By Illinois Radio Network
LINCOLN – Workers who keep the books and check the time sheets at businesses, nonprofits and schools are going to bear the brunt of the new federal overtime rules.
Kevin McCallen, director of operations at Integrity Data, a human resources firm in Lincoln, lll., said HR managers are going to see their jobs change with the new overtime rules perhaps more than they saw under Obamacare.
“Those companies that are affected, they can no longer do business the way the once did,” McCallen said.
McCallen said HR managers will now need to verify hours, not simply tally them. Companies will now have to prove not only that workers aren’t working overtime, but also that workers don’t qualify for overtime.
McCallen said the new rules treat workers as if everyone punches a time clock.
“None of us would argue the point that this (overtime) threshold needed to be addressed,” McCallen said. “The problem is, it’s being addressed like 1976 and not like 2016.”
McCallen called the new overtime rules an HR nightmare.
Rob Karr, president & CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants’ Association, agreed the federal government seems to have a backward-looking view of workers, particularly in retail where these rules will be felt the most.
“They clearly don’t have the scope of the economy in mind when they look at these rules,” Karr said. “It think there’s some just lack of reality there.”
