New interpretations of federal overtime laws will not have an impact on most Marquette employees.
Revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect Aug. 23. Workers who earn less than $23,660 per year or $455 per week are guaranteed overtime protection. According to a statement by U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, the new interpretations "will strengthen overtime rights for 6.7 million Americans."
The changes to the law were made in order to update the old regulations. According to the Employment Standards Administration's Final Rule document: "The minimum salary level was last updated in 1975" and changes in minimum wage have not been accounted for since then.
Under the old regulations, employees who earned as little as $8,060 per year or $155 per week could be exempt from overtime pay, the document said.
The new regulations could affect employees in the form of increased hiring, according to David Clark, associate professor of economics.
"One of the things that can happen is a company will say, 'I don't want to pay someone overtime, I'll just hire another worker,'" Clark said. There are also costs associated with hiring, so companies will want to "strategically determine what is in their best interest," he said.
Marquette is currently in the process of reviewing the new law to find out what implications it has for the university, said Ben Tracy, director of university communication. Most employees will not be affected by the changes, he said, since overtime laws apply only to hourly-paid workers.
Non-exempt employees receive overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours per week, Tracy said. Employees who are exempt are usually those who hold a higher-level position and are paid a salary.
Although student employees are paid by the hour, many do not work enough hours during the week to qualify for overtime pay.
College of Health Sciences sophomore Katie Meister, a desk receptionist at Mashuda Hall, said she typically works 19 hours per week and does not know of any student employee who works close to 40 hours.
"I can't really ever imagine anybody working that much," Meister said. "You would definitely have to work every day."
The majority of Facilities Services' 190 employees are paid on an hourly basis, according to Director Ronald Ripley. Hourly-paid employees include painters, custodians and maintenance workers.
Facilities Services employees receive overtime pay if they clock more than 40 hours in a week, but most do not work that many hours, Ripley said. Most Facilities Services employees earn less than $455 a week, so they would still qualify for overtime under the new stipulations.
"I don't think there's a whole lot of impact, if any," Ripley said.
The new laws could have a larger impact off-campus. Overtime regulations have remained constant for almost 50 years prior to the recent revisions and some groups are concerned about the change.
Employees such as low-level supervisors — who manage a few employees but do not have any power to hire or fire — will lose their right to overtime pay, according to Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute.
"They can spend all day stacking shelves or working in a factory and still be considered an executive under this law," Eisenbrey said.
He said while a few low-paid groups may benefit from the revisions, most, like low-level supervisors, will be hurt because they are classified as executives and are thus exempt from overtime pay.
Other organizations have expressed their support of the new regulations.
The National Restaurant Association issued a statement supporting the revisions, citing clarity regarding exemptions as one of the new law's improvements. Under the old rules overtime eligibility was unclear, resulting in expensive lawsuits, the statement said.
While low-level supervisors and restaurant workers may debate the merits of the new regulations, Meister said no student employees are worrying about overtime pay.
"I hope no student works over 40 hours (in) a week," she said. "If they do – wow – that's way too much."