Effectively, this would mean that employers likely would no longer be able to challenge unfair actions by unions during the course of union representation elections. A bipartisan group of senators introduced the Faster Labor Contracts Act on March 4, 2025. It would further require the union and employer to agree to a collective bargaining agreement within 90 days of beginning bargaining, and in the absence of agreement either side would have the right to request mediation. If mediation fails within 30 days, the dispute would then be referred for binding arbitration to secure an initial collective bargaining agreement. It is certain that if this amendment to the NLRA becomes law, employers, and their employees whom unions purport to represent, would be affected. The stage has been set for just such organizing, with recent effective uses of the strike weapon.
DOL’s Proposed Rule to Update the Minimum Salary Threshold for Overtime Exemptions
- Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, and Sen. Tracie Davis, D-Jacksonville, both spoke out against the bill during the meeting, according to CBS News.
- The FLSA generally requires covered employers to pay employees minimum wage and overtime when an employee works more than 40 hours in a workweek.
- However, in Table 6b, a household aged 30 in the bottom 20th percentile of income loses the equivalent of $16,400, as shown by the negative value.
- Interested parties, including workers groups, unions, and employers, will have 45 days to submit public comments on the proposed rule.
The revenue estimates in the main body of this brief are based on the most straightforward interpretation of the Trump administration’s statements about its tax proposals, which at this moment lack precision and are open to alternative interpretations. This appendix analyzes a set of alternative versions of the tax changes outlined in the main body of this brief that are scaled back to be more limited (less costly). Table A1 shows the potential savings from adopting these more limited alternative policy designs, relative to the estimates in Table 2a.
Below, we describe the components and relevant parameters for each proposal, including key assumptions made where insufficient information was available from the administration or various House committees. Unlike their counterparts in the private sector, they are prohibited by law from bargaining over wages, benefits, or job classifications and are barred from striking. Their collective bargaining rights are restricted solely to matters related to working conditions. Notably, approximately one-third of unionized federal employees are U.S. military veterans.
28/23: The U.S. Department of Labor Announces Proposed Changes to the FLSA
Interested parties, including workers groups, unions, and employers, will have 45 days to submit public comments on the proposed rule. After the comment period closes, the DOL has to decide whether to move forward with a final rule. If it does, it is believed that the final rule would issue sometime in the second half of 2023, or perhaps in early 2024. The first part of the increase scheduled for July 1 follows the process for wage-threshold increases established in the 2019 rule, Jessica Looman, administrator of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, said during a press call Tuesday.
DOL notes restrictions on running FMLA, state and local leave concurrently
The legislation would reverse the Executive Order titled “Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs” which aimed to eliminate collective bargaining rights across multiple federal agencies. Specifically, the order targeted employees in the Departments of Defense, State, Veterans Affairs, Justice, and Energy, as well as certain employees in the Departments of Homeland Security, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Interior, and Agriculture. In total, the order impacted roughly 67% of the federal workforce, according to independent reports. The McDonald Hopkins Labor and Employment law team will continue to provide insights on the proposed salary level rule and steps employers can take to prepare.
- Currently, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) is currently proposing yet another set of revisions to the overtime rules—this time with particular respect to the exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional (EAP), Outside Sales, and Computer Employees.
- Some of the most common exemptions are called “white collar exemptions” and they cover certain executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and certain computer-related employees.
- The DOL’s proposed rule also includes automatic increases of the salary level threshold every three years.
- There are certain exemptions from the overtime pay rate requirement, one of which is for bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees.
- Some of the proposed regulations mentioned above could turn into final rules, causing significant changes in employment law.
New Technology: The Projected Total Economic Impact™ of Paycom’s Time-Off Requests Featuring GONE®
Should the proposed rules become final, the choice for many employers will be to meet the new thresholds by increasing the salaries of currently-exempt employees or converting currently-exempt employees to a “non-exempt status” and paying overtime. Rather, it is more likely that employers will offset projected costs by reducing the wages, discretionary compensation, and hours of full-time workers. While the minimum salary level for HCEs is significantly higher than the salary level for executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees, HCEs are subject to a more lenient duties test.
