If Congress flips, expect FLSA OT threshold rewrite effort to stall

Democratic wins in November’s midterm elections could influence the HR agenda on Capitol Hill, according to Michael Aitken, vice president of government affairs at the Society for Human Resource Management.

Speaking at SHRM’s annual conference last week in Chicago, Aitken said that if Democrats wrest control of the House of Representatives, the Senate or both from Republicans, it will likely stall any move to revise the white-collar overtime rule.

The Trump administration wants to reset the exempt employee overtime salary threshold to somewhere in the neighborhood of $33,000 per year, up from the current $23,660. A Democratic Congress could push for a much higher threshold—does $47,476 ring a bell?—triggering a stalemate on any action until after the 2020 presidential election.