In testimony last week before the House Education and Labor Committee, in response to a specific question from California Representative Mark Takano, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh asserted that the current minimum salary is definitely too low. He advised the committee that the Department of Labor (DOL) is currently reviewing the Final Overtime Rule currently in place since early 2020. You will recall that before it was struck down by a federal court in Texas in 2016, the federal overtime exemption more than doubled under the Obama administration to $47,476. The Trump administration then raised the threshold for the so-called “white collar exemption” from $23,660 to the more reasonable amount of $35,568 per year or $684 per week and that rule took effect last year. Although no specific numbers have thus far been offered, then-candidate Biden went on record during the 2020 Presidential campaign that he wanted to re-implement the Obama-era salary levels. It is clear that new thresholds will be proposed soon for both the “white-collar” as well as the “Highly Compensated Employee” exemptions. In response to specific questions, Secretary Walsh also advised that a $15 per hour federal minimum wage is a baseline that he believes should be passed by Congress and in that context, he again reiterated the administration’s support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act).