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May 24, 2019

CT’s Tong joins other AGs opposing Trump’s overtime rule changes

william tong Photo | Office of the Attorney General Attorney General William Tong.
By Sean Teehan

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced Friday he’ll join more than a dozen other state attorneys general in opposition to a Trump Administration proposal to roll back federal overtime protections.

The Department of Labor (DOL) proposal would adjust policy that determines whether or not certain employees may be exempted from receiving overtime pay. Specifically, it would change the "white-collar" exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the current DOL rule, those employed in executive, administrative, and professional “white-collar” positions and who receive a fixed salary and are paid a certain amount of money are generally exempt from overtime protections available under the FLSA.

In 2016, the DOL raised the salary that would exempt a white-collar employee from receiving overtime from $455 per week to $913 per week, Tong’s statement said. The policy includes automatic increases to that amount every three years.

The Trump Administration DOL proposal, Tong said, would reduce the overtime exemption pay level to $679 per week, and get rid of the automatic increase. 

That change, Tong said, would eliminate overtime pay for more than 8 million workers across the country. Tong signed onto a comment letter with other attorneys general detailing states’ concerns that DOL’s weakening of the salary level test will make it harder for states to enforce labor laws, and it will lead to more FLSA violations by employers who misclassify workers as white-collar employees. 

“When salary levels are set too low, workers suffer from lower incomes and longer hours,” Tong said in a statement. 

Also urging the administration to abandon the proposal are the attorneys general of New York, Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia. 

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