The new overtime and salary law which was passed by the Obama administration presents employers – particularly small employers – with a new layer of administration and bureaucracy. Advocates of the new law tout that it will ensure that employers don’t abuse their employees through forcing them to work unethical hours. Critics of the new law point to countless studies that prove that employers will now simply manage their employees hourly rate, schedules, and flexibility in order to control labor costs.
James Sherk, research fellow for the Labor Economics Center for Data Analysis wrote a summary of the law from a pro-business standpoint in an article featured on the Heritage Foundation’s website here. He has summarized the important part of the law into 5 key points:
5 Key Points of the New Overtime Law:
1 – The Obama Administration proposes requiring employers to pay overtime rates to all salaried workers who earn less than $50,440 a year.
2 – Under these regulations, workers will earn no more than they did before. Even liberal economists agree that employers will offset the higher cost through lower wages, hardly affecting total pay.
3 – These overtime regulations will prevent employers from paying salaried workers who earn less than $50,440 a year for completing a job instead of for the hours they worked.
4 – Employers will have to track their employees’ hours to compute overtime eligibility—effectively turning 5 million salaried workers into hourly employees.
5 – Since it is difficult for employers to track work hours remotely, this requirement will sharply limit these employees’ access to flexible and remote work arrangements—upon which many depend.