{
  "id": "R44138",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "R44138",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
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      "id": 588312,
      "date": "2016-06-02",
      "retrieved": "2019-05-03T15:47:53.737998",
      "title": "Overtime Provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Frequently Asked Questions",
      "summary": "The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enacted in 1938, is the main federal legislation that establishes general wage and hour standards for most, but not all, private and public sector employees. Among other protections, the FLSA establishes that covered nonexempt employees must be compensated at one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for each hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek.\nThe FLSA also establishes certain exemptions from its general labor market standards. One of the major exemptions to the overtime provisions in the FLSA is for bona fide \u201cexecutive, administrative, and professional\u201d employees (the \u201cEAP\u201d or \u201cwhite collar\u201d exemptions). The FLSA grants authority to the Secretary of Labor to define and delimit the EAP exemption \u201cfrom time to time.\u201d To qualify for this exemption from the FLSA\u2019s overtime pay requirement, an employee must be salaried (the \u201csalary basis\u201d test), must perform specified executive, administrative, or professional duties (the \u201cduties\u201d test), and must earn above a salary level threshold (the \u201csalary level\u201d test).\nIn July 2015, the Secretary of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to make changes to the EAP exemption. After receiving approximately 294,000 comments on the NPRM, the Secretary of Labor published the Final Rule on the EAP exemption on May 23, 2016 (2016 final rule). The 2016 final rule is effective December 1, 2016. The major changes in the 2016 final rule include increasing the salary level threshold from the previous level of $455 per week to $913 per week and providing an automatic update to the salary level every three years. The 2016 final rule does not change the duties and responsibilities that employees must perform to be exempt. Thus, the 2016 final rule will affect EAP employees at salary levels between $455 and $913 per week in 2016. The Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that about 13.1 million workers will be affected in the first year, including about 4.2 million EAP employees who will become newly entitled to overtime pay.\nThis report answers frequently asked questions about the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the EAP exemptions, and the 2016 final rule that defines and delimits the EAP exemption.",
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          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 4942,
          "name": "Labor Standards"
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    {
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      "id": 443613,
      "date": "2015-08-05",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:39:55.132314",
      "title": "Overtime Provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Frequently Asked Questions",
      "summary": "The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), enacted in 1938, is the main federal legislation that establishes general wage and hour standards for most, but not all, private and public sector employees. Among other protections, the FLSA establishes that covered nonexempt employees must be compensated at one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for each hour worked over 40 hours in a workweek.\nThe FLSA also establishes certain exemptions from its general labor market standards. One of the major exemptions to the overtime provisions in the FLSA is for bona fide executive, administrative, and professional employees (the \u201cEAP\u201d or \u201cwhite collar\u201d exemptions). The FLSA grants authority to the Secretary of Labor to define and delimit the EAP exemption \u201cfrom time to time.\u201d Under current regulations (established in 2004), to qualify for this exemption from the FLSA\u2019s overtime pay requirement, an employee must be salaried (the \u201csalary basis\u201d test), must perform specified executive, administrative, or professional duties (the \u201cduties\u201d test), and must earn above a salary level threshold (the \u201csalary level\u201d test), which is currently set at $455 per week.\nThe Secretary of Labor published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in July 2015 to make changes to the EAP exemption. The major changes in the NPRM are raising the salary level threshold from the current $455 per week to $970 per week and linking the threshold going forward to a measure of inflation. The NPRM does not propose changing the duties and responsibilities that employees must perform to be exempt. Thus the NPRM would affect EAP employees at salary levels between $455 and $970 per week in 2016. The Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that about 14.7 million workers would be affected, including about 4.7 million EAP employees who would become newly entitled to overtime pay.\nThis report answers frequently asked questions about the overtime provisions of the FLSA, the EAP exemptions, and the NPRM that seeks changes to the EAP exemption.",
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      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "IBCList",
          "id": 3375,
          "name": "Labor Standards and Labor Relations"
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Economic Policy"
  ]
}