The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced Tuesday that it has extended the public comment period for a proposed set of changes to the state’s rules for overtime-exempt salaried workers.
L&I held a series of public hearings throughout the state during the summer, and is collecting additional written public feedback (more information can be found at lni.wa.gov/workplacerights/wages/overtime/overtimerules). The public comment cutoff was originally Sept. 6, but the department announced in a press release that it has moved the deadline to 11:59 p.m. Sept. 20.
A draft of the proposed changes was unveiled in June. The biggest change would be to raise the minimum salary threshold at which an employee can be considered overtime exempt, meaning they do not need to be paid extra if they work more than 40 hours in a week. The proposed new threshold would be equivalent to 2.5 times the state’s minimum wage.
The extended public comment period will not change the timeline for L&I’s review process, the agency said. The tentative adoption date for the new rules is still Dec. 3.
