In a nutshell:
As of December 1, 2016 businesses will be required to pay overtime to any exempt employee making less than $47,475 a year. This is a significant jump from the previous threshold of $23,660.
This rule change is applied in the context of the seven day, 40-hour work week, which means if an employee works 44 hours one week and 36 hours the next, that employee is owed 4 hours of overtime pay. AND, this is important for non-profits especially, compensation must be in cash. “Comp time” will no longer be acceptable.
What qualifies for overtime work?
* Coming in early
* Working through lunch
* Making a delivery on the way home
* Dropping letters at the Post Office
* Staying late or taking work home
* Taking work-related calls at home
What are your options then? Raise salaries or tightly control hours worked. Or reduce your employees' pay to compensate for overtime that will be incurred. This can be difficult for small businesses and non-profits who often have more work than employees and lack the resources, obviously, to hire more folks.
Click HERE to go directly to the Department of Labor page.
Tom Cheney
New Yorker magazine