Coming soon: A change in who gets overtime pay

[mfcorey1]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -

The Obama administration is expected to move forward soon on its plan to provide overtime pay protections to low-salaried managers who don't qualify for them.

The move could affect millions of workers. It is aimed at addressing what the White House says is an erosion of the rules that established the 40-hour workweek -- a "linchpin of the middle class."

The way it works now, companies can avoid paying OT to any full-time workers making as little as $23,660 -- or $455 a week -- by classifying them as "exempt" and paying them as salaried employees, rather than hourly.

That means when they don't get overtime pay even if they work more than 40 hours a week.

And it's not just managers in lower-paid jobs in this bucket. Exempt positions also include administrators and sales employees, among others.

The expectation among policy experts is that the Department of Labor will propose raising the $23,660 income threshold, most likely to somewhere between $42,000 and $52,000. The agency may also amend how "exempt" duties are determined.

What advocates want: The liberal Economic Policy Institute estimates that 3.5 million more workers would become eligible for overtime pay if the threshold were raised to $42,000. And 6.1 million workers would qualify if the threshold approaches $52,000.

Advocates for an increase, like EPI and the National Employment Law Project, would like to see the threshold raised to at least $51,168 -- or $984 a week.

That threshold would provide automatic overtime eligibility for 47% of workers. That's up from 12% today but still below the 65% eligible in 1975.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/money/coming-soon-a-change-in-who-gets-overtime-pay/31286120

[barbtries]

1. with this republican congress

i somehow thought it would be "nobody."
hope it has legs. people who work full time should be, must be making a living wage.

[groundloop]

2. This is an excellent move.... "salaried, exempt" status is badly abused

I just hope that President Obama can make this stick, there's no doubt that the GOPer controlled Congress will fight this tooth and nail.

[GummyBearz]

3. As an "exempt" employee myself,

I can say this will absolutely not work as planned at my current company and many others. They have this nice system setup where you charge to certain job numbers, and the number of hours you charge is tracked, and every week you have to have a total of 40 charged hours.... regardless of whether or not you worked 50 hours, 60 hours, etc.

[Major Nikon]

9. It would work if you are reclassified as non-exempt

[bread_and_roses]

11. That sounds like plain wage theft

Since it sounds like you are required to falsify your documentation?

"every week you have to have a total of 40 charged hours.... regardless of whether or not you worked 50 hours, 60 hours, etc."

Has anyone made a complaint to the department of Labor? Wage theft IS illegal.

[GummyBearz]

15. I agree

Its a pretty screwed up thing, I don't know if anyone has complained or not but this is a huge company and its had this policy for well over a decade.

It seems that by having employees sign off on their hours like that, it basically shields the company from wage theft accusations. All they would have to do is say "Look at the time card, the employee logged 40 hours. That's why we paid him for 40 hours of work".

On one hand it is expected of salaried employees to work more than just 40 hours, but the whole "exempt" thing seems like its just a way for companies to play both sides of the fence. They classify us as "salaried" in certain situations, "exempt" in others, "hourly exempt" in others, or a few other terms I have seen in paper work, based on what suits them best in a given situation.

[jeff47]

17. It really doesn't shield the company.

If your boss requires you to lie on your timecard, your timecard is not a legal defense for the company. In fact, it (theoretically) causes additional charges against the company.

[Bandit]

20. How is there a time card involved if you are on Salary?

When you are not paid by the hour but by the job how could you possibly qualify for "overtime"?

[jeff47]

24. Lots of companies try to track what you worked on via a timecard

It allows them to bill clients or otherwise track expenses more precisely. Even if you're salaried.

Also, salaried does not always mean "no overtime". Most salaried employees are exempt, but not all.

[Bandit]

25. I still don't get it

If you are not paid by the hour how can there be overtime.. If you are only paid by the job... I guess I am just too dense this morning..

[elehhhhna]

27. they dont get to make up their own rules...

Paying you like a piecework contractor. You dont meet this defnition either.

Your employer is using shady pay practices.

[tammywammy]

28. I'm exempt salary, I get paid overtime

First I do use a time card (everyone here does). That way my time is billed to the appropriate contract/customer or overhead (vacation or jury duty, etc).

I'm not in a management position, so I qualify for overtime. But the rule here is that you only get overtime pay once your above 45 hrs for the week. You essentially give 5 free hours, but you can bank those hours as well or used them as like casual time off. We're not expected to work much overtime. Also I can telecommute when necessary and work from home.

[jeff47]

31. In my previous job, I had to fill out a time card

so that the correct client contract was billed for my time. I was salaried. I was required to include at least 40 hours per week on my timecard, using vacation/sick time to fill in if I did less than 40 hours of work.

If I did 45 hours, I got paid more. Technically this is overtime pay, but I was paid "straight time" - The rate was (my salary) / (work hours per year).

