Trade Groups Schedule Second Overtime Seminar For Nov. 16

OCEAN CITY – With little time remaining before new overtime rules take effect Dec. 1, the Ocean City Chamber of Commerce and the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association (OCHMRA) are partnering with sponsor PKS & Company, P.A. to provide a second informational session Nov. 16.

This meeting will serve as a question-and-answer forum with panels consisting of a labor attorney and Department of Labor, Licensing and Registration (DLLR) officials, according to PKS Marketing Manager Laura Wilson.

In a session with business owners earlier this month, attorney and guest speaker Doug Desmarais spent a majority of the morning attending to the many questions employers had, highlighting their worries about the rule’s impact on Ocean City’s economic climate.

“We’ve known about this law for a long time, but I don’t think many knew it was in the pipeline and some perhaps even thought that it wouldn’t get this far,” Wilson said.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s new guidelines on overtime pay will take effect in every state in early December, but with unique seasonal employment and business hours, many Ocean City employers at the first meeting stressed their concerns about future business practices.

Currently, white collar salaried workers, such as those with executive, administrative and professional duties, making more than $23,660 annually, or $455 a week, are not eligible for overtime pay. This threshold will soon increase to $47,476 annually or $913 weekly.

Any of the 4.2 million U.S. citizens now eligible for overtime pay will receive time-and-a-half for any work that exceeds the 40-hour work week.

Employers will have the option to exempt employees from overtime pay if they meet criteria set by the salary and duties test, which remains unchanged, but the goal of the new guidelines is to raise low and middle-class incomes and to incentivize employers to either supply overtime pay to affected employees or to simply raise their salary to avoid paying overtime.

With the new changes, employers will now be responsible for tracking a salaried worker’s hours, making the switch to hourly pay an attractive incentive for many business owners to regulate overtime.

Yet, Wilson argued that the switch could negatively affect employees.

“For seasonal businesses, it will really affect them and how they treat their employees,” she said. “Psychologically, things happen. Going from salary to hourly bums people out. It’s problematic.”

Wilson said every business has its nuance, and each attendee will have a different concern, question or understanding.

Chamber Executive Director Melanie Pursel and OCHMRA Executive Director Susan Jones will be taking questions from employers through email prior to the event and have invited chamber members from seven other counties and cities around the lower Eastern Shore.

“Just seeing the turnout and interest at the first event shows that businesses want to comply and want to follow the rules,” Pursel said. “We as a chamber are trying to work with and educate the business community so they protect themselves.”

Lingering questions from the first session will be answered by DLLR officials and legal advisors over breakfast that Wednesday from 8:30-11:30 a.m. at the Grand Hotel in Ocean City.

“The new overtime law impacts all businesses and all nonprofit organizations,” PKS Managing Partner John Stern said in a statement. “Understanding how this may affect organizations before it goes into effect on Dec. 1 is imperative as it may change the way businesses hire, classify and pay existing and future employees. This is a huge change to exist FLSA overtime regulations and penalties for noncompliance can be severe.”

More information on the new overtime rules can be found on the Department of Labor’s website.

Anyone interested in attending the second session can email questions to Pursel or Jones at [email protected] and [email protected]. Registration will begin this week.

“It’s an all call for anyone concerned,” Wilson said.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.