The Department of Labor (DOL) recently published a new rule for overtime payments in the country. The finalized rule increases the threshold for overtime payment eligibility, and expands the benefits to more salaried employees. In addition, the new model will allow previously ineligible employees to re-check their eligibility criteria and become eligible for the overtime payments, if applicable.
According to the current threshold, employees with an annual pay of $23,660 are eligible for overtime payments. The new rule expands this threshold, providing benefits to employees with an annual salary of $47,476. Although DOL initially proposed a threshold of $50,440 annual pay, the finalized rule was set at $2,964 less. The revised rule, however, is expected to take effect by December 2016, and would be automatically updated every three years, starting December 1, 2020.
Employers with salaried staff, who are paid below the new threshold, would be legally obliged to pay “time and a half” overtime salary for each hour an employee works beyond the basic 40-hour standard. Experts say that the new rule will grant overtime payment benefits to around 4.2 million more salaried employees across the country.
The new rule by the Department of Labor will be applicable to all industries, including the healthcare sector. DOL representatives expect that the new regulations would directly affect around 200,000 healthcare staff, including nurses, medical technicians, and paramedics, as well as around 300,000 non-hospital health care employees, including medical coding and billing staffs.
Employers now have around 6 months to revise their salary models. DOL representatives also highlighted that the new rule does not make any changes to the duties and responsibilities of the executive, administrative, or professional staffs. The detailed overtime payment plan is available for public viewing on the DOL website.