I just returned from attending the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) 21st Annual Employment Law & Legislative Conference held in Washington, D.C. The highlight of the program was, in my opinion, hearing from Tammy McCutchen, Administrator of the DOL’s Wage & Hour Division, who has been largely responsible for leading the initiative regarding the DOL’s proposed changes to the regulations defining the “white collar” exemption from federal minimum wage and overtime requirements. The initial draft of the proposed regulations was issued March 31, 2003. Various speakers at the Conference indicated that the final regulations will likely be issued by the end of this month.

Here is what McCutchen had to say about the regulations:

(1) The DOL received over 75,000 comments to the proposed regulations, with 600 of those being substantive comments. It took a staff of 20-25 persons to read and digest the comments.

(2) McCutchen said there were three goals in promulgating the regulations: (i) to strengthen the overtime protections for workers; (ii) to provide clear-cut rules for the 21st century, and (3) to limit the economic impact of the changes for employers and employees. She said that it was a difficult task, but not impossible (although she did say it was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her professional career), and that she felt that the final regulations which would be coming out have “successfully addressed all major concerns.” She also said that “[w]hat employers need are clarity and certainty so that they don’t end up in court after doing the best job possible.” She gave a brief history of the regulations and discussed how a revision of the rules has been on the agenda for years, during both Democratic and Republican administrations.

(3) Although she said that she was not permitted to divulge any of the changes being made in the final regulations to be issued soon, she did state that there would be a number of changes made in response to substantive comments. She stated that the proposed regulations have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval, and that once they are issued, she hopes that final regulations will withstand any attempts to challenge the regulations under the Congressional Review Act.

(4) She recommended that the issuance of the final regulations might present a good time for employers to conduct a self-audit, and look at their classifications and pay practices to determine if they are in order.

For those of you who are members of SHRM, you can access a more detailed summary of her remarks here at the SHRM website: “McCutchen: Final overtime rules will address all major concerns.“