How Dealerships Can Take the New Overtime Rules in Stride
Most auto dealerships know that their federal compliance obligations are about to change, but how many are sincerely prepared for December 1st, 2016? That’s the date when a new rule under the Federal Labor Standards Act will go into effect, making millions of employees no longer exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay eligibility.
Overtime and Minimum Wage Eligibility: What’s Changing?
The FLSA currently requires that employees receive a minimum wage ($7.25 an hour, or higher depending on the state(s) in which you do business) and premium pay for overtime work (1.5 times the regular rate of pay for over 40 hours worked in a single workweek), as well as that employers follow certain record keeping standards such as accurate time records. Some employees, however, are exempt from these requirements. The Final Rule adjusts the exemptions through increased minimum salary and total annual compensation thresholds, primarily affecting so-called “white collar” workers such as executive, administrative and IT personnel.
In other words, some members of your company may have to start keeping much better track of their time if you want to ensure your workforce remains compliant.
How Are Dealerships Keeping Up With the FLSA Changes?
The Final Rule adjusts the exemptions through increased minimum salary and total annual compensation thresholds.
In a recent Compli webinar for auto dealers, Steve Roppolo, regional managing partner at Fisher Phillips, joined Compli Content Product Manager Kynzie Sims to discuss these issues in detail. Steve and Kynzie walked our participants through the details of the final rule, the differences between non-exempt and exempt employees, dealership-specific exemptions, how to discuss the changes with your employees and much more.
I urge you to catch up on the entire archived presentation, but it’s a segment Kynzie explored toward the end of the presentation that I want to share with you today. Through a poll taken during the webinar, we learned that only 19% of dealers are using an automated compliance system to manage workforce regulatory changes. I’ll leave you with 3 reasons, provided by Kynzie, why these dealers have the right idea.
Here’s how a compliance system that turns training and communication into automated processes is the fastest, most effective, and most accurate solution in the long-term:
3 Immediate Benefits of an Automated Compliance System
How do you communicate regulatory changes to your employees: face-to-face, email, interoffice memo? Do you use a combination of systems? Or, as Kynzie puts it, do you do things “MacGyver-style,” scrambling to figure it out whenever you get to it, using whatever resources are readily available?
Watch the Webinar
New Overtime Rule:
How Dealerships Can Take the Changes in Stride
You can view this webinar, “New Overtime Rule: How Dealerships Can Take the Changes in Stride,” on demand, any time in our Resources Library. While you’re there, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss future presentations.
