Leftist Non-Profits Object to New Overtime Rule

Employment Law

Some high-profile nonprofits, including the United States Public Interest Research Group, are objecting to the Labor Department's new overtime rule because doubling the salary level threshold to $47,476 "will handicap cause-oriented nonprofits and in so doing will strengthen the lobbying and advocacy of special interests."  According to U.S. PIRG: "Organizations like ours rely on small donations from individuals to pay the bills.  We can't expect those individuals to double the amount they donate.  Rather, to cover higher staffing costs forced upon us under the rule, we will be forced to hire fewer staff and limit the hours those staff can work."  Godfrey Wood, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity for Greater Portland, Maine said, "We typically cannot afford to pay high salaries such as other large businesses in more urban parts of the country, but we do offer our employees competitive pay and benefits.  Furthermore, our employees choose this line of work because they spend each day helping others to reach their fullest potential.  And at the end of the day, they head home knowing that their work has made a difference."  U.S. PIRG stated that it "will pursue all available options to prevent this rule from diminishing our ability to advocate for the public interest."