New Overtime Rule Proposal Expected Soon
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A new overtime rule from the U.S. Department of Labor is likely to change some of the existing rule’s white-collar exemptions. NAM Vice President of Infrastructure, Innovation and Human Resources Policy Robyn Boerstling joined us to explain what’s happening.
The background: The overtime rule, part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, dictates that employees must receive overtime pay of at least time and a half for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. It contains exemptions for white-collar workers based on their salaries and duties. If an employee makes a minimum amount of money or is classified as an executive, administrator or professional, they are exempt from overtime pay.
- “The NAM has provided comments over the years to the Department of Labor and the Wage and Hour Division concerning the exemptions from Fair Labor Standards Act minimum wage and overtime requirements for certain executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees,” said NAM Vice President of Infrastructure, Innovation and Human Resources Policy Robyn Boerstling. “Manufacturing employees, on average, earn $92,832 in pay and benefits.”
The new action: A new overtime rule is expected soon, and employment law attorneys expect the U.S. Department of Labor to recommend higher salary thresholds for the rule’s white-collar exemptions.
What it means: A new overtime rule that raises salary thresholds for white-collar exemptions would make more employees eligible for overtime pay and potentially cause challenges for employers and even those employees who have worked to advance themselves away from hourly jobs and into salaried company positions. The current salary threshold is $35,568 per year.
Our take: Boerstling made the case directly to the Department of Labor during an April public listening session. “The NAM urges caution in any effort to expand overtime exemptions as manufacturers believe adjustments would be disruptive in a challenging economic and workforce environment,” she said.
- “The manufacturing workforce has tremendous autonomy and latitude in this labor market to address pay and compensation issues directly with their employers.”
Next steps: The NAM continues to work toward a regulatory solution but could have to take legal action to protect employers and manufacturers across the country. Check out the NAM Legal Center to learn how we are working to support our members nationwide.
The last word: “We think that any rulemaking that is being prepared for public release on overtime exemptions for certain white-collar workers should be paused and reconsidered until a later time when supply chain and inflationary challenges have subsided,” said Boerstling.
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Manufacturers Unveil Competitiveness Agenda Ahead of Midterm Elections
“Competing to Win” offers a path for bringing the country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose
Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the midterm elections, the National Association of Manufacturers released its policy roadmap, “Competing to Win,” a comprehensive blueprint featuring immediate solutions for bolstering manufacturers’ competitiveness. It is also a roadmap for policymakers on the laws and regulations needed to strengthen the manufacturing industry in the months and years ahead.
With the country facing rising prices, snarled supply chains and geopolitical turmoil, manufacturers are outlining an actionable competitiveness agenda that Americans across the political spectrum can support. “Competing to Win” includes the policies manufacturers in America will need in place to continue driving the country forward.
“‘Competing to Win’ offers a path for bringing our country together around policies, shared values and a unified purpose,” said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons. “The NAM is putting forward a plan filled with ideas that policymakers could pursue immediately, including solutions to urgent problems, such as energy security, immigration reform, supply chain disruptions, the ongoing workforce shortage and more. Manufacturers have shown incredible resilience through difficult times, employing more workers now than before the pandemic, but continued resilience is not guaranteed without the policies that are critical to the state of manufacturing in America.”
The NAM and its members will leverage “Competing to Win” to shape policy debates ahead of the midterm elections, in the remainder of the 117th Congress and at the start of the 118th Congress—including in direct engagement with lawmakers, for grassroots activity, across traditional and digital media and through events in key states and districts as we did following the initial rollout of the roadmap in 2016.
The document focuses on 12 areas of action, and all policies are rooted in the values that have made America exceptional and keep manufacturing strong: free enterprise, competitiveness, individual liberty and equal opportunity.
Learn more about how manufacturers are leading and about the industry’s competitiveness agenda at nam.org/competing-to-win.
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The National Association of Manufacturers is the largest manufacturing association in the United States, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Manufacturing employs more than 12.8 million men and women, contributes $2.77 trillion to the U.S. economy annually and accounts for 58% of private-sector research and development. The NAM is the powerful voice of the manufacturing community and the leading advocate for a policy agenda that helps manufacturers compete in the global economy and create jobs across the United States. For more information about the NAM or to follow us on Twitter and Facebook, please visit www.nam.org
