The Department of Labor has a new overtime rule that takes effect Dec 1, 2016. To summarize, if an employee is being classified as an exempt employee (and not currently being paid for any overtime), then their salary must be at least $913 per week, which equates to $47,476 for a full-year worker. Anyone on salary for less than $47,476 must be paid time and a half for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.
Employers that have staff who are affected by these rules as of Dec. 1, 2016 have the following three options:
- Increase the worker’s annual salary to at least $47,476,
- Switch the affected employees to an hourly rate and pay them overtime after 40 hours per week,
- Or, limit the work hours to no more than 40 per week.
The US Department of Labor projects that this change will increase the wages for more than 4.2 million US workers (including 84,000 MA workers) by either a salary raise or overtime when they work more than 40 hours.
Here are a few links from the DOL pertaining to these new rules: