New Overtime Rules to Take Effect Monday

[southernleftylady]

WASHINGTON - In an unprecedented overhaul of the nation's overtime pay rules, the Bush administration is delivering to its business allies an election-year plum they've sought for decades.
The new rules take effect Monday after surviving many efforts by Democrats, labor unions and worker advocates to block them in Congress and kill them through public and political pressure. The administration and business groups say the old regulations were out of date and confusing, and were sparking multimillion dollar lawsuits.

The Labor Department (news - web sites) says no more than 107,000 workers will lose overtime eligibility from the changes, but about 1.3 million will gain it. The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington think tank, says 6 million will lose, and only a few will get new rights to premium pay for working more than 40 hours a week.

But no one really knows. That makes the issue harder to demonize politically, a benefit — or a problem — depending on the side you take.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=718&e=10&u=/ap/20040822/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/overtime_politics

[NewHampshireDem]

1. This, too, will backfire on * & co.

They thought they could sneak it in in August, but once folks start coming back from vacations and getting their adjusted paychecks in September, all hell is gonna break loose on this story.

On a side note, I was flipping and saw part of a piece on this on Faux. It was all "poor businessmen ... they are going to have to shell out millions more in overtime pay and don't know how they are going to do it. They are going to have to raise prices to meet these new rules." :puke:

Then I thought, wow, if this is the *best* way they can spin it, that the new rules are going to fuel inflation, * is really sunk.

[southernleftylady]

2. about those "poor little rich men" you said... look at the first paragraph

on that story i linked...

[cornermouse]

3. The local newspaper says that

they're going to put off taking away people's overtime until the rules are "clarified". Fact is if you make more than $11.37 and 1/2 cents an hour, you're vulnerable to losing overtime pay. $11.37-11.38 an hour is not an huge hourly wage.

[iconoclastic cat]

7. Wait...I'm confused...

Are you saying that the Fox talking heads are against Shrub's new rules?

[Warpy]

4. We won't see this stuff initiated until after November

After that, the healthcare industry is going to be the one to watch. The main people pushing for this horror have been health care executives, who have responded to the nursing shortage by forcing mandatory 12 hour overtime shifts on already overworked nurses, then howling about how much it costs them in overtime pay.

My guess is that any healthcare institution that tries to enforce putting nurses on salaries and setting 48-72 hour workweeks into stone is going to find itself with a mass exodus of nurses. Nurses will simply leave the profession rather than lose what little control they have over their hours through overtime rules.

I guess no battle is ever truly won for labor. The rich and powerful will always try to stiff the people who work to create their wealth, and we'll have to fight wars against them over and over again.

[Deja Q]

5. Agreed. It will backfire royally... and hit the economy once people

know that the holy grail career path turns out to be extremely long shifts without getting just pay.

"Labor create$ ALL wealth." Possibly the best bumper sticker ever made. Labor gives them their freedom. It gives us the fascism.

[wishlist]

6. Companies are reducing employees hourly payrate in order to pay OT!

My local paper has an article detailing how companies such as one in our area just announced they are reducing the hourly pay of employees who routinely work over 40 hours without getting paid time and a half. These are people who under the new rule now qualify for time and a half. But in order to 'comply' but to not have to pay them any more more, the companies are getting around it by openly reducing their hourly payrate! What a cynical move. Other companies are making deliberate salary changes (to up their salaries slightly when they are long due a pay raise anyway) so that they won't be eligible for time and a half any more.

John Edwards did a great Saturday radio address about the overtime issue where he mentions the govt pamphlet given to employers with guidelines on how they can avoid paying more OT. The link is on the Kerry/Edwards website.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0821.html