Letter to DOL: Most Small Businesses Support 35K Overtime Threshold; Rural Businesses Seek Relief
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Office of Advocacy (Advocacy) submits the following comments in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule, which proposes to revise and update the regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), implementing an exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees. This proposed rule sets a minimum salary threshold of $35,308 for this “white collar” exemption.
Advocacy appreciates that DOL has adopted many recommendations made by Advocacy that will reduce the economic impacts of this rule to small businesses. Most small businesses have told Advocacy that they support this proposal’s more moderate $35,308 minimum salary threshold. Small businesses were concerned that DOL’s 2016 final rule, which doubled the minimum salary threshold from $23,660 to $47,476 within a short time frame, would have been disruptive for their companies. While Advocacy supports the proposed regulatory changes, some small businesses in rural communities and in the restaurant and retail industries are still concerned with the costs of this minimum salary threshold increase and have suggested further tailored regulatory alternatives to this proposal to ease their compliance burdens.
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