Employee meetings will explore impact of federal FLSA changes
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act, their impact on employment at WMU and what the University is doing to ensure it is in compliance by Dec. 1 will be discussed at two Tuesday, Oct. 18, town hall meetings on campus.
The two presentations will cover identical content and will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. that day in the Fetzer Center's Kirsch Auditorium. Each presentation also will be livestreamed.
The meetings are designed to inform the campus community of the legal review performed for WMU by the law firm Warner Norcross & Judd LLP and the steps WMU needs to take to be in compliance with the new federal regulations by the Dec. 1 effective date.
The FLSA changes mean that some University employees will experience a salary increase, while others will be changed from salaried/exempt personnel to nonexempt/hourly employees eligible for overtime, based on University business needs and budget impact. The Oct. 18 sessions will detail the number of employees impacted and the University's guiding principle in making its decisions—that all employees doing the same job (i.e. same job code/job title) should have the same FLSA status. On Wednesday, Oct. 19, impacted employees will be formally notified.
Informational training sessions slated
The training sessions will be open to the campus community and will be targeted toward managers, supervisors, timekeepers and nonexempt employees themselves. Both the town hall meetings and the training sessions will be hosted by Human Resources and the Office of the General Counsel.
- Monday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Kirsch Auditorium, Fetzer Center.
- Tuesday, Oct. 25, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., Kirsch Auditorium, Fetzer Center.
- Thursday, Oct. 27, 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Putney Lecture Hall, Fetzer Center.
Also available for those who wish to explore the topic online is a WMU FLSA Compliance Project website at wmich.edu/hr/flsacompliance.
Twenty-one states, including Michigan, and a group of more than 50 businesses filed a series of lawsuits in late September challenging the new FLSA regulations. The lawsuits allege, in part, that the regulations were finalized without going through the proper rule-making process.
It is always difficult to predict the outcomes and impact of such lawsuits, but the University is monitoring the progress of the lawsuits. Should the lawsuits impact the University's implementation of these regulations, the University will respond appropriately and notify those employees affected by any change.
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