AASA Files Comments in Response to Dept of Labor Proposed Changes to Overtime

AASA joined Association of Educational Service Agencies and Association of School Business Officials International in a joint letter responding to Department of Labor’s proposed changes to the overtime rules. 

Background: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) requires employers to pay their employees at least a minimum hourly wage, which is set by the statute, and an “overtime” rate of 1.5 times the employee’s regular hourly wage for every hour the employee works over 40 hours in a given week. The statute exempts certain categories of employees from these requirements, including executive, administrative and professional employees (sometimes referred to the “EAP” or “white collar” exemption). The FLSA tasks DOL with defining executive, administrative and professional employees by regulation and requires the department to revisit these definitions from “time to time.” Under the regulations, an individual must satisfy three criteria to qualify as a white-collar employee exempt from federal overtime pay requirements: first, they must be paid on a salaried basis (the salary basis test); second, that salary must meet a minimum set by DOL (the minimum salary requirement or salary threshold); and third, their “primary duties” must be consistent with executive, professional, or administrative positions as defined by DOL (the duties test). Employees who do not meet all three requirements or fail to qualify for another exemption must be treated as “hourly” or “nonexempt” employees and must be paid for each hour worked and, for all hours worked over 40 in a given workweek, at a rate of one and a half times employee’s normal hourly pay (this premium pay rate is known as “overtime pay”). To ensure employees are paid for all hours worked and at the proper rate for overtime, employers must carefully track the hours nonexempt employees work.