Employers are increasingly being hit with wage-and-hour lawsuits.
According to the law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP, there were nearly 8,800 wage-and-hour lawsuits filed in federal court in fiscal federal year 2015 ending on September 30. Compare that to about 1,900 lawsuits filed in 2000, 4,000 lawsuits in 2005 and 6,800 suits in 2010, per federal data cited by Seyfarth Shaw.
This is the time to remind employers that millions of new workers could be eligible for overtime in 2016.
Last year, the Department of Labor proposed to increase the salary threshold for full-time workers to draw overtime play. As of last year, full-time employees who made more than $455 per week couldn’t draw overtime. The proposed DOL rule, however, would move that threshold to more than $900 per week.
Wrote the Department of Labor last year: “With this proposed rule, the Department seeks to update the salary level required for exemption to ensure that the [Fair Labor Standard Act’s] intended overtime protections are fully implemented, and to simplify the identification of nonexempt employees, thus making the executive, administrative and professional employee exemption easier for employers and workers to understand and apply.”
According to Bloomberg, the Department of Labor is scheduled to release its final ruling on potential changes to the overtime law in July 2016.
With wage-and-hour litigation increasing, and with overtime rules possibly to be altered in a major way, companies need to take a close look at their compliance procedures. To find out more about overtime protection and what your company needs to know about these potential rules changes, contact Plexus at 847.307.6100 (Chicago) or 972-770-5010 (Dallas/Oklahoma), or visit us on the web at plexusgroupe.com.
References
Allen, Richard and Young, Kevin. “Another Year, Another All-Time High For Wage and Hour Litigation.” WageHourLitigation.com (Seyfarth Shaw LLP), November 20, 2015.
“Fact Sheet: Proposed Rulemaking To Update The Regulations Defining And Delimiting The Exemptions For “White Collar” Employees.” United States Department Of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, 2015.
Penn, Ben. “DOL Slates July Release of Final Overtime Rule.” Bloomberg, November 20, 2015.