It’s been a tumultuous year between several governmental agencies and businesses alike and, because of that, both sides have been repeatedly put into a state of limbo. Three new major rule changes have made headlines, especially in the construction industry, this year, including an injury and illness record keeping and reporting rule, a “blacklisting” rule, and an overtime pay rule.
The overtime pay rule, a directive of President Obama, was supposed to go into effect this week, on December 1, but a Texas judge has recently issued an injunction against the rule, preventing it from being carried out.
The new overtime rule would have potentially impacted around 4.2 million workers throughout the United States, as it intended to raise the minimum salary threshold of workers who are exempt from receiving overtime pay from $23,660 to $47,476. That means if a salaried worker works makes less than $47,476 per year, they are entitled to overtime pay, one and a half times normal pay, for any hours worked over 40 in a single week. The rule was intended to either put more cash into workers’ pockets or allow them more free time outside of work.
Construction industry groups disagreed with the rule, because of the length of certain projects. “Construction projects often last longer than three years and are meticulously planned in order to stay on time and budget,” said Kristen Swearingen, ABC Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs, in a press release. “This rule will create uncertainty for contractors and their employees by forcing contractors to speculate about employees’ status years into the future when work on a project will actually be performed.”
The US Department of Labor believes that workers are being taken advantage of and not properly compensated for their long hours. They also believe the minimum salary amount for overtime pay is extremely out of date. Below is a short video produced by the DOL explaining the overtime rule. It’s clear that the rule would have a major effect on how many businesses operate, especially in the construction industry, due to many projects requiring long hours.
What do you think? Tell us in the comments.
One of the toughest things to deal with on any project can be the relationships between owner and general contractor or the general contractor and subcontractor. In the worst case scenarios, tensions between those relationships can sometimes lead to one of those parties packing up their tools and walking off the job before it’s complete. But that action may make the situation a little hairier than you might expect, if you don’t do it the right way.