On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued the final rule to change the criteria that establishes whether employees are eligible for overtime pay. The rule increases the minimum salary threshold to $43,888 (or $844/week) on July 1, 2024 and then to $58,656 (or $1,128/week) on January 1, 2025. The rule also implements automatic updates to the threshold that will occur every three years. The duties test has not been changed.

The FLSA establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping and youth employment standards affecting all United States employees in the private sector and in Federal, State and local governments, including higher education. Employees are either exempt from overtime or non-exempt from overtime pay based on FLSA regulations. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) administers the FLSA regulations.

Exempt (salaried) employees are excluded from receiving overtime pay. Non-exempt (hourly) employees are required to be paid overtime at a rate of one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for any hours worked in excess of forty hours in a seven-day workweek as defined by their employer.

The designation of exempt (salaried) or non-exempt (hourly) is simply a legal designation and does not impact the type or importance of an employee’s work.

No. The FLSA is a federal law. The determination of an employee’s FLSA status is governed by the requirements of the federal law – it is not an employee choice. It is at the discretion of the organization with regard to each individual’s compensation, position responsibilities, position exemption status for positions with same or similar titles and the new regulation. In order to be exempt from FLSA provisions (not eligible for overtime), employees must pass both the duties test and salary tests. If you do not pass these tests, you must be paid for overtime hours worked under the law. Exempt employees must also be paid on a salary, not hourly, basis. 

Please refer to the Reference Material Website for detailed instructions specific to your situation.

BGSU’s workweek begins at 12 a.m. on Sunday morning and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday evening.

No, because overtime is calculated based on the 40-hour work week. You cannot flex your time from week to week, it can only be flexed in one work week. For example, if an employee works 44 hours in week one of the pay period they cannot flex the following week by working 36 hours.

The hours an employee works over 40 hours in a workweek is called overtime. It is paid at a standard rate of time and a half or 1.5 times the standard hourly rate. 

All overtime must be approved in advance by your supervisor. 

Please refer to the Reference Material Website for detailed instructions specific to your situation.

Hourly employees (non-exempt) can still request alternative scheduling arrangements with their supervisors; however, all time worked must be recorded within the timesheet. Any hours worked over 40 hours within the workweek will be considered overtime.  All overtime must be pre-approved by the supervisor.  All current and future alternative scheduling arrangements will have to be revisited with your supervisor, with an understanding as to when overtime is permissible. 

Please note-any work activities outside of your standard work hours including but not limited to reading emails and checking messages may be considered additional hours.  

Part-time workers are required to meet all three tests (the duties test, salary basis test and salary level test) to be exempt from overtime pay requirements. Regardless of full- or part-time status, employees must be paid at least the minimum salary threshold on a weekly basis in order to be exempt from overtime pay requirements. That means that, beginning July 1, 2024, full- and part-time employees must be paid at least $833 per week in order to maintain exempt status, so long as the salary basis and duties tests are also met. The same will be true beginning January 1, 2025, when full- and part-time employees must be paid $1,128 per week per week to maintain their exempt status. It is important to note that the minimum salary threshold cannot be prorated for part-time employees.

Your annual sick and vacation accruals will remain the same over a full year, though the accrual schedule will change to correspond to your new pay schedule.

• Full-time employees, regardless of their work shift or schedule, are automatically entitled to eight hours of holiday pay whether they work on the holiday or not, provided they are in active pay status for the entire shift on the scheduled work day immediately preceding and following the holiday.
• When an employee who is eligible for overtime pay under this section is required by the employee's responsible administrative authority to work on the day observed as a holiday, the employee shall be entitled to pay for such time worked at one and one-half times the employee's regular rate of pay in addition to the employee's regular pay. Payment at such rate shall be excluded in the calculation of hours in active pay status.

All impacted employees must be paid on the bi-weekly pay schedule. 

Paying in arrears means you pay an employee for work they completed in the previous pay period. This is in contrast to current pay, which is when an employer pays an employee the last day of the workweek. Arrears payments are utilized for hourly employees to ensure all the hours worked are accurately captured and recorded.

No. Per the regulations, overtime is only accrued when the total hours for the workweek (including hours worked, sick, vacation, holiday, etc.) are more than 40 hours.

Yes. If non-exempt (hourly) employees work overtime hours, they must be paid, even if they are unapproved. That is why it is critical to establish how overtime approval will be managed and communicated to everyone in your unit. The guidance for affected employees should reiterate that employees should seek approval before working any overtime. You can help by establishing rules in your unit for seeking approval in advance for projects or events that may be deadline-driven and require additional hours. Since more employees in your unit may now be eligible for overtime, you must consider this impact when planning your overtime budget. 

Note that if an employee continues to work overtime without supervisory approval, the supervisor should begin disciplinary action with the employee and in consultation with the Employee Relations Department.

No. When employees work off the clock, their working hours are unpaid and not recorded. These hours would also be excluded from any overtime calculation. It is against Ohio state and federal laws for employees to work off the clock.

If you discover your employee is doing this, you need to explain to them that this is not permissible. Note that if an employee continues to work “off the clock,” then the supervisor should begin disciplinary action with the employee and in consultation with the Employee Relations Department.

Employees who transition to hourly because of the FLSA salary threshold change would typically only return to salaried status if they move into a different classification/position. However, there are other possibilities to consider. Future changes to the FLSA itself could adjust the salary threshold again, which might impact an employee's status. Additionally, if an employee’s duties significantly change over time, leading to a reclassification of their position, that could also bring them back into a salaried role.

Employees who are transitioned to Non-exempt (hourly) status will remain hourly even if their earnings meet or exceed the new salary threshold of $58,656. This approach ensures a consistent process for all employees.

If an employee is required to attend training related to their job, the training is considered involuntary, and the employee must be paid for their time.

According to the Department of Labor, training is not work time if all four criteria are met:

• training is outside of working hours
• training is voluntary
• training is not directly related to the job
• the employee has no productive work during attendance

If all four criteria are met, the training will be voluntary, and the employee will not be paid.

Yes; however, this would not count towards work hours.  

This assignment is considered mandatory work and will count toward total hours worked. If these duties occur outside your standard work hours, the time should either be flexed within the workweek or paid at an overtime rate if it exceeds 40 hours.

Teachers are FLSA exempt, regardless of their annual/weekly salary, if their “primary duty is teaching, tutoring, instructing, or lecturing in the activity of imparting knowledge.” See DOL Fact Sheet #17D. Most faculty positions qualify as FLSA exempt under this “teaching exemption” and will not be affected by the changes.