Alexander Statement on Trump Administration’s Final Overtime Rule

WASHINGTON, September 24, 2019 — Senate labor committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement after the Trump Administration announced its final “overtime” rule:

“More than one million additional employees will now be eligible to receive overtime pay under the Trump Administration’s final rule raising the overtime annual salary threshold to $35,568. This is a reasonable update that should not have the same troubling effects for workers, businesses, non-profits, colleges and universities as the Obama Administration rule which would have more than doubled the threshold overnight.”

Background:

·        Under current law, employees earning a salary below $23,660 annually must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week.

·        This current salary threshold was set in 2004 during the George W. Bush Administration.

·        A federal judge struck down the 2016 Obama Administration rule which would have more than doubled the salary threshold to $47,476 and instituted automatic increases every three years.

·        The Trump Administration final rule released today raises the overtime salary threshold to $35,568 effective January 1, 2020.

·        The Department intends to update the salary threshold more regularly in the future through notice-and-comment rulemaking.

·        An additional 1.3 million Americans are now set to qualify for overtime pay as a result of this final rule.