The clock is ticking on schools, small businesses, and charitable organizations across the country. In two short months, the Department of Labor’s extreme and partisan overtime rule will go into effect. Despite repeated warnings of harmful consequences, the administration looks determined to enforce this unprecedented rule starting December 1, 2016.
The clock is ticking on schools, small businesses, and charitable organizations across the country. In two short months, the Department of Labor’s extreme and partisan overtime rule will go into effect. Despite repeated warnings of harmful consequences, the administration looks determined to enforce this unprecedented rule starting December 1, 2016. It took the Obama administration more than two years—or 27 months—to complete this rule, yet it only provided the American people six months to implement it.
That’s why those who have to live with the consequences of the rule are struggling to make significant payroll and staffing changes necessary to meet the department’s arbitrary deadline. In fact, a survey found 49 percent of small business owners aren’t even aware that this new rule exists. And it’s not just small businesses trying to catch up; nonprofit organizations and colleges and universities are facing tough choices as well. Stories across the country reveal what many Americans are now up against:
Small businesses are scrambling to comply with the rule.
The Overtime Rule has not even gone into effect yet, and I have already opted to hire one less employee this year … This rule was incredibly underpublicized, and I have talked to many small business owners who don’t even know that it exists. If the looming December 1st deadline stands, many owners will be in violation of the rule and will face expensive fines. – Ernie MacEwen, small business owner, South Rockwood, MI
Our members are scrambling to reorganize their workforce and implement costly new reporting systems to meet the unrealistic December 1 deadline. - Justin Winslow, president, Michigan Restaurant Association
I’m a little worried I’m not hearing more from Idaho employers … It worries me that Thanksgiving’s going to hit, and people are going to say, "Oh no. We need you to help us with this." – Pam Howland, employment lawyer, Boise, ID
I am worried the new overtime rule will dramatically limit opportunities for the young people I employ to grow, advance in the workplace, and gain managerial experience. Delaying it would be a welcome development for small business owners and our employees. – Karen Richard, owner, Culver’s Restaurants, Ann Arbor, MI
It’s difficult to explain to people how a policy like that ends up being bad for people all around, but from my position, it is so clearly bad for everybody ... You’re basically forcing people that may want to work more, to not work. It’s very frustrating. – Paul Vander Heide, owner, hard cider maker Vander Mill LLC, Grand Rapids, MI
Nonprofits are struggling to mitigate the impact on the people they serve.
Additional costs have the ability to reduce the services nonprofits are able to offer to our communities. So many of our non-profits have much smaller budgets and are used to doing more for less. – Cynthia Minton Walker, CEO, United Way of South Mississippi
There’s so many of us out here trying to do the best we can with limited resources and trying to inch things along as we’re able and investing in our people. But the kind of ramp-up they’re asking for in a five-month period is just insane. – Amy Wratchford, managing director, American Shakespeare Center
You don’t work here for the paycheck … You work here for the mission. You’re in the community to make sure people don’t go hungry. It’s more of a way of life, and there’s no way to track that. – Cathy Arft, nonprofit employee, Osceola Council on Aging
As an organization that is committed to family preservation, foster care, adoption, and child welfare, we are very aware that extreme changes to overtime rules can have a deleterious effect on our workplace flexibility and ability to perform services for children. – Bill Blacquiere, president, Bethany Christian Services, Grand Rapids, MI
Whatever solution we come up with, it’s costing more money and we’re just trying to manage that … We’re doing our best to not cut any programs, but we’ve had to get creative as much as possible with division of duties. – Bruce Spoelman, CEO, The Muskegon Family YMCA
Colleges and universities are concerned with raising tuition and reducing services.
From the cost of tuition to provided services, this rule will have far-reaching implications for our students, employees, and community as a whole. Additionally, we are concerned with the limited time frame to implement such a sweeping change to administrative policy and encourage any efforts to delay the rule’s harmful consequences. – Jeffrey Docking, president, Adrian College
My main theme here is that we’re not going to make any quick decisions … It's going to be expensive, though ... It’s not a million dollars, but it’s not $25,000 either. It’s certainly going to be a financial challenge for us, but it’s not a choice. – Curt Apsey, athletic director, Boise State University
We’ve struggled with it. It’s created havoc across all parts of our enterprise. – Robert Frank, president, University of New Mexico
The negative side of a change like that, because it was so extreme—almost doubling that salary threshold for any institution—there’s a financial cost no matter what you do. – Cindy Reckdenwald, director of compensation and workforce planning, Ithaca College
To be honest, we’re nervous about it … We could wind up with several hundred thousand dollars of overtime that I have not budgeted. – Michael V. Carter, president, Campbellsville University
It’s bad enough the department ignored the concerns of small business owners, nonprofit organizations, and colleges and universities. The administration added insult to injury by forcing them to implement the rule under an arbitrary and unrealistic deadline.
While the rule should be scrapped entirely, the least Congress can do is provide our nation’s workplaces, schools, and charitable organizations more time to implement it. And that is precisely what Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-MI) legislation, the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act, will do.
