Payroll changes are coming: Are you prepared?

In only six months, an adjustment to a 78-year-old federal wage law will go into effect that could, or could not, have a substantial impact on how you pay your workers.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 guarantees salaried workers are paid overtime at time-and-a-half for hours they work beyond the standard 40-hour workweek. Currently, any non-exempt worker either has to be paid on an hourly basis or make at least $455 per week, which equates to $23,660 per year.

Starting in December, that salary threshold will increase for the first time since 2004, up to $913 per week, equivalent to an annual salary of $47,476. The change is being made to help workers who may be incorrectly classified as exempt salaried workers and are, as a result, not earning overtime for which they rightly qualify.

So what does this mean to your business? According to some, the change will mean an unequivocal disaster that will have an enormous impact on your business.

According to others, it’s a simple adjustment to adhere to today’s standards in pay and level of inflation that will only affect a few.

The National Retail Federation has dubbed the new overtime rules a “career killer.” It says many lower-wage businesses and service industries will likely re-classify their current salaried workers to hourly workers — and then not allow them to work more than 40 hours a week, meanwhile removing existing perks, flexibility and benefits that only salaried workers are entitled to. It’s either that, or more than double most of their employees’ salaries, the NRF says.

The Department of Labor expects 4.2 million workers to be directly affected by the change, and another 8.9 million indirectly affected. That may seem like a lot, but it makes up less than 9 percent of the total workforce.

What will the actual effects be for your business? The quick, unsatisfying answer is it depends — on your type of business, your type of workers, how much you pay your current workers, etc.

One thing is certain: You better do your research now, because December will be here before you know it.