On June 30th, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule that would extend overtime protections to nearly five million white collar workers within the first year of implementation. This is because overtime regulations originally intended for highly compensated executive, administrative, and professional employees currently apply to workers earning as little as $23,660 a year. Under current regulations, people working as convenience store managers, fast food assistant managers, and office workers can be expected to work 50 or 60+ hours a week with no overtime compensation.
The proposed rule includes a provision that the standard salary level be set at the 40th percentile of weekly earnings for full-time salaried workers ($921 per week, or $47,892 annually). It would also establish a mechanism for automatically updating salary and compensation levels moving forward.