NRF: Gradual rollout will blunt impact of overtime rules

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is publicly supporting legislation that would phase in the Labor Department’s new overtime regulations.



The NRF says the measure, introduced by Rep. Kurt Schrader, (D-Ore.), would mitigate the “substantial damage” the requirements will inflict on millions of workplaces across the country. Under regulations scheduled to take effect December 1, employers would be required to pay overtime to most workers who make up to $47,476 per year when they work more than 40 hours a week. That level is more than double the current threshold of $23,660, and the regulations include automatic increases to the salary level every three years thereafter.



The Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act introduced by Schrader would allow the threshold to rise to just under $36,000 in 2016, with the remainder phased in during the next three years.



“Rep. Schrader’s legislation will help blunt the damage to America’s job creators that the reckless new overtime rules will cause unless Congress takes action by December,” said NRF senior VP for Government Relations David French. “The Labor Department’s changes to the overtime threshold are too much, too fast for both employers and employees to adjust to without serious negative consequences for both. The Schrader bill addresses the ‘too fast’ part of the problem and we support it.”



NRF also continues to support the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act, introduced in March by Senator Tim Scott, R-S.C., and House Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich. The measure would pause implementation of the regulations and require the Labor Department to complete a comprehensive analysis of the impact the changes would have on small businesses and lower-wage regions of the country. In addition, the bill would block the regulations’ automatic increases to the wage threshold.



Research conducted for NRF shows that the overtime regulations will force employers to limit hours or cut base pay in order to make up for the added payroll costs, leaving most workers with no increase in take-home pay despite added administrative costs. A separate survey found that the majority of retail managers and assistant managers oppose the plan.