The Society for Human Resource Management on Tuesday urged the federal government to delay implementation of its forthcoming overtime regulation until 2025.
The U.S. Department of Labor proposed a Fair Labor Standards Act rule in August that would require employers to pay overtime to all workers paid less than roughly $55,000 when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. The agency accepted comments on the rule through Tuesday and is now expected to begin work on a final rule.
In its comment, the HR professional organization asked DOL to extend its proposed 60-day implementation period to at least Jan. 1, 2025.
The implementation of any changes would likely fall on HR professionals and business executives as they decide whether to adjust salaries or reclassify workers, SHRM said. And those decisions affect others such as finance teams, IT departments and managers, it continued. “As proposed, 60 days is simply insufficient time for many businesses to assess the final rule, identify impacted employees and roles, and decide and execute an organizational strategy and structural changes,” Emily Dickens, SHRM’s chief of staff, head of public affairs and corporate secretary, wrote in the letter.
While some employers may be equipped to handle such a change, many smaller business are not, SHRM said, requesting that DOL make any change to the threshold effective “on the later of: (i) January 1, 2025, which allows employers to tie any classification or pay-related changes into budgeting efforts and operational changes for the new year; or (ii) 180 days after publication.”
The organization also took issue with DOL’s proposed automatic increases for the threshold, which would occur every three years. Continued increases could significantly reduce the importance of the FLSA’s duties test, SHRM argued.
The organization additionally recommended DOL consider a lower threshold altogether, calling the proposal a “considerable leap” from the current $35,000 threshold, but it did not suggest a dollar figure.
