In mid-May, the United States Department of Labor finalized its “overtime rule” amending the white collar exemptions to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The new overtime rule would make employees who earn less than $47,476.00 per year eligible for overtime pay should they work more than 40 hours in a workweek. All employers will have to comply with the changes made to the overtime regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by Dec. 1, 2016.
Already, some questions have been raised by Canisius employees as to how the new rule will affect their pay, hours and responsibilities at the college. The college’s Human Resources Office and relevant supervisors are currently engaged in a position-by-position review of all affected personnel to determine how the new rule will impact each position. There are some exceptions to the scope of the new overtime rule that could result in no changes for some personnel.
In some limited cases, there may be increases to base compensation to keep a position exempt. In other cases, the position will need to convert to an hourly position with overtime protections. In these cases, it could include some reallocation of responsibilities but there would be no changes to our current benefit package offerings.
We would urge you to not draw any conclusions about the rule’s applicability to a particular position until the college’s review is complete and announcements can be made regarding our next steps.
Submitted by: Linda Walleshauser, associate vice president, human resources and compliance
