Does the acronym FLSA mean anything to you? If you own a business, you’ve probably heard something about it. If you have employees or work in a human resources department, it’s a sure bet.
FLSA is short for the Fair Labor Standards Act. Administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, it’s the law that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting workers in both the private and public sectors. As with most federal acts, the rules embodied by the FLSA don’t stay set for long. Like the times, they’re always a-changin’.
Would you like an example of change? How about 75 of them? That’s how many proposed FLSA changes the Department of Labor (DOL) posted in its Fall 2014 Agency Rule List, which can be found on the Reginfo.gov website. (This is a good place to visit if you want to keep up with and comment on federal labor rule changes.)
One of the items coming down the pike is a proposed rule change that came straight from the desk of President Obama. The president wants to streamline and modernize the FLSA regulations for executive, administrative, and professional employees. More specifically, he wants to change the overtime regulations for these employee categories, and almost a year ago he sent a memo to the Secretary of Labor to make it happen.
The details of this proposed “white collar” rule had yet to be published as of this writing — the publication target was by the end of February 2015 — but it does have a DOL ID number: 1235-AA11. It’s a number people in business might want to write down. People who follow wage-and-hour laws seem to think it’s going to be a big deal.
CREDIT
column by BAXTER TROUTMAN
BIO: Baxter Troutman is founder and chief executive officer of Labor Solutions, a staffing company with offices in Bartow, Winter Haven, Lake Wales, and Arcadia. A citrus grower who served in the Florida House of Representatives, Troutman understands the challenges and concerns of today’s farmer.
