APARTMENT ADVOCATE
NATIONAL APARTMENT ASSOCIATION
Labor Department Issues Final Overtime
Rule Impacting Multifamily
T
he Labor Department issued its final
rule on May 18 that lifts the overtime
pay threshold from $23,660 to $47,476
– impacting an estimated 4.2 million
workers nationwide. Effective Dec. 1, executive,
administrative and professional employees who
are paid by the hour, or earn less than the threshold, will be eligible for overtime pay.
NAA/NMHC have worked to overturn this
rule since its initial introduction because, in part,
it would harm the ability of apartment industry
employers to implement, and their employees to
take advantage of, flexible scheduling options. The
final rule would also limit career advancement
opportunities for employees.
According to Politico, the rule is estimated to
raise wages by $12 billion over the next 10 years,
making it the federal government's most dramatic intervention in the wage economy since
President George W. Bush signed the last minimum wage increase into law in 2007.
On a weekly pay scale, the final rule means
that overtime pay for workers would be raised
from $455 to a projected level of $913 a week.
And some experts contend that the final rule will
demote millions of employees from salary to
hourly pay. And, while some workers will have
their pay raised, others will see their hours reduced
to make room for lower-wage hourly workers.
Industry Response
NAA/NMHC have taken a multifaceted approach to overturning the rule. Most recently, we
joined with the Partnership to Protect Workplace
Opportunity (PPOW) coalition in backing introduced legislation, the “Protecting Workplace
Advancement and Opportunity Act,” which would
block the Obama Administration’s overtime rule.
Introduced in both the Senate and House by
Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Representative
Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), the bill would nullify
the rule.
The legislation would also require an ec