ASAE has been advocating against the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed changes to the overtime rule for more than a year—and is now urging associations to contact their members of Congress to support the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act (H.R. 5813).

With Congress preparing to adjourn soon for the November elections, there is little time left for lawmakers to change the rule before it takes effect on December 1. ASAE has held numerous meetings on Capitol Hill and believes the new reform bill will be brought to a vote if there is a strong showing of support from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

The final overtime rule, announced by DOL in May, raises the threshold for employees who are exempt from overtime pay to $47,476—more than double the current salary threshold of $23,660. ASAE does not oppose an adjustment to the current overtime threshold, but it is concerned that the new rule as written would adversely affect many nonprofit organizations and other employers with limited revenues and could harm many affected employees as well.

The reform bill, introduced by Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) in July, would address some of the concerns employers have with the new rule by incrementally phasing in the new salary threshold over the next three years. The bill would also eliminate a provision in the final overtime rule that allows for automatic updates to the salary threshold every three years.

After the act’s introduction, ASAE sent a letter of support [PDF] to Schrader’s office. In the letter, ASAE said “we believe the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act provides a much more reasonable timeline for organizations to comply with this significant payroll burden, starting with a salary threshold increase to approximately $35,984 on Dec. 1, 2016, with additional, incremental increases phased in over the next three years.”

In addition to ASAE, Schrader’s bill already has support from 100 associations representing a wide range of industries and professions.

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