You're listening to Taking Stock with Pim Box and Kathleen Hayes on bloom Bird Radio. So as Charlie just deported, markets fixated on the minutes of the fed's last meeting, which have really reopened the door to an interest rate increase in June. FED watching inflation wages the labor market. I bet they're watching a story out today from Bloomberg b n A. We're joined by Ben Penn, labor reporter
for b NA. He joins us from Arlington, Virginia to talk about the Labor Department's final overtime rule that's going to double the salary threshold for overtime exemption, effective in December, and it's going to make a big difference for people who are classified as a managers. Ben, welcome to taking Stock. Hi, thanks for having me. Well, this has been in the works for a while. In a nutshell, what is the
Department of Labor going to start enforcing companies to do? Basically, the salary threshold for overtime exemption the words the level at which below which workers are automatically qualified for a time and a half pay when they work more than forty hours per week UM. That level has doubled. So currently um there that it is about twenty three thousand and change and it's going to go up to UH
five hundred UM. So what you know, it's interesting you ask about Department of Labor Enforcement because right now they they are focused on the compliance assistance phase UM, where they're you know, doing an aggressive effort to reach out to UH, to various forms of employers that are impacted by this rule. But yes, UH, technically on December one, that is when the wage in our division investigators can
begin enforcing the rule. And and they imagine there's going to be millions of employees who previously we're ineligible for over time who now can begin receiving it. But does the new rule mean that the people who are eligible will now start earning over time pay if they work more than forty hours a week? Yeah, that that is correct if they you know, in some cases, it won't
necessarily lead to that, you know. You one of the arguments that that the rules opponents make is that well, um, you know, this is money that that these companies can't afford, and they're going to be um, you know, reducing their hours capping them at forty. Of course, then the administration would say that's another benefit of the rule that you know, it allows workers to have more time with their families
and it could lead to job creation that way. So I guess that, yes, you know, if you're if you're a manager, you're expected to uh, you know, put in the extra hours, not punch the clock. But the Department of Labor sees this as wrongheaded because if you're you know, if you're making something three thousand a year in this day and age, is not such the kind of money that would justify people working you that hard. So this
is the reason for the change. Yeah. The the argument from the administration has been that, uh, you know, in in the UH that this is a rule under the Fair Labor Standards Act that is outdated and it's allowed companies, especially in the retail and service hospitality sectors, to classify workers give them job titles of assistant managers when in reality they're spending a large portion of their day mopping the floors, working the cash register, and maybe they're supervising
an employee for US for for a few hours as well. But um to uh, to d O L and and to President Obama who directed this, uh, this rule change in then you know that's unfair and this is a big way to provide a race for the middle class. Thank you very much for taking time to share this information with us. En Penn is a labor reporter for Bloomberg b NA. He's based in Arlington, Virginia. Of course, the Washington metro area home to a Bloomberg ninety one
and one oh five point seven h D two. Bloomberg b n A is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bloomberg, a leading source of legal, regulatory and business information for professionals.