Up to 3,500 Duke Jobs Will Become Eligible for Overtime Pay

The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a change in regulations that will increase the number of employees at Duke and across the country who are eligible to receive overtime pay.

The change increases the minimum salary threshold at which a position would be considered “exempt” from overtime pay from $23,660 per year to $47,476 per year. Any position that falls below $47,476 would be eligible for overtime pay once the change takes effect on Dec. 1, 2016. The regulation also includes a mechanism to increase the salary threshold every three years to adjust with the market.

“Duke has been closely monitoring the national discussions related to the proposed regulation and have been accessing the potential impact since it was recommended last year,” said Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for Administration. “We are reviewing the details of the new regulation to determine which positions will become newly eligible for overtime, but based on our early projections the change could affect up to 3,500 staff members at Duke, with the largest portion being University staff.”

The Department of Labor also provided specific guidance for higher education, including exclusions for certain types of position such as teachers who are ineligible for overtime.

“While we are mandated to implement this federal regulation, we are making every effort to mitigate any potential negative impact on Duke staff,” Cavanaugh said. “For example, eligibility for certain benefits at Duke are based on exempt or non-exempt status and years of service. We are taking steps now to ensure that staff members who have established eligibility for certain benefits such as retirement and paid time off do not have any reduction in benefits as a result of this regulation.”

Employers have been given six months to implement the change, which will require the updating of job classifications, benefit plan documents, and information systems at Duke.

“We will use the next few months to determine the optimal pathway for Duke that will allow for full compliance,” Cavanaugh said. “There are some areas of nuance in how the regulation will be applied that we need to better understand. Once we have ironed out those issues, we will be compiling a list of positions that will become newly eligible for overtime and sending out more detailed communications to help managers and staff members who will become newly eligible for overtime pay understand the change for how to record and submit work time.”