When the Obama administration announced new Department of Labor rules that would greatly expand the population of employees who qualify for overtime pay, I am sure that many poorly paid college employees were quick to count their extra income.
Under the new rules, overtime pay will cover any exempt employee making less than $47,476 annually — up from $23,660 prior to the rule change. Details of the rule change can be found here.
But the relationship between big government and higher education remains friendly – unless you are one of the little people employed on a college campus. It seems that those classes of employees who might fall under the rule – coaches, contingent faculty, administrative employees, etc. — are specifically excluded from it.
The one class of employees who are included, though, and who legitimately work much more than 40 hours per week, are admissions counselors. From my own experience on the faculty and staff of a liberal arts college, frequently working with the admissions department, I can attest to the long hours on recruiting trips which are in addition to the normal 40-hour office work week for these employees.
Changing technology has already affected the admissions processes, and I expect that the new overtime rules will force much more change in how the typical admissions department operates. We can anticipate fewer employees and increased reliance on efficient technology platforms.
In a way, it’s a shame that the Department of Labor agreed to so many higher education exclusions. If they hadn’t, the colleges would have had to do some broad-based innovative cost cutting. And, amazingly, we would have had the federal government to thank!