Comment on Pennsylvania's Overtime Regulations

By -
A Day in the Life of a Munitions Worker, Britain, 1940 D679
(7/25/18 - Updated with new deadline)

In early July, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) proposed a new regulation requiring public comment. The proposed regulation would greatly expand eligibility for overtime pay in Pennsylvania.

The regulation, available here, makes it harder for employers to classify workers as exempt managers and administrative professionals by raising the minimum salary these workers have to get from $23,660 to $47,892.

This regulation mirrors much of the overtime proposal under President Obama's Administration that was put on hold in the courts. It would do three things:
  1. Clarify the definitions of executive, administrative, and professional workers to make it much easier to figure out what kinds of job duties qualify under the exemption. 
  2. Raise the minimum salary threshold for the exemption from $23,660/year to $47,892/year within two years and then institute a formula to update the minimum threshold every three years going forward. 
  3. Allow employers to count nondiscretionary bonuses for up to 10% of the salary threshold (i.e. up to $4,789/year could be paid in bonuses).
Keystone Research Center and CLS have put together sample comments available here. You can also read a report from NELP on overtime in Pennsylvania here.

If you submit comments, please send them by July 23 August 22 to Bryan M. Smolock, Director, Bureau of Labor Law Compliance, 651 Boas Street, Room 1301, Harrisburg, PA 17121 (bsmolock@pa.gov). Comments can be sent by mail or email.

In addition to the longer comments, individuals, especially impacted workers, are encouraged to submit simple, short comments with something like the following message:

 The Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) should act immediately to raise the overtime threshold to $47,892, a change that would bring guaranteed overtime protection to over 465,000 more workers in Pennsylvania based on their salary alone. In 1975, more than 60% of salaried workers nationwide were protected by overtime laws, but today it’s only 8%. Updating overtime regulations is one of the most important steps DLI can take to protect working families.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overlooked and Undercounted: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in Pennsylvania

By -
Image
Census data tells us that 13% of Pennsylvania households live in poverty. In reality, even more households don’t have the income they need to reach self-sufficiency. One in four Pennsylvania households – over 846,000 – lack enough income to cover just the necessities. Since 1997, PathWays PA has worked with Dr. Diana Pearce and the University of Washington to calculate  The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Pennsylvania . Over the last 23 years,  The Self-Sufficiency Standard of Pennsylvania  has documented the continuing increase in the real cost of living, illuminating the economic crunch experienced by so many families today. Since 2010, PathWays PA and the University of Washington have also issued three versions of the  Overlooked and Undercounted  report, which looks at the number of households living above and below self-sufficiency. You can now use the interactive materials below to find out what it takes to be self-sufficient in your county. Click ...
Read more

Mini-Budget Update-Supporting the American Community Survey

By MB -
Image
(via The Census Project ) Next Tuesday, June 19 is an important date to mark on your calendar. The Congressional Joint Economic Committee is holding a public hearing on the economic impact of eliminating the American Community Survey (ACS) at 2:30 p.m., in Room 210 of the Canon House Office Building. Witnesses that will be speaking in opposition to the move to eliminate the ACS are Vincent Barabba, former director of the Census Bureau in two GOP administrations and Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Association of General Contractors and also representing the National Association of Business Economists. It is very important that we pack the congressional hearing room! If you cannot come, please urge your colleages to come. If you represent a non-DC organization contact your friends in Washington and urge them to attend. Also on Tuesday of next week some of our congressional supporters will be holding a noon press conference in the so-called House Triangle right outside the Cap...
Read more

Overlooked and Undercounted in the Media (#media)

By MB -
Image
Below are all of the places we've seen Overlooked and Undercounted in the month of May! If you know of anywhere else, please let us know! You can also listen to the audio from our May 11 Conference Call on our website . May 21, 2009 - New Report Says 1 in 5 PA Families Live in Poverty May 21, 2009 - LTE: Clarifying ‘Overlooked And Undercounted’ Study May 19, 2009 - Caught in a trap: State and federal governments must help working poor May 16, 2009 - Study: Local poverty estimates too conservative May 15, 2009 - Study: Pa. Families Above Poverty Level, But Still Struggling May 12, 2009 - Study: 1 in 5 PA Families Struggling to Make Ends Meet May 12, 2009 - Report: Many PA families struggling May 12, 2009 - PathWays PA Releases New Report on Self-Sufficiency Standard May 12, 2009 - Poverty worse in PA than reported: study May 11, 2009 - 1 in 5 PA Households Can't Make Ends Meet May 11, 2009 - Study: 1 in 5 PA residents can't make ends meet May 11, 2009 - 1 in...
Read more