Overtime rule now on hold

A federal judge has ruled to put a new overtime policy on hold. Set to begin Dec. 1, the policy would have made more workers eligible for overtime pay, and experts believe behavioral health organizations would have had high rates of noncompliance because of tricky scheduling at treatment centers.

Currently, employees who earn a salary of $455 per week ($23,660 per year) or more could be classified as “exempt”—not eligible for overtime pay. The new rules would have increased the salary for the exempt classification significantly to $913 per week ($47,476 per year), a level that will be adjusted for inflation periodically.

For some treatment center operations, the new overtime rules could translate into higher payroll costs as more employees clock in extra time beyond the benchmark 40 hours per week.

According to NPR, the rule would have extended overtime pay to as many as 4 million Americans. Employers believe the added payroll costs ultimately could lead to layoffs.

Read more about the overtime rules here.