September ’23 at-a-glance … regulations

Labor department proposes revisions to overtime rules

The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule would raise the thresholds for exempting employees from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FSLA) overtime requirements. The proposed rule would increase the minimum salary requirements for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer employees to be exempted from FLSA’s overtime requirements from $634 a week (about $35,568 per year) to $1,059 per week (about $55,068 per year). The proposed rule also would increase the highly compensated employee threshold from $107,432 to $143,988 annually. The FLSA requires employers to pay employees overtime unless an employee is employed as a bona fide executive, administrative, professional, outside sales or computer employee or is classified as a highly compensated employee. Comments are due Nov. 7.

Congress looks to support efforts to retrain workers displaced by automation

The U.S. House and Senate are considering compatible Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act of 2023 bills that would provide $40 million in grants for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028. Monies would support demonstration and pilot projects to train workers who have been or are likely to be displaced as a result of automation. HR 5330 and S 2722 were introduced in response to studies showing the U.S. would need to invest $72 billion more annually to reach the average investment in workforce policies of other industrial countries.