What Does New Overtime Law Mean for Alabama?
President Obama unveiled a long-awaited plan that will make millions of Americans eligible for overtime pay.
So what do Alabama business owners think about the new measure?
The new overtime measure will allow people making at least $47,000 an opportunity to receive overtime pay.
In the past that threshold was at least $23,000. That move could fatten the wallets of more that four million Americans.
When it comes to the new rule some have mixed reviews.
“They’re going to have to reclassify a lot of their workers, taking them from salaried positions to hourly workers, and it’s going to impact employees, because some of them are going to feel like they’re getting a demotion because they’re going from a salaried position to an hourly paid position,” said Melissa Warnke of the Alabama Retailers Association.
Work unions like the AFL-CIO disagree with retailers. They say when it comes to the new rule it’s about time.
“We believe that if you work more that eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week that you should be compensated a time an a half,” said Bren Riley, President of the Alabama AFL-CIO.
The new overtime rule goes into effect December 1st of this year.
