Senator Burr,
Thank you for your service for North Carolina. I appreciate the time that you take to speak to the public in different venues. I am writing in regards to the inconsistencies that are in the Fair Labor Standards Act specifically Section 13(a)(1), which designates an exact minimum salary an employer is allowed to make an employee an exempt employee and the exceptions put forth in this section. It specifies a minimum of $455 a week, which is less than $22,000 a year or around $11.38 an hour. In the computer section, the hourly rate is $27.63 an hour which is about $1105 a week, which equals a bit over $57,000 a year. In North Carolina being an exempt employee plays into the "Right to Work" state mantra in where an employee must complete all tasks required of the job regardless of hours required. What is lost in this low number of $455 a week is the value an employer can place on a position that otherwise should be a non-exempt position, other than the fact that the capability has been given by the Federal Labor laws to designate a position as exempt with such a low wage. The value of an being an exempt employee needs to be increased to a minimum of at least $50,000 a year or $962 a week. It would be a great change that could be offered from your office during this time of wage debate in which the President wants to increase the minimum wage to $9 an hour. This would change the ability to pay someone a minimum of $22,000 a year and potentially work them an amount of hours that could be the equivalent of less than minimum wage solely because they are an exempt employee. This would be an easy change in legislation as it only affects a few lines which a number adjustment. I look forward to hearing from you or seeing this type of legislation come from your office.
Kind Regards,
Paul Michael Owens
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