Update on the DOL Overtime Rule

3/15/2016 SHRM Legislative Conference Update -- - - -The final overtime rule is edging closer to release: yesterday, the Department of Labor (DOL) sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) its proposed changes on determining which workers should be eligible for overtime pay.

After a review period—which could take as long as several months or as short as a few weeks—the final rule will be published in the Federal Register and take effect within 60 days of publication.

At the SHRM Employment Law & Legislative Conference yesterday, Tammy McCutchen, an attorney with Littler in Washington, D.C., and a former administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, advised attendees to keep an eye on reginfo.gov, which tracks government agencies’ regulatory actions as they are submitted for review to OMB. Sure enough, the rule appeared on the site late March 14.

At the conference, McCutchen told attendees she believed the rule would work its way quickly through OMB and most likely be published by July 7, and take effect on Labor Day, Sept. 5. Alternatively, she said, the rule would be published the Friday before Labor Day, Sept. 2, to take effect Nov. 1—just prior to Election Day.

The Obama administration must work quickly to implement the rule to protect it from being overridden, if a Republican wins the White House. Under the Congressional Review Act, a joint resolution from both houses of Congress and the President can undo laws and rules passed during the final six months of the previous administration. The act has been invoked only once before—to revoke the ergonomics rule.

McCutchen urged attendees to prepare now for the rule’s implementation. More employees will be considered eligible for overtime as the salary level rises.