Walsh: DOL is revisiting overtime threshold

Published June 16, 2021 - HR Dive
Katie Clarey, Editor

Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Labor is currently reviewing the overtime threshold under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said during a June 9 House committee hearing.
• The existing threshold - which sits just below $36,000 - is "definitely" too low, Walsh said.
• The department will include in its review whether regular and automatic updates to the overtime threshold are needed. Walsh told the panel that he thinks such updates are necessary.

Dive Insight:

DOL last updated the overtime threshold in 2019, when it finalized a $35,568 minimum salary for overtime exemptions. The change brought the threshold up from its previous $23,660, which was implemented in 2004. Still, it disappointed worker advocates as the new standard fell short of the Obama administration's proposed $47,000 threshold.

But current congressional Democrats have floated a figure that would overshadow even President Obama's proposal. In a March 25 letter to Walsh, Congress members Mark Takano, Bobby Scott, Alma Adams and Sherrod Brown called to boost the threshold above $80,000.

"We encourage DOL to adopt a salary threshold in line with the historical high point of salary thresholds - the 55th percentile of earnings of full-timed salaried workers nationwide," they wrote. "This threshold would be at least $82,732 by 2026."