Overtime pay is mandatory under federal law if you work more than 40 hours in a week and are not exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). For the past few years, the Department of Labor has batted around ideas for raising the salary threshold for exempt employees. The Obama administration proposed a change from $23,000 per year to $47,476 per year as the minimum salary for exemption, but a federal court struck that down late in 2016.
The Trump administration didn’t appeal and instead, set forth their own guidelines, proposing $35,308 as a minimum salary. That number may rise slightly, as median wages have increased and this proposal is based on median wages. The Department of Labor predicts that over 1 million people will be affected by this.
