Workers who earn less than $35,000 will be eligible for overtime pay under proposed regulations released by the Labor Department in March.
The proposal raises the salary threshold under which workers are automatically entitled to time-and-a-half pay requirements for all hours worked beyond 40 a week from about $24,000, but doesn’t go to the $47,000 mark recommended by the Obama administration.
The proposed rules, which the department said would make more than 1 million workers eligible for overtime, are likely to significantly affect the pay of many long-term care workers, particularly nurses, prompting skilled nursing advocates to call for an industry exemption. Long-term care experts suggest that the new regulations may indirectly result in limiting access to care for seniors and individuals with disabilities.
“Many long-term and post-acute care centers are on the brink due to ever-changing Medicare and inadequate Medicaid rates, making it very difficult for them to absorb this increase,” said Lilly Hummel, the American Health Care Association’s senior director of policy and program integrity.
The department is seeking comment on the proposal, which was crafted based on more than 200,000 comments sent during a 2017 request for information. This would be the first update to overtime pay requirements in 15 years.
From the April 1, 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
