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Human Resources

REPRIEVE FROM OVERTIME?

Understanding the FLSA Exemptions for Seasonal Recreation Establishments

BY DAVE BYRD, NSAA DIRECTOR OF RISK & REGULATORY AFFAIRS

IN THE PAST FEW YEARS, President Obama has used presiden- impacts all businesses, including all ski areas.
tial executive orders targeted at raising wages and improving During the campaign, Trump promised to undo most of
working conditions, sidestepping Congress in the process. Obama’s executive orders. However, a big reason for his elec-
These efforts included his 2014 order to raise the federal tion was due, in part, to workers who would have benefit-
minimum wage for federal contractors from $7.25 to $10.10 ted from them. With Republicans controlling Congress and
an hour, and his 2015 order to increase the salary threshold the White House, Obama’s key labor initiatives may now be
for the “white collar” worker overtime exemption for profes- repealed or tempered by a new Trump administration
sional, executive, and administrative employees. (see “Status Update,” pg. 9).
Although both initiatives have been stalled by Still, it may remain unclear well into 2017 as to what, if
Republicans (perhaps only temporarily), they could still anything, Congress and President-elect Trump will do after
impact ski areas even under a Trump administration. While he is inaugurated on January 20. Until the political dust set-
Obama’s minimum wage hike only impacts ski areas on tles, ski areas should bone up on two critical exemptions
Forest Service land (as “federal contractors”), Obama’s under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which, in most
higher salary threshold to exempt white collar workers cases, will exempt the vast majority of areas from federal

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