Your payroll expenses might take a big hit this December. That’s when a new law will change how overtime pay works. Under the new overtime rules, employers are required to pay overtime (time-and-a-half) to any salaried employee who makes less than $47,476 per year. That’s a little more than double the current minimum of $23,660.
If you have any back-office employees who are salaried, there’s a good chance the new law will affect your business. There are four major decisions you’ll have to make in order to stay compliant.
1. Do you cap hours at 40 per week, or do you pay overtime?
Are you better off putting tighter controls on your costs, or would the tighter work schedules hurt your revenue too much? This could vary seasonally, based on how high the demand is for trucks.
2. Do you give your employees a raise?
If you have salaried employees who earn close to $47,476 per year and regularly work more than 40 hours per week, it might be worth giving them a raise so that they’re exempt from the new rule.
3. Will you switch your salaried employees to hourly?
And how will you decide their hourly rate? If a salaried employee regularly works 46 hours a week, do you divide that weekly salary by 46 or 40?
4. How will you track work hours?
If you already have a system for tracking work hours, you could add your salary employees to that system so that you’ll know when their 40 hours are up. Otherwise, you might want to look into new payroll software.
Get answers to your trucking compliance questions by contacting DAT Fleet Services.
