Resources to Help You Prepare for the New FLSA Overtime Regulations

It's been only a week, and there are already many, many resources on how to navigate the changes to FLSA Overtime regulations. Since the update's release on May 18, opinions from every corner of employment have made their voice heard.

How do you make sense of it all? For starters, the US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division has published a thorough summary of the new regulations, including this excerpt of the final Rule's key provisions:

The Final Rule focuses primarily on updating the salary and compensation levels needed for Executive, Administrative and Professional workers to be exempt. Specifically, the Final Rule:

• Sets the standard salary level at the 40th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region, currently the South ($913 per week; $47,476 annually for a full-year worker)
• Sets the total annual compensation requirement for highly compensated employees (HCE) subject to a minimal duties test to the annual equivalent of the 90th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally ($134,004);
• Establishes a mechanism for automatically updating the salary and compensation levels every three years to maintain the levels at the above percentiles and to ensure that they continue to provide useful and effective tests for exemption.

Additionally, the Final Rule amends the salary basis test to allow employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) to satisfy up to 10 percent of the new standard salary level.

-DOL Wage and Hour Division

Another great resource for this (and all other things HR), SHRM has compiled an in-depth profile on the new Rule, how it might affect you and your organization, and steps that SHRM is taking in the weeks and months to follow. Here's a few quick links to get you started!