Higher Education and Labor Standards: Adapting to Overtime Regulations at the University of Mississippi

Hocevar, Elizabeth M. (2018) Higher Education and Labor Standards: Adapting to Overtime Regulations at the University of Mississippi. Undergraduate thesis, under the direction of Melissa Bass from Public Policy and Leadership, The University of Mississippi.

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Abstract

Recent attempts of amending the Section 13(1) overtime regulations proposed by the Wage and Hour Division in 2016 have placed a strain on universities’ budgets and services. As a result, departments on university campuses are home to challenges that affect both employers and employees. I provide a record of the history of Section 13(1) amendments to date in order to establish the context of my thesis. My thesis attempts to observe how various departments at the University of Mississippi have adapted to the new rule that the University has recently adopted. My review of the literature in combination with my survey results help me explore the main strategies departments use, which include the following: offering compensatory time instead of overtime pay, changing employee status to non-exempt, restricting overtime, and increasing pay. My survey results reveal respondents want overtime pay and more flexible hours to complete duties. I highlight the challenges universities and college students face due to the new rule. Finally, I propose some solutions to better overtime regulations, including increasing employer transparency of departmental overtime regulations, lowering the standard salary threshold, limiting comp time, and allowing for more flexible work hours.

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