New OT rules propose $35,308 salary threshold.

• Position: In the News...

After two years of speculation, false starts and hand-wringing, the U.S. Department of Labor has finally published its much-anticipated overhaul of the nation's overtime rules. Released March 7, the new proposed rules are meant to replace Obama-era rules that never went into effect.

The big news: The DOL proposes raising the minimum overtime salary threshold to $35,308 per year, a 50% increase over the current $23,660.

If the new rules are enacted, exempt administrative, executive and professional employees earning at or below the threshold will be eligible for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.

The new threshold is slated to go into effect Jan. 1, 2020.

The change will likely mean that at least one million additional white-collar employees will suddenly qualify for overtime pay. The changes don't require congressional approval.

There's more. In order to push the salary level through well before the 2020 election, the DOL is holding back on another controversial change that it expects will be challenged in court--whether and how to automatically raise the salary level by...