Employers anxiously await the final regulations codifying the upcoming changes to the FLSA white collar exemptions. Those who seek to “read the tea leaves” regarding the rulemaking process based on the comments submitted by the public at large have a lot of work to do, as the Department announced it received in excess of 247,000 comments in total, many of them under the wire before last Friday’s deadline.

“Certainly DOL can defensibly say it has received a sufficient volume of feedback through the notice and comment procedure,” observed Jackson Lewis Wage and Hour Practice Group Chair Paul DeCamp. “Whether those comments receive their due consideration and are integrated into the rulemaking process remains to be seen.”

Businesses must continue to plan for the new rules which likely will be effective early next year, particularly as internal budgets for 2016 are set.