The Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act, introduced as H.R. 5813, has been proposed to limit the Department of Labor’s Final Rule on overtime. Under this piece of legislation, on December 1, 2016, the salary one must earn in order to be overtime-exempt on rises to $692.00 per week, much lower than the $913.00 per week under the DOL’s Final Rule.
Under this bill, the salary threshold increases to $760.00 per week on December 1, 2017; $839.00 per week on December 1, 2018; and $913.00 per week on December 1, 2019. The legislation eliminates the automatic three-year increase to the salary threshold that has been established under the DOL’s new Rule.
This bill was proposed by four Democratic Members of Congress; it now has seven bipartisan consponsors and counting. The National Newspaper Association has endorsed this bill.
Additionally, Senator Lamar Alexander (Republican-Tennessee) has introduced Senate Bill 3464, which also would gradually phase in the Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule over five years, starting with a salary threshold increase to $35,984 on December 1, 2016; the bill provides for salary threshold increases in 2018 and 2019, but no increase in 2017. The bill provides for the Department of Labor’s $47,476 threshold to take effect on December 1, 2020. Like the House bill, this legislation would also prohibit the automatic annual increases to the salary threshold dictated by the Department of Labor’s Final Rule.
Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6094 by a vote of 246 to 177 to delay the effective date of the final overtime regulations from December 1, 2016 until June 1, 2017. Republican Senators James Langford (Oklahoma), Lamar Alexander, and Susan Collins (Maine) have introduced companion legislation to the House’s delay bill.
I urge you to contact your Member of Congress and U.S. Senators, urging them to support the above-described legislation.