Let's pretend that worked out to $40/hour and ignore taxes to keep the numbers simpler. Working 45 hours made my paycheck go up by $200.

[closeupready]

30. I think it may be possible to make an anonymous complaint.

That way, you need worry less about retribution (which is illegal, too, but if they are willing to steal part of your paycheck, then what's to stop them from considering other kinds of lawlessness).

Also, I think it's a good idea that when faced with this kind of situation, to comply with the company's demands superficially if it's clear that you must do so in order to keep your job, but to also keep diligent records of the honest extent of your work for the company in its entirety, whether that's a 40 hour week, or 50 or 60 or 80 hour week.

[Gormy Cuss]

14. They'll have to learn to make it work or go out of business

For the record, I've been an exempt employee in businesses where most hours are allocated to client accounts. The handful of employees who weren't exempt rarely got any overtime. They put in their 40 and went home.

[tammywammy]

18. They can adjust.

Besides they should have you allocating all hours you work regardless of the number. I work for a large company too, my time is allocated based on what contract I work under and all hours are accounted for even if it's above 40.

[GummyBearz]

19. Yes

They could easily adjust and pay us more than 40 hours per week. But that would hurt the stock price and the CEO's bonus...

[FreakinDJ]

29. So your complict to Wage Theft

Go to the NLRB

That isn't legal by any standard

[LittleGirl]

4. Former IT admin here

and when I worked, I never worked less than 45 hrs a week. I know. I kept track. I was also on call with a cell phone attached to my hip and I had to be available whenever a server went down or someone had to cover for me. When I took vacations, someone flew in from Mexico to take over. And I had to work holidays and weekends too whenever there was a Microsoft patch to load and test. I hated Microsoft back in the day and I don't miss that job AT ALL. I hope someday it includes IT workers, the most thankless job out there.

[BlueJazz]

8. I pretty much do a lot of the same work now. I lucked up though. My company ...

...and the 2 banks it serves are ...ah....a B+ as far as work conditions and such and as you know, configuration is a lot easier that the old NT4 and such.
At one time I DID work a scenario like yours. I understand what you're saying. It can suck..big time.

[daredtowork]

21. I doubt IT will be affected

IT exceptions are formally written into labor law, as regulating IT might "hinder innovation" or some such nonsense. IT workers can be drafted for endless hours and always-urgent projects at will.

[One_Life_To_Give]

5. Number should be indexed

The $ value should be indexed. Otherwise the legislation is Stale before the ink has dried. Median income seems to be about where they are targeting. That would work, requiring anyone making less than last years Median income to be paid overtime.

[fasttense]

6. The bushes overhauled the overtime rules

And made them what they are today - a scam for employers to avoid paying overtime to anyone making above the poverty level. (Is not W merciful.)

I would have thought Obama had already changed the labor rules back to encourage a 40 hour work week again. I'm surprised he waited almost 8 years to change them back to normal since these are only rules established by his executive agency and don't go through congress.

On further investigation of overtime pay, it seems Obama made an executive change back in March 2014. I guess this is the implementation of that memorandum.

[Hoppy]

7. Also time to increase minimums for restaurant wait staff.

[rurallib]

10. YES! Is there a way the admin can do this without congress?

you know Republicans will never go for this.

[Ykcutnek]

12. IN YOUR FACE, FAMILY DOLLAR AND DOLLAR GENERAL!

Fuckers gonna be dishing out some extra payroll now.

[mountain grammy]

13. Impeach, because wage theft is legal... well, isn't it?

It sure was when I managed a small resort a few years back. Fifty to sixty hours a week was the norm, and, of course no benefits.

[LWolf]

16. It would be interesting to see how

this would play out in public education.

Public education survives on teachers' unpaid hours. Our contracts call for 40 hours a week, but the duties listed in that contract require many more hours to complete. We're already under-staffed and under-funded.

[daredtowork]

22. Not to mention part-time Adjuncts

who may only be paid for a few hours of class time and an office hour, but still carry that unpaid expectation of hours spent preparing course materials, grading, etc.

[LWolf]

23. Yes.

That would be my son.

[Phlem]

26. Does that include

Game and Film artists. Close to 15 years I was a salaried employee at every game company I worked. You would get a 40 hr. a week salary but usually worked any where from 50 to 60 hour weeks, and it was expected else your job is threatened. It has not gotten any better. Legalized white collar slavery. Changes came from the parent company paying for the development but no extra funds followed. We were all expected to soak it up with more hours. I don't know if the development studio asked for more or not but the artists and animators always paid for it in the end. 5 years out now I'm burned to a crisp with not much to show. There is also blatant age discrimination cause if you can't put up with the hours and have a smile on your face your out! Usually forcing the older workers out.

I'm excited about this legislation but who will it actually cover?