Last Tuesday, a U.S. District Court judge from Texas issued a preliminary injunction delaying the original December 1, 2016 start date of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). FLSA was set to raise the overtime exemption eligibility for salaried professionals from $23,660 to $47,476 per year.
This preliminary injunction, requested by 21 state attorney generals and more than 50 business who felt the DOL exceeded its authority with the FLSA rule, holds the rule in abeyance; essentially, FLSA is suspended for an undetermined amount of time to allow the judge to decide if the rule is valid or not.
The preliminary injunction has raised a lot of questions for employees and employers across the United States. It is unclear, at this point, how and when implementation of the rule will be put into practice. The DOL is expected to appeal this ruling; however, it is uncertain how long the appeal might take. If the preliminary injunction pushes the implementation date past January 20, 2017, the new administration will be able to reopen and revise the FLSA final ruling.
As with previous announcements related to FLSA, NIRSA recognizes that every campus is handling these changes differently. Ultimately, every campus recreation department will have to follow HR regulations for their college or university. However, talking with and generating ideas from your fellow NIRSA members can certainly help with thinking through next steps. We hope you’ll feel free to reach out on the Connect community, to the NIRSA Policy & Legislation Committee, and within your own NIRSA networks.
In addition, CUPA-HR is offering a webinar Wednesday, November 30 from 2:00-3:00pm ET called “New Overtime Regulations Put on Hold”. Though registration is required, the webinar is free. This is an opportunity to gain information about the recent litigation and hear about next steps for the coming weeks.
Further information on the original FLSA ruling can be found in the FLSA webinars NIRSA has previously partnered with CUPA-HR on; these are now available on-demand from the CUPA-HR website. The first, “FLSA Overtime: How, When and Why to Prepare”, was originally broadcast in February, while the second, “FLSA Overtime Final Rule: What You Need to Know and Do Now”, was broadcast in late May just after the final rule came out.
Erin O'Sullivan is currently the Director of Advocacy & Strategic Partnerships at NIRSA.
