The U.S. Department of Labor issued a new overtime regulation May 18 that makes millions of employees eligible for overtime pay beginning Dec. 1. Under the new regulation, most salaried workers earning up to $47,476 a year must receive time-and-a-half overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours during a week; the previous cutoff for overtime pay, set in 2004, was $23,660.

The DOL states the ruling:

• Automatically updates the salary threshold every three years, based on wage growth over time, increasing predictability.

• Strengthens overtime protections for salaried workers already entitled to overtime.

• Provides greater clarity for workers and employers.

We’ll have more details on the overtime ruling and reactions from the industry in the July issue.