What Should Employers Do Now to Prepare?
If the new regulations tighten the FLSA exemptions as they are anticipated to do, this may have a substantial impact on employers. Employers should start preparing for a complete review of exempt classifications under the new rules. This will be a large undertaking, and planning for the process should start now.
The number of employees who may be entitled to overtime is likely to increase. Employers should begin now to evaluate their tracking of employee work hours and consider how those tracking procedures may need to change to address any employees who are no longer exempt.
Additionally, employers should:
- Familiarize themselves with current exemption compliance criteria, i.e. Administrative, Executive, Highly Compensated Employee, etc.
- Make sure management has an understanding that proposed regulations are coming and will have a potentially disruptive effect on the business, i.e., may have to reclassify a large number of employees from exempt to nonexempt and may require examining compensation.
- Talk to the managers and/or supervisors responsible for exempt employees to determine the actual job duties for the employees as opposed to the stated job duties
- Ensure current job descriptions accurately reflect job duties and convey the core functions and responsibilities of each role, particularly for exempt positions.
