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Update On The New U.S. Overtime Rule

Global Matters advised you of the changes in the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime exemption rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in May 2016: Are Your U.S. Employees Exempt Under The New FLSA Rule? That Rule would have mandated a significant raise in wages for a projected 4 million U.S. workers. Shortly before its scheduled effective date of December 1, 2016, a federal judge blocked its implementation and the DOL has appealed that block. Thus the Rule’s future is currently up in the air and may be for some time. Because of this uncertainty, if you have already implemented the changes required by the Rule you should carefully consider whether to leave the changes in place. If you have not implemented the new Rule, you may at a minimum want to confirm that you are accurately tracking and recording overtime in the event the block of the Rule is lifted and compliance is required.

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Ally Law member Moye White has prepared a succinct primer of practical pointers for you to address wage and hour compliance issues to help avoid potentially significant liability for wage and hour violations. Among the suggestions, Moye White advises that you use this opportunity to review your compensation plans and carefully assess your exempt and non-exempt job classifications. This review should include an analysis of all your job descriptions to better align them with the needs of your business and to ensure they accurately reflect the primary duties of the each job. The labor, employment and benefits attorneys at your Ally Law member firm can advise you of the various tests used to determine whether each job is properly classified as exempt or nonexempt for purposes of overtime and other regulations related to either classification.

In addition to your federal FLSA compliance requirements, each state has laws and regulations that apply to your workforce, and several states made minimum wage changes in the last election. Wages and treatment of compensation are continually evolving areas of employment law on both the state and federal level and they must be appropriately tracked. Visit with your Ally Law member firm to assure the optimum structures for your company to comply with laws impacting your business. Investing resources is often much less costly than facing challenges for failing to implement and enforce governing laws. For more information about Ally Law member firm services and outstanding lawyers, contact us at team@ally-law.com.

Click here for the original article by Stephanie Loughner and Becky DeCook of Ally Law member Moye White, LLP.