Reply #43: I think the reason why is that lots of people...

[regnaD kciN]

...are used to being "expected" to work overtime without pay (I don't mean time-and-a-half, I mean any pay whatsoever for the extra hours) despite what the law says.

And Don has it right. If you're in the tech field, employers believe that, in exchange for your salary, you are supposed to be available 24/7. If not, you're going to be out of work soon.

The fact is that people have become conditioned, over the last twenty years, to expect and accept employer demands that far exceed what the law requires. Don't like it? Well, you can file a grievance, and wait until/if the regulatory board decides to do anything about it. But, generally, you'll be out of a job, and the most that will happen to the employer is a slap on the wrist fine that doesn't help you at all.

Until there's a real committment to the working people of this country, that won't change. And there won't be such a committment until working people demand it, through increased unionization and concerted political action to elect people who will be responsive to their needs rather than those of the economic elite. And, sad to say, that won't happen as long as working people can be swayed by slick and expensive media ads, sound-bite campaigns, and appeals to veiled racism ("Lost your job? It's the fault of all those Teenage Immigrant Welfare Mothers On Drugs and their liberal supporters!") or sideshow issues ("Keep Homosexuals from destroying marriage!" "Bring back Honor and Dignity by electing a rich arrogant moron beholden to the oil industry who promises not to get a blowjob from an intern in the Oval Office!")