The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has expressed concern that a proposed rule the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued for comments on Aug. 30 extending overtime protections to millions of salaried workers would add extra burdens and costs to an industry that is already dealing with challenges like workforce shortages, the business organization said in a press release.

The proposed rule would expand overtime protections, ensuring that most workers earning less than $55,000 per year would receive overtime pay, according to a press release from the DOL. Many salaried workers who earn less than $55,000 do not receive the same overtime pay that many hourly workers receive when they work more than 40 hours per week.

“For over 80 years, a cornerstone of workers’ rights in this country is the right to a 40-hour workweek, the promise that you get to go home after 40 hours or you get higher pay for each extra hour that you spend laboring away from your loved ones,” DOL Acting Secretary Julie Su said in the press release.

“I’ve heard from workers again and again about working long hours for no extra pay, all while earning low salaries that don’t come anywhere close to compensating them for their sacrifices. Today, the Biden-Harris administration is proposing a rule that would help restore workers’ economic security by giving millions more salaried workers the right to overtime protections if they earn less than $55,000 a year. Workers deserve to continue to share in the economic prosperity of Bidenomics,” she said.

The rule was proposed after the DOL held 27 listening sessions with more than 2,000 workers, employers, and union representatives, the DOL release said. Stakeholders will be able to submit comments on the proposal for a period of 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Chris Netram said his association will be formally submitting a comment to DOL noting their concerns with the proposal, the NAM release said.

“Manufacturers have spent the past several years adapting operations and personnel management resources to meet the evolving needs of their workforce in a post-pandemic environment, including through improved wages and benefits and productive workplace accommodations," Netram said. "The DOL’s proposed rule would inject new regulatory burdens and compliance costs to an industry already reeling from workforce shortages and an onslaught of other unbalanced regulations.  Creating new regulatory processes and imposing additional mandatory costs will act as a drag on the sector and upend productive employer–employee relations. We look forward to expressing our concerns with this proposal directly to the DOL and administration leaders as the process moves forward.”