Guest Column: Department of Labor Ruling

In 2014, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Department of Labor to update the regulations around the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime standards. Two years later, on May 18, 2016, he announced the final rules which, according to the DOL, will “extend overtime pay protections to over 4 million workers within the first year of implementation.” 

The DOL would like us all to believe that these long-awaited updates will better the lives (and wallets) of countless American workers (and, in fairness, they may). But the new provisions are also creating many sleepless nights for businesses of all shapes and sizes as they try to absorb key provisions by December 1, 2016.  

With the May 18th announcement came special guidance for Non-Profit Organizations who, contrary to popular belief – or wishful thinking as the case might be - are NOT exempt from these changes.  If you haven’t already, it would be beneficial for you to spend a significant amount of time ensuring that your labor force is properly classified and that everyone is trained on both time management and time keeping. Further, if you have any doubts about plans you might be implementing, it would be wise to seek legal counsel for clarification. This new rule has gotten a lot of press and the DOL has a lot on the line. Suffice it to say they will be “inspecting what they expect.” 

For an overview on the final Department of Labor Final Rule, go here. 

Harto, a Human Resource Consultant, provides customized consulting services to Gulf Coast’s nonprofit partners through our Invest in Incredible initiative. To see if your organization can benefit from capacity-building assistance through I3, go here.