As the Department of Labor's overtime rule hurtles toward finalization, advancing to the Office of Management and Budget, House and Senate Republicans stepped in and introduced legislation in March, calling for the rule to be stopped in its tracks.
"This mandate on employers will hurt the lowest paid American workers the most, by reducing their opportunities for a promotion or a better job and making it all but impossible for workers to negotiate flexible schedules," said Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander.
As proposed, the rule recommends setting the salary threshold for exempt employees at $50,440 annually, up 113% from the current $23,660 annually. It also calls for annual automatic increase to the salary threshold and suggested that the duties tests be made more stringent, requiring managers to spend at least half of their time on managerial functions.
The
Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act
would:
- Nullify the proposed rule.
- Require the DOL to first conduct a comprehensive economic analysis on the impact of mandatory overtime expansion to small businesses, nonprofit organizations and public employers.
- Prohibit automatic increases in the salary threshold.
- Require that any future changes to the duties test must be subject to notice and comment.
The legislation provides a clear vehicle to push back on the overtime rule. Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed concerns about the unintended consequences of this rule, and this bill provides a reasonable approach to updating the overtime rules in a way that that works for both employers and employees.
Mark you calendar for May 1st 
