, employees with a salary below $455 per week ($23,660 annually) must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week.  Workers making at least this salary level may be eligible for overtime based on their job duties.  This salary level was set in 2004. 

This new proposal would update the salary threshold using current wage data, projected to January 1, 2020.  The result would boost the standard salary level from $455 to $679 per week (equivalent to $35,308 per year). 

The Department is also asking for public comment on the NPRM’s language for periodic review to update the salary threshold. An update would continue to require notice-and-comment rulemaking.

In developing the proposal, the Department received extensive public input from six in-person listening sessions held around the nation and more than 200,000 comments as part of a 2017 Request for Information (RFI).”