The Department of Labor is proposing to change rules governing required overtime payment for salaried employees. The proposal, not yet printed in the Federal Register, would raise the income threshold for required overtime payments from the current $23,660 to $50,440 by 2016. The last adjustment in the threshold came in 2004. If adopted in its proposed form, salaried workers making less than the threshold level would be required to be paid time and a half for hours beyond 40 in a week.
Press reports indicate some five million American workers could see an increase in income due to the changes. Opponents of the change are arguing that jobs will be lost due to the added expense to employers. Proponents cite the fact that, adjusted for inflation, the proposed $50,440 threshold equals the threshold amount in 1975.
NAR is examining the new proposed overtime rules and evaluating the impact on state and local associations as well as real estate firms and brokerages. The Department of Labor has a 60-day public comment period on the new proposal, which also poses a series of questions on whether the definitions of managerial positions should be modified as it pertains to overtime requirements.