In some cases, a worker will take a job, put in their hours and deposit their paycheck without putting a whole lot of thorough thought behind the laws that govern their pay. Wage and hour laws can be confusing — especially when they evolve over the course of one’s lifetime.
The U.S. Department of Labor will be enacting new rules that will impact U.S. workers’ paychecks come Dec. 1, 2016. Because understanding the current and then the new overtime pay rules is complex, sources present the following questions as what you and other workers need to answer in order to reveal whether your pay might be changing:
1.) Do you make less than $47,476.00 in gross annual salary? Are you a non-exempt worker? These are the basic requirements a worker must meet in order to qualify for the changing overtime pay rules.
One source warns that some employers might see the amount of overtime that their workers have worked and become afraid of what the new overtime rules will cost them in the future. Therefore, the employer might decide to increase workers’ hourly wage/salary so that their annual incomes are above the above-mentioned $47,476.000 threshold. This tactic might be a welcomed change for some and a source of frustration for others.
Our next post will continue this discussion. For now, feel free to post any thoughts or concerns you have about the changing law or overtime rules in general. If you believe you have been denied overtime pay that you deserve, take your concerns to an employment lawyer you can trust.