You can kiss Overtime goodbye

[liberal N proud]

Yesterday the Working Families Flexibility Act passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 223 to 204. The bill allows employers to offer compensatory time off (comp time) to employees who work overtime, instead of paying time-and-a-half when a worker's weekly hours exceed forty.

Representative Martha Roby (R-AL), who introduced the bill, suggests the legislation would relieve work-family pressures parents--especially moms--feel, by letting them potentially take more time off in lieu of overtime pay they would otherwise collect. Stating that the comp time off could be used "to spend more time with their children, attend parent-teacher conferences, or care for an aging relative," the bill sounds like a step toward a family-friendly America, especially at a time when the U.S. ranks only a poor 30th on the just-released "Best Place to be a Mother" list. Yet opponents say it's the wrong approach. Low wage workers, in particular, need schedule predictability and consistency, to plan their household budgets and child care. They need the overtime dollars, not a promise of time off later--time that may not coincide anyway with their family's routine or emergency needs.

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/05/congresss-doomed-misguided-attempt-to-help-working-families/275718/

Fortunately, it may not pass the Senate and if it does, Obama threatens to veto.

If this does pass, it will allow employers to work people endless hours at peak times and virtually lay them off at times of lower needs, all without paying for the extra hours or the trouble of actually laying them off. The American worker gets screwed again!

[geek tragedy]

1. 0.000000% chance of becoming law.

And that's exaggerating its chances.

[closeupready]

2. I'd like to believe that, but if even Social Security is negotiable,

no other New Deal element is sacred, since Social Security is the absolute bedrock upon which all other New Deal bargains are founded.

[geek tragedy]

3. Would have to get out of Tom Harkin's committee.

DOA.

[backscatter712]

11. +1!

The Dems in the Senate will ensure that this bill is DOA.

[Zen Democrat]

4. Why do you say Kiss Overtime Goodbye when this has zero chance of becoming law?

[liberal N proud]

8. With this congress - never say never

[cbdo2007]

5. I kissed overtime goodbye 10 years ago when I took a position on salary.

It does offer me quite a bit of flexibility as you legally only have to work like 6 hours per day to get paid for the full day, so when I was hourly before that and had a doctor appointment I would clock out and take off for 2 hours and not get paid for it. Now on salary they are a lot more flexible, so they just let me take the 2 hours off and not worry about making it up.

[mick063]

6. just watch

The 1% puppets will make it law. I don't trust any of them.

What a half assed, lame, condescending excuse.

Flexibility for the family. There are just enough dumb shits out there that actually believe corporate America is genuinely concerned about family flexibility.

This is about working for less money. Period.

[Wounded Bear]

7. It's supposed to die in the Senate....

I hope so.

The worst case scenario is that you build up 3 weeks of "comp time" and then get laid off.

Whoops. Tough times, eh?

[Orsino]

9. Probably will. And maybe the next one, too.

But when it gets attached to something too important, watch it pass and be signed into law.

[edhopper]

10. And once more we see the shear stupidity

of anyone working for a wage voting Republican.

[City Lights]

12. What a warm and fuzzy name for a piece of shit.

Ugh. I hope it dies a slow, painful death in the Senate.

[Posteritatis]

16. I still think requiring bills to go unnamed would mediate a lot of that crap

It's much easier to pass the Anyone Who Opposes This Eats Kittens Alive Act than it would be to pass HR 3153, even if the content was identical, and good lord are US legislation names loaded these days.

[davidn3600]

13. If they wanted to help working families, why dont they ask working families what they need?

Instead they go to big business and ask them what they need to save on labor expenses and then dress it up as a pro-worker bill.

This is a farce.

[Yo_Mama]

14. Exactly - but Obama will veto

It's time to write a nice note to the WH reminding our president that we expect him to veto.

[liberal N proud]

15. Exactly - it is the only chance we have.

Do nothing and it could pass.

[JVS]

17. It won't even make it that far. Harry Reid isn't going to bring it up for a vote ever.