Department of Labor announces changes to Fair Labor Standards Act

Last month, the Department of Labor announced a change to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that will take effect Jan. 1, 2020. The department expects the changes to FLSA will extend overtime pay protections to more than 1.3 million workers.

The most notable change is that the new regulation raises the minimum salary threshold that must be paid to an employee in order for him or her to be exempt from overtime requirements.

Currently, in addition to meeting a range of job tests, employees must be paid at least $455 per week ($23,660 annually)—an amount established in 2004—in order to be exempt. As of January, employees must be paid at least $684 per week ($35,568 annually) in order to be exempt from overtime requirements. Importantly, annualizing an employee’s salary based on partial FTE is not permitted for purposes of meeting the minimum required salary.

What does this mean for UF employees?

As a result of this change, some UF positions will become eligible for overtime pay under the new rule. There are 129 employees who are currently classified as exempt who earn a salary less than the new FLSA salary threshold and who will be impacted.

Because this is such a relatively small number, UFHR is working with individual leaders across campus to identify the best approach to ensure compliance with the new salary threshold.

Teachers, attorneys, physicians, graduate assistants and predoctoral fellows are examples of occupations that are generally considered exempt from the salary threshold test and, as a result, are not impacted by this change.

For more information about the new regulation, visit this Department of Labor website. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Classification and Compensation at compensation@ufl.edu.