Proposed Changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is proposing significant changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The purpose of the FLSA is to establish minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and youth employment standards affecting most full-time and part-time workers.

The FLSA requires employers to pay their employees overtime (one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay) for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek unless they meet a minimum pay requirement and their job duties meet specific criteria to be “exempt” from overtime.

The DOL proposed changes would increase the minimum pay requirement needed for an employee to qualify for the exemption from overtime to $50,440 (up from $23,660). This change could impact close to 1,000 Emory University employees, transitioning them from exempt status to non-exempt status.

The difference is that an exempt employee is paid on a salary basis (a predetermined amount of money for work performed, regardless of the hours actually worked) and is not required to track time worked.  At Emory University, these employees are paid monthly.  A non-exempt employee is paid based on actual hours worked, and is required to track all time worked and be paid overtime for time worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek.  These employees are paid bi-weekly at Emory University.

Impacted employees should note that this change in status is not designed or imposed by Emory University, but rather the DOL minimum salary requirement by which Emory must abide. Nationwide, approximately 5-6 million employees could also be impacted.

At this time, we do not know when final regulations will be published, but it could be as early as May or June. The Human Resources Division is closely monitoring updates, and has been actively communicating with HR leaders across campus in preparation to implement changes as required by federal law. Until the final ruling is released, specific information on the full impact of changes at Emory cannot be provided.

Additional communication and information will be forthcoming once the proposed regulations are published. To learn more about the proposed FLSA changes, visit the DOL website at: http://www.dol.gov/featured/overtime.