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ESA News Release: [04/23/2004]
Contact Name: Lisa Kruska
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676

Labor Department New White Collar Overtime Rules Published Today

New Rule available at the Federal Register

WASHINGTON—New rules governing overtime rights for white-collar workers are published today in the Federal Register. The Department of Labor announced the new overtime rules in a news conference earlier this week. The regulations become effective in 120 calendar days.

“The new rule published today strengthens and guarantees overtime protection for 6.7 million workers,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. “The current rules, which haven’t been updated since 1949, are so outdated that many workers have to go to court to find out if they are eligible for overtime. The new rule will help workers and reduce the number of lawsuits, so that the millions of dollars wasted on litigation can be better spent on more overtime and creating new jobs.”

The new rules expand the number of workers eligible for overtime by nearly tripling the salary threshold. Under the 50-year-old regulations, only workers earning less than $8,060 annually were guaranteed overtime. Under the new rules, workers earning $23,660 or less are guaranteed overtime. This strengthens overtime protection for 6.7 million lower-wage salaried workers, including 1.3 million salaried white collar workers who were not entitled to overtime pay under the existing regulations. These workers will gain up to $375 million in additional earnings every year.

To provide even stronger overtime protection for workers, the new overtime security rules add new sections that clearly state that blue-collar workers, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and licensed practical nurses are entitled to overtime protection.

While employers will incur a one-time implementation cost and annual payroll cost increases, the changes will free up hundreds of millions of dollars each year in legal penalties alone that can be used to hire workers and grow the economy.

“Our regulations speak for themselves. The benefits to working people are clear,” added Tammy McCutchen, Administrator for Wage and Hour Division. “Now that the rules are published, the public will no longer have to rely on speculation and uninformed reports.”

The complete text is now available in the Federal Register, online at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a040423c.html#Wage%20and%20Hour%20Division.

(Note: scroll down to Wage and Hour for either text version or a .pdf version) and on the labor department’s website at www.dol.gov/fairpay.

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