You may remember in 2016 when President Obama’s Department Of Labor made an unprecedented change to the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act by mandating a 100% increase in the minimum salary threshold for overtime pay requirements. MRAA and many other groups fought against it, as it could have limited workplace flexibility and increased labor costs for dealerships. Thankfully, in November of 2016, a Texas federal judge issued a preliminary nationwide injunction for all employers blocking the DOL from implementing the new rule.

With a new presidential administration at the helm, the Department of Labor is asking for public input to revise the controversial rule. The agency says the recent public Request for Information (RFI) is an “opportunity for the public to provide information that will aid the department in formulating a proposal to revise these regulations which define and delimit exemptions from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime requirements for certain employees.”

The RFI seeks comment and information on 11 particular questions, including whether the standard salary level set in that rule effectively identifies employees who may be exempt, whether a different salary level would more appropriately identify such employees, and whether changes to the duties test would be necessary to sync up the exemption to the salary level.

While there have been no changes since the implementation of the rule was halted in federal court, MRAA is tracking the progress of this new Labor Department initiative. RFI’s give the public an opportunity to comment on an issue, and it may eventually lead to the development of a new rule proposal.

If you would like to learn more about the new RFI, please take the time to read the 11 questions posed by the department, and feel free to submit your comment.