“On March 13, 2014, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the United States Department of Labor (DOL) to update the regulations regarding white-collar workers. In June 2015, the DOL announced its proposed regulations, which call for sweeping changes that would more than double the minimum annual salary employers must pay white-collar employees (from $23,660 to $50,400) to exempt them from overtime pay. The DOL also proposed raising the minimum salary level for highly compensated employees from $100,000 to more than $120,000 per year. “
The hospitality industry will indefinitely be severely affected by these new Overtime Laws. Many employers feel they will have no other option than “to reclassify current managerial employees to nonexempt workers under the proposed regulations.” Employers should consider reviewing “their job descriptions to determine whether they accurately reflect employees’ job duties and skills” to best meet overtime exemptions. By performing a “self-audit,” employers will ease the future process of determining whether employees holding “exempt position[s] who currently fall near or below the proposed salary threshold” will need to be reclassified. By creating a plan of action in advance, employers will be able to better “communicate these changes to employees.”
Read the full article here.