Many home care workers will have to wait longer than previously anticipated to start collecting overtime. Their employers, however, may be breathing a sigh of relief.
The Department of Labor’s final rule on overtime eligibility is unlikely to go into effect prior to late 2016, according to Solicitor of Labor Patricia Smith.
The revelation was made at the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law conference in Philadelphia on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Employers had been under the impression that the rule would take effect late this year or early next. Smith said the extended time required to finish drafting the regulation was due to the complex nature of the change, as well as the huge volume of comments the proposal drew.
In June, the DOL proposed increasing the salary cap for who is eligible for overtime pay from $23,660 per year to $50,400—a change that would render millions more U.S. workers, including many home care workers, eligible for overtime pay.
Approximately 270,000 individuals and organizations submitted comments to the DOL on the proposed change, more than three times the amount received when the rules were last modified in 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Written by Mary Kate Nelson
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