Argentum and ASHA Urge Labor Department to Withdraw Overtime Rule

In response to the proposed rule issued by the U.S. Department of Labor in September, Argentum and the American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA) sent a joint comment letter urging the department to withdraw the rule and work with stakeholders to develop solutions for overtime pay that more closely reflect current economic conditions.

The proposal calls for increasing the threshold for employees to be eligible for overtime. Workers earning less than $55,068 per year would be eligible under the proposed rule, up from the current $35,568 per year. A similar proposal by the Obama Administration, which would have raised the threshold to roughly $47,000, was blocked in 2017, as it was determined that it would have made the job duties portion of the exemption test irrelevant.

In our joint comments, we advised that the rule would have a disproportionate and potentially devastating impact on the long-term care industry and the need to recruit more than 20 million workers by 2040. Specifically, our comments focus on the following areas:

1. The changing workforce and workplace that has already imposed new demands on employers to offer employees new flexibility, higher wages, and other accommodations. Further layering of complexity is unnecessary and harmful;
2. The methodology for determining the standard salary level is flawed;
3. Urge removal of bonus caps to meet exempt status and include safe harbors for unintentional errors;
4. Maintain the current salary threshold on highly compensated employees (HCE); and
5. Withdraw the automatic indexing of the salary level test every three years. 

Comments on the proposed rule are now closed. Argentum will share updates on the rule as they are announced by the Department of Labor.