On December 1, the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule will be implemented, affecting an estimated 4.2 million workers in the United States. For the past week, Remodeling and its sister websites have been running a survey, asking for reader input about whether their companies have discussed the overtime rule, and what plans they have in place to combat it. 101 remodelers completed the survey, and while two-thirds were aware of the rule, 79% were not prepared for it.
Of those remodelers that completed the survey, 51% said they’d read or heard about the rule, but hadn’t examined it closely, 35% hadn’t heard or read about it, and 13% of remodelers know the rule well. 19% of respondents have plans in place to address the new rule, while 79% did not.
A majority of the remodelers responding to the survey were not prepared for the new rule, but this doesn’t mean that they won’t be in compliance. Many remodeling companies are small, with only a handful of full-time staff, and instead work with subcontractors.
For several of the remodelers that responded, the overtime rule won’t affect them since they’ve already been paying overtime within similar guidelines.
“We have been paying our employees overtime over eight hours and over 40 hours a week. We have been doing this for years,” wrote one remodeler that’s discussed the rule internally.
“Our overtime pay schedule already meets or exceeds the new requirements,” wrote another remodeler. “We often give supplemental bonuses in addition to regular overtime pay and guess what? Our employees are happy to step up to the plate for us when we need them.”
Several remodelers indicated that their companies would be clamping down on overtime, either eliminating it completely, or limiting it to rare cases. One remodeler mentioned that it wouldn’t be tough for their firm to implement since it only impacted two employees, but called the rule, “useless legislation” that made their jobs harder.
The new rule is estimated to impact more than 4.2 million employees, and one respondent suggested that this could raise prices across the industry as a whole.
“We are preparing for this rule by raising our prices on services to cover the difference and the impact it will make to our company overhead,” the remodeler wrote. “I am sure other companies will do the same and then the cost of goods and services will rise to meet the new increased salaries that workers are receiving.”
The new Department of Labor rule takes affect Dec. 1
