November 28, 2016
New overtime rules on hold
The U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rules, scheduled to go into effect Dec. 1, have been put on hold. The rules, which have been delayed by a preliminary court injunction, would affect some SIU Civil Service and Administrative Professional employees based upon their salaries and responsibilities.
Due to the injunction, SIU will not move forward to implement the federal rules on Dec. 1, maintaining the current exempt status of employees who would be impacted.
Supervisors who have received paperwork on affected employees should not process changes. However, they should retain all paperwork pending the outcome of a court review of the regulations. The university will continue to monitor the status of the regulations and keep the campus informed as new information is available. Contact human resources, 536-3369, with questions.
As background, the Department of Labor had previously announced new overtime rules affecting the duties and salary threshold requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. If implemented, some employees who are currently exempt from overtime will no longer be exempt depending upon their salaries and responsibilities.
Last week, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction postponing the implementation of the new rules. The injunction is not permanent and simply preserves the existing overtime rules until the court has a chance to review the merits of a case objecting to the revisions to the regulation.