ACT NOW to Protect the Public Sector

Act now and join your colleagues voicing concerns with the Department of Labor’s dramatic overtime rule by supporting overtime legislation that would help public sector operations and budgets.

• The final rule, which alters the overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act, includes a 100 percent increase to the minimum salary threshold (from $455 per week to $913), which disproportionately impacts public sector entities, especially those in rural and low cost-of-living areas.
• The department will automatically update the salary threshold every three years, which won’t take into account economic downturns and other events that impact public budgets.

You can affect change by taking the following step:

Tell your Members of Congress to support two legislative approaches:

1. Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act (S. 2707 and H.R. 4773), which was introduced by Senators Scott and Alexander and Representatives Walberg and Kline, if enacted, would require the Labor Department to conduct a new and comprehensive economic analysis on the impact of mandatory overtime expansion to small businesses, nonprofits and public employers as well as an analysis on the effect on employee flexibility before implementing a change to the exemptions.   Also, it would eliminate the regulation’s every three year automatic update provision.
2. Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act (H.R. 5813), introduced by Representative Kurt Schrader, which would phase-in the DOL’s new salary threshold over three years, starting with a salary threshold increase to approximately $36,000 on December 1, 2016, and the rest going into place over the next three years with the final installment taking effect December 1, 2019.  The legislation also prohibits the final rule’s automatic increases to the salary threshold, and specifies that any future changes must be made through the customary notice and comment process.

Act now! Add your name to the thousands of Americans who are petitioning leaders in Washington to require DOL reexamine the impact of this rule on public sector entities!