In September 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) revised a regulation that increased the salary threshold where employees are eligible to receive overtime.  This was a major change to employee exemption criteria under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The salary threshold, which has been in place since 2004, increased from $455 per week (the equivalent of $23,660 annually) to $684 per week (the equivalent of $35,568 annually). The threshold is only one element of the criteria used to determine exemption status.

The university’s commitment includes supporting impacted employees, their supervisors and local units as we work to implement the necessary changes. Employees and supervisors will be offered assistance in learning and implementing updated internal policies and processes.

Please note that the FLSA exemption status is not an indicator of an employee’s professional status and does not decrease the importance of their work. All NMSU employees are valued members of the NMSU community.

Five key impacts:

• The salary of impacted exempt employees assigned to pay grades 06 and below will be converted to hourly pay, unless the position classification qualifies for an exemption under the law, as determined by HR Services.
• Impacted employees will be adjusted to the “lag” payroll cycle.
• Impacted employees will use the standard non-exempt timekeeping system to track hours worked, and supervisors must approve the timesheet in order for pay to be processed.
• Hourly employees must have overtime approved by their supervisor in advance.

We realize that transitions like this can be challenging. NMSU’s commitment includes:

• Impacted employees will be paid for all hours worked, including overtime when you work more than 40 hours in a week.
• Impacted employees and supervisors will be offered training on internal systems and processes that are changing.
• Impacted employees and supervisors will be offered the opportunity to attend informational sessions to learn about the new FLSA rules and NMSU’s implementation strategy to comply with the law.
• Annual sick and vacation accruals for impacted employees will remain unchanged and in accordance with NMSU Administrative Rules and Procedures.

In the meantime, this is a good opportunity to consult with Human Resource Services to learn more about overtime practices, please contact HRS at 575-646-8000.

Updates will be posted here as more details become available.

 

•  

---