The race to gain a competitive edge or move up the ladder in the cutthroat world of college athletics often means working long hours for low wages.
But, as Gannett Louisiana reports, new federal regulations scheduled to take effect in December could put a much higher cost on those efforts by forcing employers to raise salaries considerably or pay overtime wages. Athletic departments will be required to pay overtime to virtually all employees making less than $47,476, more than double the current threshold of $23,440.
“When you work in athletics, there is no clock,” says Greg Burke, who’s been the Northwestern State athletic director for the last 20 years and has 40 years of experience in college athletics. “It’s such a competitive industry, and the time demands (are high), especially … with so many rule changes and everything, just the dynamics changing in the whole industry.”
He said about 24 of his coaches, trainers or support staff members will likely become “non-exempt” under the law, which the Department of Labor published on May 17.
At LSU-Shreveport, men’s basketball coach Kyle Blankenship and women’s basketball coach Valerie Huizar could be affected. Both made $42,500 this academic year, according to the LSUS Human Resources Department.
The Department of Labor projects 4.2 million workers will either gain new overtime protections or get a raise to the new salary threshold.
That could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in new costs for athletic departments, most of whom continue to work with human resources on how to best handle the changes.
