The US Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed changes to the white-collar exemptions to federal overtime pay requirements that could severely and negatively impact our profession and the economy generally.

Currently, an employee must meet three criteria to qualify as “exempt” from overtime pay: first, they must be paid a salary; second, that salary must be more than $684/week ($35,568 annually); and third, their “primary duties” must be consistent with executive, administrative, or professional positions as defined by DOL. 

DOL has proposed the minimum salary threshold be raised to $1,158 per week ($60,209 annually) – an increase of nearly 70%. DOL is making this change despite the last increase occurring only four years ago. DOL also has proposed automatically updating the minimum salary every three years going forward.

This massive increase to the salary level, followed by automatic increases every three years, will have an extremely negative impact on the funeral service profession and the economy. Employers would be faced with crushing increases in labor and administrative costs and the American people would see jumps in prices for goods and services as well as diminished customer service. At the same time, employers need to track hours of nonexempt employees, so employees who are reclassified from exempt to nonexempt could lose workplace flexibility and workforce development opportunities, such as the ability to attend conferences or classes outside of normal work hours.

That is why we are working with the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity (PPWO) to urge the administration to abandon its rulemaking. Please use the coalition’s web portal to reach out to DOL and your members of Congress and tell them the proposed rule will hurt the employees they are trying to help and crush all employers across the economy – from small businesses to nonprofits to public employers.

PPWO has made it easy to contact both DOL and your members of Congress about this important issue. 

Please click here to take action now!

If you have any questions, please contact NFDA Senior Vice President of Advocacy Lesley Witter at lwitter@nfda.org or 202-236-4926. 

Thank you for your help in this important matter!