FLSA Overtime Final Rule Submitted to OMB

On March 14, the Department of Labor submitted the final rule for “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees” to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OIRA, part of the president’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is required to review all draft and final standards as well as all regulatory actions before implementation — this is the final step before the overtime rule is published. While OIRA has 90 days to conduct its review, in most cases review takes 30 to 60 days. If this timetable holds true, it is possible that DOL will publish a final rule sometime in May — beating the administration’s own regulatory agenda which had finalization slated for July.

While the rule is being reviewed, the public is not provided with any specific details on changes to the proposed rule. However, interested stakeholders are allowed to file comments with OIRA and request a meeting with the Administrator while a rule is under review. CUPA-HR and other higher ed representatives will be setting up a meeting with OIRA and working with the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity (PPWO) to convey our concerns with the proposed rule.

As finalization of the rule appears to be right around the corner, we encourage all CUPA-HR members to continue utilizing our dedicated FLSA Overtime web page to begin preparing their institution for compliance and to undertake the steps we have outlined in our recent blog posts (here and here) on how best to affect changes to the overtime proposal.

As always, CUPA-HR will continue to advocate on behalf of higher education and will keep all members updated of further developments.