No rest for weary, but for some, overtime pay (maybe)

Throughout much of late 2015 and into early 2016, the U.S. nonprofit sector was abuzz over the Department of Labor’s updates to federal overtime regulations. Online chatter died down during the heat of the presidential campaign, but attempts to circumvent the new rules continued. A cottage industry of sorts has sprung up as consultants and associations trot out strategies for mitigating the anticipated impact of the changes that take effect on December 1.

To refresh your memory, the update states that employees earning less than $913 per week ($47,500 annually) will be entitled to overtime compensation, regardless of whether they are currently classified as executive, administrative, or professional (white-collar) workers. This is welcome news for the millions of employees who may now see larger paychecks. Nonprofit employers, however, don’t see the coming change that way.

The proposed regulations on overtime pay expose a dirty little secret of the nonprofit sector. And no, it isn’t that much of the nonprofit labor force is underpaid and overworked. Or that mission success too often comes at the expense of staff members’ financial and personal well-being.