Last week, the President released a long-anticipated rule extending overtime protections for nearly 5 million people as early as 2016.  The proposed rule would more than double the salary level under which virtually all workers qualify for overtime pay whenever they work more than 40 hours in any given week.  That threshold, now $23,660, would increase to $50,440.

Employers should be keenly aware of these forthcoming rules as they will possibly affect non-bargaining unit employees.  The U.S. Department of Labor's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) focuses primarily on updating the salary and compensation levels needed for white collar workers to be considered exempt. Specifically, the DOL proposes to:

• Set the standard salary level at the 40th percentile of weekly earnings for full-time salaried workers ($921 per week, or $47,892 annually);
• Increase the total annual compensation requirement needed to exempt highly compensated employees to the annualized value of the 90th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers ($122,148 annually); and
• Establish a mechanism for automatically updating the salary and compensation levels going forward to ensure that they will continue to provide a useful and effective test for exemption.

Lastly, the DOL is not proposing any changes to the current duties test but is soliciting public comments for additional occupation examples and requests comments on the current requirements.  Similarly, the DOL is seeking comment on the possibility of including non-discretionary bonuses to satisfy a portion of the standard salary requirement.