Auto Care Association Calls Overtime Rule 'Severely Disruptive'

May 19, 2016

The Auto Care Association has expressed disappointment with the Department of Labor’s final rule on overtime pay regulation. The association said the department ignored the studies, meetings, and thousands of comments received from American businesses expressing serious objections to the proposed changes.

The final rule increases the salary threshold for overtime eligibility to $47,476, which is a 100% increase. It is effective Dec. 1, 2016. The rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on May 23.

In comments previously submitted, the association said “This unprecedented, industry-wide reclassification of a significant portion of our workforce will be severely disruptive to current levels of employee wages and benefits, and the very real probability of the consequent change (negative) in employee morale will affect every aspect of our day-to-day business functions.”

Bill Hanvey, CEO and president of the association said, “Members fortunate enough to be aware of the coming changes are already beginning the reclassification of many employees as well as revisiting overall wages and benefits. One association member has already advised us that he has to inform 10% of his employees that they are now hourly, not salaried, and he doesn’t know how to deliver that message. Even more troubling is the large number of companies in the auto care industry who remain unaware of the change in regulation and its consequences.

“No one is arguing that the rules didn’t need updating, but the massive change, all at once, will be financially disruptive and possibly devastating for many businesses. The association and the coalition for the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity are asking members of Congress to support the Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act."

For more information about the Auto Care Association, visit www.autocare.org.

Twitter chat

The Department of Labor is hosting a Twitter chat at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on May 19 to answer questions about the overtime rule.