Currently, the salary threshold for the executive, administrative and professional exemptions is $684 per week ($35,568 per year). The salary threshold for the highly compensated employee exemption would increase from $107,432 to $143,988 annually. If enacted, the proposed rule would likely have minimal effects on employees in states such as New York and California where the minimum salary thresholds already exceed the federal standards.
Critics, however, warn of potential exploitation, sleep deprivation, and academic decline for young workers, endangering their health, education and mental well-being—particularly as mental health statistics for 14- to 17-year-olds show a rise in depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation. In a move that may reignite debates over child labor laws, Florida lawmakers are advancing a bill, SB 918, that would loosen restrictions on teen work hours in the state. Last year, the state passed a law allowing parents, guardians or school superintendents to waive the 30-hour work week limit for 16- and 17-year-olds during the school year. This new proposal would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work more than eight hours on school nights and over 30 hours a week during the school year, without mandated breaks.
OSHA’s Proposed Rule to Amend Its Representatives of Employers and Employees Regulation
The DOL also estimates that the proposed rule will impact another 248,900 employees who are currently exempt under the HCE test. While the FLSA requires that most employees be paid an overtime premium for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek, there are several exemptions to the requirement. Some of the most common exemptions are called “white collar exemptions” and they cover certain executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and certain computer-related employees.
Professional Development: A Key Component to Your HR Career
In all, the department said it considered more than 33,000 public comments on the proposed rule. One of those came from the Society for Human Resource Management, which asked the agency to delay the final rule’s effective date to 2025. SHRM said that a 60-day period between publication and effective date is insufficient for employers to assess and comply with the rule. For the exemption to apply, certain tests must be meet, one of which is a minimum weekly wage of no less than $455 ($27.63 per hour for certain types of work in the computer field). The Department of Labor has proposed new minimum weekly salary requirements for a worker to be considered exempt from overtime requirements under this exemption. While reclassified employees might ask why they weren’t getting overtime pay before the change, an update in the exemption rules at least gives employers some explanation to provide for reclassification, Coburn said.
To ensure compliance and mitigate potential risks, consider consulting with one of our attorneys and actively participating in the rulemaking process to voice your concerns or suggestions. Staying proactive and informed will help your business adapt to forthcoming changes in labor regulations. The DOL acknowledges that independent contractors and small businesses play an important role in the economy, but the proposed rule is meant to “reduce the risk that employees are misclassified as independent contractors” and denied the right to wage protections required under the law. The DOL’s proposal includes proposed changes to the fair labor standards act an automatic update feature that would adjust these thresholds annually in line with current earnings data. In November 2023, the House Subcommittee on Workforce Productions noted several issues with the proposed changes, including the potential difficulties for the rule’s future adoption by employers.
In 2023, we saw several developments in labor and employment law, including federal and state court decisions, regulations, and administrative agency guidance decided, enacted, or issued. “For employees whose duties fall in a gray area—not comfortably exempt or nonexempt—but who are also impacted by the increased salary threshold, this might be a good time to move them to nonexempt on the basis of the salary threshold increase,” he noted. The Department’s regulations also provide an alternative test for certain highly compensated employees who are paid a salary, earn above a higher total annual compensation level, and satisfy a minimal duties test. This proposed legislation is clearly designed to benefit unions, at the expense of both employers and the employees the same unions are theoretically supposed to represent. Given this dynamic, it is noteworthy that two Republican senators have co-sponsored the legislation. If passed into law, we expect a variety of legal challenges to arise, including potentially to the constitutionality of a mandatory interest arbitration requirement that would essentially result in government-imposed contract terms on private parties.
Workers who fall under the FLSA’s “white-collar” executive, administrative and professional exemptions are not eligible for overtime pay. To qualify for white-collar exemptions, employees must be paid a salary of at least the threshold amount and meet certain duties tests. If they are paid less or do not meet the tests, they must be paid 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek. On August 30, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed increases to the salary thresholds for the executive, administrative, professional and highly compensated employee exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The proposal also includes a mechanism which would automatically update those salary thresholds periodically going forward.
