Voice of Business: Proposed rule would hurt businesses from competing

Raising wages alone will cost employers millions of dollars and force them to have to cut staff, not invest their business and not hire open positions. One employer in Dayton estimated that this federal rule change would cost them $2.2 million. This is the impact on just one Dayton employer! Imagine the multiplier effect this will have across our 19,000 businesses in the Dayton region.

In what world does it make sense to continually saddle businesses with the costs and administrative burdens of big government regulations?

The business community has not been immune to the effects of wage increases. This proposal comes on the tales of significant COVID-19 wage increases that the business community has incurred over the past 24 months. In 2022, the average wage increase was over 4% and in 2023, the average wage increase was 4.3%. The lowest paid workers saw an average of a 9% increase between 2019-2022.

In 2017, a federal judge struck down an attempt to change the minimum exempt threshold hold from $23,600 to $47,000. Ultimately, a new $35,568 threshold was put in place in 2020. If this rule is enacted, I would expect a similar legal challenge from the business community and a similar action from the court.  It’s just bad policy.

The Dayton area business community is at a tipping point. This constant assault on business’s freedom to manage their operations has to come to an end. These drastic government regulations will having a devastating impact on the economy, forcing inflation to continue to rise, causing interest rates to increase and ultimately businesses could reduce staffing levels.

We can still get out of a post-pandemic economy without significant damage, but if these types of burdens are enacted, then all bets are off.

Chris Kershner is the CEO and president of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.