Manufacturers are “up in arms” about the Department of Labor’s new proposal on overtime pay, according to Bryance Metheny, a Birmingham, Ala., labor attorney who primarily represents manufacturing employers.
The rule change, which President Barack Obama announced June 30, would require employers to pay overtime to salaried employees who make less than $50,440 per year. Previously, the threshold was $23,660.
For the rule to become law, it will depend on whether the DOL deems it to be a fundamental rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act, “or something they can actually do without having to go through Congress,” Metheny says.
The National Association of Manufacturers blasted the Obama-administration proposal, calling it "another in a long list of regulatory roadblocks to healthy and robust economic growth and job creation."
Metheny actually sees the law having less of an impact on the manufacturing industry, which requires more skilled workers and tend to pay higher wages, than on industries like restaurant and retail where supervisors often make in the high 20s or low 30s. (“Get ready for $7 burgers,” he quips.)
This article, “How Will the Overtime Proposal Impact Manufacturers?” originally appeared on IndustryWeek, a companion site of EHS Today and part of Penton's Manufacturing and Supply Chain Group.