Client Alert
President Obama Issues Memorandum Directing Labor Secretary to Revise Overtime Regulations
Client Alert
President Obama Issues Memorandum Directing Labor Secretary to Revise Overtime Regulations
March 14, 2014
On March 13, 2014, the White House’s Office of the Press Secretary issued a statement, “Opportunity for All: Rewarding Hard Work by Strengthening Overtime Protections,” announcing that President Barack Obama, as part of his agenda to focus on the middle class and ensure “a fair wage for a hard day’s work,” will instruct the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to make overtime pay available for millions of additional workers by narrowing the Fair Labor Standard Act’s (FLSA) “white-collar” exemptions. The initiative is intended to materially narrow the group of workers who can be exempted from receiving overtime pay under the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions, which could well add pressure to payroll costs and bring added liability risk.