(June 3, 2016 – Jarret Cummings) In May, the EDUCAUSE Policy Spotlight blog highlighted pending changes to federal overtime regulations that would greatly expand the number of employees eligible for overtime pay with very little time for employers, including colleges and universities, to adjust. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has since confirmed that the new U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will take effect on December 1 of this year. While this provides a somewhat longer timeframe for institutions to prepare to comply, it still presents colleges and universities with the challenge of adjusting to major shifts in personnel and compensation structures in less than half a year.
To help members better understand and respond to this challenge, EDUCAUSE joined with a number of other higher education associations to co-sponsor a May 25 webinar (session archive available [http://www.cupahr.org/events/webinar-20160525.aspx]) by CUPA-HR, the association for higher education human resources professionals. The American Council on Education (ACE) has partnered with CUPA-HR and NASPA (the association for higher education student affairs professionals) to present a webinar further exploring major issues and concerns at 1:00 PM, Eastern, on June 17, which EDUCAUSE is again co-sponsoring.
Registration for the June 17 webinar is now open. The new rules will raise the salary threshold from the current $23,660 level to $47,476. With this in mind, senior administrators and managers with significant numbers of potentially affected employees should consider participating to learn more about how they might best work with their human resources and finance colleagues in anticipation of the December 1 deadline.
Jarret Cummings is director of policy and government relations at EDUCAUSE.