Recently, and as we predicted in an article published last month (“Approval of the DOL’s Changed to the Overtime Exemption Rules is Imminent”), the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced that it will be publicizing its Final Overtime Rule today.  The DOL’s Wage and Hour Division Fact Sheet identifies the following “key provisions” of the Final Rule as follows:

1. The standard salary level is set at the 40^th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region, which currently is $913 per week or $47,476 annually;
2. The total annual compensation requirement for a highly compensated employee is set at the 90^th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally, which is $134,004; and
3. A mechanism for automatically updating the salary and compensation levels every three years to maintain the levels at the above percentiles will be implemented.

Also, as we suspected, the Final Rule amended the salary basis test to allow employers to include nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments (including commissions) to satisfy up to 10 percent of the new standard salary level.  The Final Rule did not make any changes to the duties test.

According to the White House Fact Sheet titled, “Growing Middle Class Paychecks and Helping Working Families Get Ahead By Expanding Overtime Pay,” the Final Rule is expected to extend the right to overtime compensation to 4.2 million more Americans who previously were exempt, or ineligible for overtime, which will have the intended effect of boosting wages for employees by approximately $12 billion over the next 10 years.  To help employers come into compliance, the DOL simultaneously published a Questions and Answers page that explains the purpose of the Final Rule, identifies the significant changes made by the Final Rule in a Comparison Chart, and provides suggestions for how the Final Rule can be implemented.  In addition, the DOL published several helpful guidance documents for employers, including:

• Private Employer Technical Guidance Document
• Small Business Guide
• Non-profits and the FLSA
• Higher Education and the FLSA
• Non-Profit Technical Guidance Document
• Higher Education Technical Guidance Document

The Final Rule takes effect December 1, 2016.  Employers affected by the change must take immediate steps to comply with the new requirements, and should reach out to counsel for help in doing so.  Failure to take the appropriate measures to comply with the Final Rule now could have significant and lasting consequences later.