DOL Urged to Rescind Harmful Overtime Rule

MHI joined its business coalition in a recent letter to the Department of Labor (DOL) to advocate last year’s overbearing final rule on overtime be rescinded. The coalition explained that the regulation would have a damaging effect on workers and businesses alike by creating uncertainty, adding regulatory and administrative burdens, and diminishing flexibility. Emphasizing the President’s Executive Order 14219 on deregulation initiatives, the coalition urged a rescinding of the rule.

The final rule alters the overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. It increases the minimum threshold salaries, which employers use to assess an employee’s exemption under existing FLSA overtime pay requirements. The rule includes two-tiered increases to the minimum salary threshold and the highly compensated employees (HCE) threshold. The final rule also allows for automatic updates to both thresholds every three years. MHI and the coalition have previously highlighted how the rule dramatically increases labor costs and reclassifies workers leaving them without access to benefits, flexible work arrangements, workplace status, or career advancement opportunities. The rule has been and continues to be subject to legal cases, pausing its effect but not removing it which leaves businesses in limbo and underscores the need for an official withdrawal of the rule.