Fedweek

Recently issued Labor Department rules regarding overtime eligibility have little immediate impact on federal employees in general, since separate policies set by OPM govern most federal workers. The rules roughly double, to $47,476, a dollar threshold below which an employee is presumed to be eligible for overtime even if their jobs involve certain duties that ordinarily make them ineligible—”exempt,” in the term of art used. The Labor Department rules apply generally to the private sector but also to the Postal Service and some other corporate-government hybrid agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority that fall under private sector labor laws. For other federal employees, the threshold of $23,660 will remain in place unless OPM changes its own regs to conform with the Labor Department rules. OPM commonly changes its rules to match that department’s policies when they change. However, overtime eligibility in the federal government generally is set by detailed standards taking into account the nature of the duties and the dollar threshold typically is not a determining factor.