WASHINGTON—American Resort & Lodging Affiliation Board Member and Principal of Sita Ram LLC Jagruti Panwala will testify earlier than Congress in opposition to the Division of Labor’s (DOL) proposal to boost the additional time wage exemption threshold for government, administrative, {and professional} staff underneath the Honest Labor Requirements Act.
DOL in August proposed elevating the brink from $35,568 to an estimated $60,209 in 2024 in line with the division’s personal projections, a virtually 70 % enhance, which means that each one staff making underneath that quantity have to be paid additional time for any hours labored over 40 in a single week. Moreover, the DOL proposal would robotically enhance the brink each three years thereafter by tying it to the thirty fifth percentile of earnings for full-time salaried staff within the lowest-wage Census Area (presently the South).
In her testimony tomorrow earlier than the Home Committee on Training & the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Panwala will spotlight how such an excessive change would exacerbate the financial difficulties dealing with hoteliers, together with labor shortages and provide chain issues.
“The Division’s additional time proposed rule could have severe penalties for my enterprise in addition to my staff. It’s vital to notice that the proposal doesn’t merely enhance salaries for a couple of staff at a marginal degree. Reasonably, an as much as 70 % enhance will drastically impression your complete marketing strategy properly past compensation,” Panwala mentioned in her ready remarks.
“The very last thing small enterprise house owners wish to do is lay off staff. Sadly, some lodges could also be compelled to take action due to this new rule so as to keep in enterprise,” she added.
“We applaud Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx and Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Kiley for inviting AHLA to testify on this terribly dangerous DOL proposal,” mentioned American Resort & Lodging Affiliation President and CEO Chip Rogers. “Yet one more enhance to the additional time threshold would create unfavourable financial impacts for lodge staff and employers alike. We can’t afford a massively disruptive change, significantly at a time after we’re lastly beginning to put the financial devastation of the pandemic behind us.”
The DOL proposal comes after the division elevated the minimal wage threshold 4 years in the past by 50.3 % to $35,568.
