Proposed Overtime Rule Clears OMB Review, Set for Release

The Department of Labor’s proposed final overtime rule has passed a crucial test that clears the way for the rule to be issued any day.

In September 2023, the DOL published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that sought to update and revise regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); revisions that would make an additional 3 million American workers eligible for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours a day.

As reported by Bloomberg Law News, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review of the proposed rule on April 10, “signaling it will soon be released to the public.”

As Bloomberg Law News’ Rebecca Rainey wrote, the rule would update exemption thresholds for overtime eligibility under the FLSA, meaning that salaried workers making roughly $55,000 annually would be automatically owed overtime pay, marking an increase from the current $35,568.

The proposed threshold could differ in the rule’s final version, however, as the rule noted that the threshold could be as high as $60,209, because it will be based on the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data, which, as Rainey pointed out, has been updated since the DOL’s proposed rule was issued in September of last year.

In an August 2023 statement, DOL summarized the proposed overtime rule’s key provisions. According to DOL, for example, the rule would:

⃰ Restore and extend overtime protections to low-paid salaried workers

⃰ Better identify which employees are executive, administrative or professional employees who should be overtime exempt

⃰ Automatically update the salary threshold every three years to reflect current earnings data

⃰ Restore overtime protections for U.S. territories

“For over 80 years, a cornerstone workers’ rights in this country is the right to a 40-hour workweek, the promise that you get to go home after 40 hours or you get higher pay for each extra hour that you spend laboring away from your loved ones,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su, in a statement at the time.

“I’ve heard from workers again and again about working long hours, for no extra pay, all while earning low salaries that don’t come anywhere close to compensating them for their sacrifices,” Su said, adding that the proposed overtime rule would “help restore workers’ economic security by giving millions more salaried workers the right to overtime protections if they earn less than $55,000 a year.”