FLSA revisions effective January 1, 2020
Last updated: November 13, 2019.
On September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a final rule to revise the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the law that governs eligibility for overtime pay. The final rule updates the earnings threshold necessary to exempt executive, administrative and professional employees from FLSA minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. The new threshold will go into effect on January 1, 2020.
The FLSA currently states that employees with a minimum salary of at least $455 per week ($23,660 per year) and whose duties meet one or more of the “duties tests” are considered exempt from eligibility for overtime pay. The Department of Labor is increasing the minimum weekly salary threshold to $684 per week ($35,568 per year). This same threshold applies to part-time employees; it is not pro-rated for employees who are less than full-time. This means, for example, that a 50% (half-time) employee whose annualized salary is $70,000 would be overtime eligible because their actual, half-time salary would be $35,000, which is less than the new $35,568 threshold.
Employees whose primary duty is teaching, instructing, or lecturing to impart knowledge are not covered by the FLSA, and this change does not impact them. For information about any potential impacts on academic personnel, please email the Office of Academic Personnel at acadpers@uw.edu or call 206-221-UWAP (8927).
Employees with a combination of FTE and salary that falls below $684 per week will be converted to an overtime eligible job code on or about December 27, 2019. Starting Monday, December 30, 2019, they will need to track the hours that they work following the established time tracking procedure in their department. They will be paid for all hours worked, and time and a half (or compensatory time at time and a half) for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
If you have any questions regarding this change, please see the FLSA FAQ document or discuss them with your department’s HR administrator. For additional FLSA information, please see the HR website: FLSA overtime eligibility and exemption.