Tagged: Professional Exemption
Senate and House Republicans pushed back on the DOL’s proposed final rule on the “white-collar” overtime exemptions by proposing a new bill, the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act, seeking to invalidate the DOL rule. Under current regulations, employees must satisfy certain tests regarding the job duties they perform and be paid at least $23,660 per year, on a salary basis to be considered exempt under the FLSA’s “white-collar exemptions.” The DOL’s proposed final rule, however, seeks to more than double the minimum salary level from $23,660 to $50,440 per year and provides for automatic annual increases to the minimum salary threshold. Although the proposed final DOL rule does not include any specific changes to the “job duties” component of the exemptions, such changes may be included in the final rule.
As we previously reported on September 6, 2011, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) adopted the so-called “white collar” exemptions for Administrative, Executive, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer employees as contained in the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Employers are not required to pay overtime compensation (i.e. compensation at the rate of 1.5 percent of the employee’s regular hourly rate) to an employee who qualifies for one of these exemptions. The new regulations were intended to provide consistency between federal and New Jersey law. They leave open the possibility, however, that employees who previously qualified for an exemption under New Jersey law may now have to be reclassified as non-exempt. The issue is raised by the New Jersey Appellate Division’s recent decision in Anderson, et al. v. Phoenix Health Care, Inc., et al.
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (“NJDOL”) has adopted the so-called “white collar” exemptions for Administrative, Executive, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer employees as contained within the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The adoption of these changes – which are considered by many to be long overdue – was announced in the New Jersey Register on September 6, 2011. The new regulations became effective immediately upon publication. As explained below, these changes will benefit employers and provide clarity and consistency to the wage and hour landscape in New Jersey.
