Update on Congressional action to limit U.S. Department of Labor overtime rule

Mike Zinser

This writer previously reported on Representative Kurt Schrader's bill to phase in the overtime threshold over a four-year period. This legislation now has seven bipartisan co-sponsors and counting.

Senator Lamar Alexander (Republican-Tennessee) has introduced Senate Bill 3464, which also would gradually phase in the Department of Labor's overtime rule over five years, starting with a salary threshold increase to $35,984 on Dec. 1, 2016; the bill provides for salary threshold increases in 2018 and 2019, but no increase in 2017. The bill provides for the Department of Labor's $47,476 threshold to take effect on Dec. 1, 2020. Like the House bill, this legislation would also prohibit the automatic annual increases to the salary threshold dictated by the Department of Labor's Final Rule.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6094 by a vote of 246 to 177 to delay the effective date of the final overtime regulations from Dec. 1, 2016, until June 1, 2017. Republican Senators James Langford (Oklahoma), Lamar Alexander, and Susan Collins (Maine) have introduced companion legislation to the House's delay bill.

I urge you to contact your member of Congress and U.S. senators, urging them to support the above-described legislation.

L. Michael Zinser is the founding partner of The Zinser Law Firm in Nashville, Tenn. The firm, which has a heavy concentration of clients in communications media, represents management in the area of labor and employment. Zinser can be reached at (615) 244-9700 or mzinser@zinserlaw.com.