New overtime rules have you worried? The HR Manager part of me feels the need to tell you this.

I know there has been much talk about the new rules for overtime and how they apply in your nonprofit organization. The rules are not that complicated but the impact on your organization could be major.
The first thing you must do is determine if an employee is EXEMPT or NON-EXEMPT. Exempt employees are not subject to overtime rules. Many organizations classify employees as exempt because then they can just pay a salary and not worry about tracking hours at all. Easy. The truth is that to qualify for exempt status there are 3 criteria that must ALL be met. The 3 components are the salary basis test, the duties test and the salary level test. The salary level test is what is changing under the new rules. Under the new rules, an employee must earn at least $913/week or $47,476/yar in order to be considered exempt.
Any employee who makes less than this level must be re-classified as non-exempt no later than December 1, 2016. Non-exempt employees are subject to the overtime regulations so, for those who work more than 40 hours in a 7-day period, they must be paid time and one-half of their regular wage. (This is the case in Utah, but some states have their own overtime laws and may, for instance, pay overtime after 8 hours in one day)
Nonprofit organizations must be very diligent about separating out time when an employee is in fact "volunteering". This could be tricky. When meetings, training or tabling events are mandatory or even "highly encouraged", these hours must be considered hours worked. In order to not count these hours attendance must be voluntary and the employee can not perform any productive work during attendance.
So, what to do??? Take a look at your employees and see if any need to be re-classified as non-exempt. Have these employees start tracking their hours and make it clear how many hours you want them to work. DO NOT have them work "off the books". Although this is tempting and often the employee is willing to do this, it is a bad practice that could come back to bite you. If you have an employee who is now considered exempt and makes close to the minimum, you could also consider a raise!
Thank you my nonprofit friends for continuing to do what you do so well.