John O'Connor

Concerned about the new federal overtime rule? You have plenty of company.

A just-released survey of business executives finds that more than 4-in-5 expect enforcement related to this mandate will impact their workplaces in the next 12 months. More than 30% indicated the impact will be “significant.”

These less-than-heartwarming results come courtesy of Littler Mendelson’s fifth annual Executive Employer Survey.

The new labor rule takes effect in December. It makes any person earning up to $47,476 a year eligible for overtime pay. Before you break out the calculator, that works out to about $913 a week. The previous overtime cutoff was less than half as much: $23,660 per year (or $455 a week). The upgrade is expected to affect more than 4 million workers and surely will make its presence felt across many senior living communities.

As a practical matter, this means many operators will be grappling with how to hire fewer workers, reduce existing staffing levels and find new ways of getting work done in ways that don’t require involvement from actual human beings.

So every employer is just about ready, right? Not exactly. Maybe it’s just human nature to wait until things absolutely have to be done. But nearly a third of the business leaders surveyed (28%) indicated they had still not taken action to prepare. If you are guilty as charged, this might be a good time to start getting ready.

Here’s a pretty good preparatory cheat sheet, courtesy of the Labor Department.

If you want to develop a compliance plan, you might want to register for a webinar taking place today (July 14) at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The ADP-hosted event, “New Overtime Rules & Pay Scenarios — Do I Have to Pay My Employees for That?” will feature two experts from the firm. Please note that this is not a McKnight’s-affiliated webcast, but it should be full of good information to help you prepare. Registration is available here.

December is closer than it may seem. Put in some prep time now and you just might save yourself a lot of overtime later.