The Labor Department recently announced regulation changes pertaining to overtime pay for employees and their employers. Under these new rules, those who earn salaries of less than $47,476 a year will automatically qualify for overtime pay of time-and-a-half if they work more than 40 hours a week.

Once the new rules go into effect on December 1, 2016, they will impact 4.2 million workers in the United States.  So what does this mean for business owners and their employees?

In this episode of Lawyer 2 Lawyer, hosts J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi join Jane Lauer Barker, a partner at the New York labor and employment firm Pitta & Giblin LLP and Thomas Wassel, a labor and employment partner with the New York firm Cullen and Dykman, as they take a look at these recent overtime rule changes and the impact, pros and cons, and reaction from business owners and the workforce.

Jane Lauer Barker is a partner at the New York labor and employment firm Pitta & Giblin LLP.  Jane concentrates in labor, employment, and employee benefits law and litigation and labor union representation.  Previously, Barker headed up New York State Attorney General's Labor Bureau where she oversaw civil and criminal enforcement of state labor laws and handled appellate litigation.

Thomas Wassel is a labor and employment partner with the New York firm Cullen and Dykman. Tom has been advising employers on a wide range of labor and employment law matters since 1983.