On March 7, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposed rule that would make more than a million American workers potentially eligible for overtime. This eligibility would come about by changing the threshold for salaries that triggers the exemption from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The Obama Administration issued new regulations about overtime that were to take effect on December 1, 2016. Just before they were to take effect, a U.S. district court in Texas enjoined the regulations. So since about December 1, 2016, employers have been in legal limbo about what’s going to happen.

Yesterday, Alabama joined 20 other states in filing suit against the federal government for promulgating new overtime regulations, which are set to go into effect later this year.

On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Labor Department (DOL) issued its new overtime rules. These new rules primarily address the trigger amount for exempting executive, administrative, professional, and computer employees from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These exemptions are frequently referred to as EAP exemptions or white-collar exemptions.

On July 6, 2015, the Federal Register published extremely significant proposed changes to the rules governing overtime under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This is the first step in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) changing the rules and is primarily directed toward decreasing the number of executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees who are exempt from the requirement that employers pay them time-and-a-half (1.5 times) their hourly rate for any time worked over 40 hours during a 7-day period. Put another way, this proposed change is likely to increase the number of people who get paid overtime by raising the threshold “salary basis” for those in traditionally white-collar positions.