Washington, D.C. -- The National Restaurant Association tonight issued the following statement regarding the Department of Labor’s overhaul of current overtime regulations:
“We are appreciative that it appears the Department of Labor listened to restaurants’ concerns and did not include the burdensome ‘long’ duties test, which would have led to increased contentious disputes and litigation—something the Department itself stated it wanted to avoid with these current regulations,” said Angelo Amador, Senior Vice President of Labor and Workforce Policy and Regulatory Counsel. “However, the threshold for exempt employees in the final regulations is still too high.
“Restaurants operate on thin margins with low profits per employee and little room to absorb added costs. More than doubling the current minimum salary threshold for exempt employees, while automatically increasing salary levels, will harm restaurants and the employer community at large.
“More than 80 percent of restaurant owners and 97 percent of restaurant managers start their careers in non-managerial positions and move up with performance-based incentives. These regulations may mean that salaried employees, who have worked hard to get where they are, could be subject to becoming hourly employees once again.”
About the National Restaurant Association
Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises more than 1 million restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of 15.5 million employees. Together with 52 State Associations, we are a network of professional organizations dedicated to serving every restaurant through advocacy, education, and food safety. We sponsor the industry's largest trade show (National Restaurant Association Show); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF's ProStart). For more information, visit Restaurant.org and find @WeRRestaurants on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.