Fire Law Blog Fire Service and Public Safety Legal Issues Blog by Curt Varone
Twenty-one states are challenging new overtime rules that increase the minimum salary requirements for exempt “white collar” employees. The rules are set to increase the minimum salary that an employee who is exempt from receiving overtime must be paid from $455 per week to $913 per week.
The US Department of Labor has been developing the regulations to correct abuses that allow poverty level salaries to be paid to supervisory employees. The regulations apply to those who are currently classified as executive, administrative, and professional white collar employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and go into effect December 1, 2016.
The 21 states are Kentucky, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. They claim as applied to state and local governments the regulations violate the 10th Amendment and constitute an unfunded federal mandate.
UPDATE: 11/22/16 – US District Court in Nevada issued a Preliminary Injunction against enforcement of the new White Collar Exemption regulations. Here is the ruling: nevada-v-dol-injunction-2016-11-22
