Labor Secretary Nominee Comments on Overtime Increase
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Last week the U.S. Senate held a confirmation hearing for Labor Secretary Nominee Alexander Acosta. During the hearing, Acosta was repeatedly asked about his position on overtime and the increase from $23,660 to $47,476 promulgated under the Obama administration. Acosta signaled that he is "sensitive" to the fact that overtime hasn’t been updated since 2004 but is concerned with the "large revision" under the Obama administration. Pressed further, Acosta acknowledging an overtime increase is needed stated, "If you were to apply a straight inflation adjustment, I believe the figure if it were to be updated would be somewhere around $33,000, give or take."
A federal judge issued a temporary injunction against the overtime increase regulation proposed by the Obama administration in November.
While the court deliberates the legality of the regulation, the Trump administration has the opportunity to re-write the regulation based on a more reasonable and fair threshold for both employers and employees.
