October 28, 2004
Human Resources: 300 more UW staffers eligible for overtime
The UW’s Human Resources Department has just concluded a review of more than 2,500 staff positions to determine which ones are eligible for overtime compensation under new rules announced late this summer by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The analysis showed that about 300 additional individuals will now be overtime eligible. HR is in the process of notifying unit administrators.
The review was made necessary when the U.S. Department of Labor revised the Fair Labor Standards Act, explained Randy West, assistant director for HR Compensation. The revisions, effective Aug. 23, have changed and in some cases broadened the categories eligible for overtime compensation.
Any employee, whether full time or part time, who is paid a base salary of less than $455 a week is automatically covered by overtime requirements, regardless of job duties.
Additionally, only employees whose duties fall into one of four categories are exempt from overtime requirements. These categories are:
- Executive (someone whose primary duty is management and directs the work of two or more employees);
- Administrative (work that relates to management or general operations of the institution);
- Computing; and
- Learned/creative professionals (doctors, lawyers, physicists, performing artists, composers and other occupations specified in the law).
Job titles alone cannot determine whether an individual is overtime exempt, West said, so HR needed to review the actual work duties of all employees who might qualify for overtime. For example, while local job titles might call someone a supervisor who supervises just one employee, the FLSA standard for exemption requires supervision of at least two full-time employees.
Professional staff who have become overtime-eligible will move from level two to level one designation. This move will not change an individual’s salary rate or grade.
However, there is a difference in the maximum vacation accrual for the different levels. At nine years or more service, a level 1 employee would accrue 23 days of vacation per year, while a level two employee would accrue 24 days.
“The University Human Resources Committee, a group of senior academic and administration officials, reviewed the FLSA changes and decided that no one who is currently at the top vacation rate will lose time off as a result of the FLSA review,” said West. “Positions that convert from level 2 to level 1 will receive one additional paid day off each year, to make up for the reduction in vacation accrual rate.”
If employees or departments disagree with the overtime determination, they have the option to ask for reconsideration. Copies of the reconsideration request form are being provided to unit administrators along with the initial outcomes of the review.
People with questions about this process should contact West, 206-685-2624, or e-mail him at rfwest@u.washington.edu.
