FLSA Next Steps Announced
To: Executive Vice Presidents, Chancellors, Vice Presidents, Vice Chancellors, Vice Provosts, Deans, Directors and Heads of Schools, Divisions, Departments and Offices
From: Denny Darrow, Vice President for Human Resources
Date: November 30, 2016
Re: FLSA Next Steps Announced
As we communicated to each of you last week, on November 22 a federal judge issued a temporary injunction that effectively blocked implementation of changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which were to become effective December 1, 2016. This injunction, together with statements by the incoming administration that this regulatory mandate may be withdrawn, has created substantial uncertainty regarding any future implementation.
Since that ruling, we have consulted heavily with our Big10 peers and others to try to understand what might be logical steps to move forward. As a result, we have decided to suspend implementation of our FLSA changes until resolution of this issue becomes clear. Based on detailed conversations over the past few days, this position is in line with the majority of our Big10 peers.
However, as a result of the work undertaken over the past months, and supported by our conversations with our Big10 peers, we believe that whether or not there is a government-mandated change in pay, the compensation levels for our post-doctoral employees are in need of a detailed review. We intend to conduct this review during the month of December and provide specific feedback in early January.
In plain terms, we are going to hold off on implementing the FLSA prescribed salary increases and non-exempt employee reclassifications. Therefore, effective immediately, here is the impact to our employees:
- Employees who were to be reclassified as Salaried Non-Exempt and begin tracking overtime will remain Exempt at this time and will not need to complete a biweekly timecard, as previously announced.
- Employees who were told that they would receive a salary increase as a result of the impending FLSA changes will not receive that increase at this time.
- Employees who were expecting a salary increase and based their 2017 benefits elections on that expected increase will have an opportunity to review and make any changes necessary as a result of the injunction.
Both groups of employees, as well as their supervisors, will receive targeted emails from Human Resources explaining the impact of the ruling and a Purdue Today article will run tomorrow, December 1.
Any questions can be directed to Denny Darrow, vice president, Human Resources.