More employees who work in an “executive, administrative and professional” capacity may soon be eligible for overtime. A rule proposed last week by the US Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division would raise the pay level for which workers would automatically be considered eligible for overtime.

Workers making up to $679 per week, or $35,308 per year, under the new rule would automatically be eligible for overtime if they work more than 40 hours per week. The level under the present rule is up to $455 per week, or $23,660 per year.

In addition, the new rule raises the total annual compensation requirement for a worker to be considered a “highly compensated employee” and exempt from overtime. The new level would be $147,414 per year, up from $100,000 per year.

Employers would also be able to count nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payment, including commissions, to satisfy up to 10% of the salary-level test under the currently proposed overtime rule, provided the bonuses are paid annually or more frequently.

More than 1 million more US workers would be eligible for overtime under the new rule, according to the Department of Labor. However, the wage levels under the rule would not automatically be updated.

The newly proposed rule comes after a previous effort to update the overtime rule was rejected by a federal court in Texas in 2017. That effort came from the Obama administration and would have required workers to be paid $913 per week, or $47,476 annually, before they were not automatically eligible for overtime. That plan would have made 4.2 million more people eligible for overtime.

Under the new rule, employees covered include those in executive, administrative, computer and outside sales positions.

“This change to the overtime rule is long overdue and the level of $679 per week is certainly more reasonable than the increase proposed in 2016,” said Fiona Coombe, director of legal & regulatory research, at Staffing Industry Analysts. “However, employers will have a relatively short time in which to make adjustments to their employees pay arrangements and will need to take advice now to prepare for this increase.”

The overtime rule had not been updated since 2004.