Obama's new rule would make it harder for employers to deny you overtime

[kristopher]

BORING BUT IMPORTANT 7:51AM ET

Obama's new rule would make it harder for employers to deny you overtime

On Thursday, President Obama will reportedly direct the Labor Department to significantly broaden the number of American workers eligible for overtime pay. The new rules don't require congressional approval, but they won't take effect until after a public comment period. And there will be lots of comments.

Under the proposed rules, businesses would find it harder to avoid paying middle managers, shift supervisors, and other salaried "professional" workers overtime. The current rules were written by the George W. Bush administration in 2004. The new changes "would potentially shift billions of dollars' worth of corporate income into the pockets of workers," say Michael D. Shear and Steven Greenhouse at The New York Times.

The opponents and proponents of the measure fall along pretty predictable lines...

http://theweek.com/article/index/257848/speedreads-obamas-new-rule-would-make-it-harder-for-employers-to-deny-you-overtime

Rolling back a major Shrub era attack on labor.

[Enrique]

1. that might force the "job creators" to hire more people

which of course they are loathe to do if they can just squeeze existing staff.

[okaawhatever]

2. We'll all have to comment during the comment period and let people know this is important. nt

[PhilSays]

3. This is extremely important.

Hopefully it will help those "assistant managers" at dollar stores that are worked like 70 hours a week for a small salary.

[ProSense]

4. Think Progress:

Obama Will Give Workers A Boost By Making Sure More Earn Overtime Pay

By Bryce Covert

Using his executive authority, President Obama will update labor regulations that dictate which workers are exempt from the requirement that their employers pay time and a half for working more than 40 hours a week, the New York Times reports.

Under current rules, workers can be classified as executive, administrative, or professional and denied overtime pay under what is known as the white-collar exemption. That means someone who oversees a clean up crew can be classified as executive and not be paid time and a half for extra work. Obama’s change would readjust the rules for which salaried employees can be blocked in this way.

It would also significantly raise the salary threshold that currently stands at $455 a week, or $23,660 a year, meaning anyone who makes more than that is exempt from overtime. That threshold hasn’t been significantly updated since 1975, allowing it to erode as inflation rose. In a paper released earlier this year, the Economic Policy Institute estimated that if that threshold were raised to $970 a week, covering those who make $50,440 or less a year, about 10 million salaried workers would get overtime pay for going over 40 weekly hours. “These workers include insurance clerks, secretaries, low-level managers, social workers, bookkeepers, dispatchers, sales and marketing assistants, and employees in scores of other occupations,” the report notes. That threshold is also where it would be if it had been adjusted for inflation since the last significant increase.

<...>

The change would bring a welcome boost in income for workers, who have suffered a decade of stagnant or falling wages despite rising productivity. Their wages are currently growing at the slowest rate since 1965 and they have declined 7 percent since 2007. Meanwhile, corporate profits have been robust, rising 20 percent between 2008 and 2013 and hitting an all-time high in 2012.

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/12/3394571/obama-overtime/

It’s Time to Update Overtime
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024351972

[Bandit]

5. How do you pay a salaried person overtime?

Salaried people do not get paid by the hour. They pretty much get paid for their position in the company. Most do not put in a forty hour week. Usually they put in fifty to sixty hours a week and that is how their salary is based. I don't get how that will be changed.

[StatGirl]

7. You either make them hourly, or raise their pay so they can be salaried

As it is now, an employer can pay you $24K per year, call you "exempt", and essentially own all of your time, 24/7 -- and many of them do just that. The proposed change is a very good thing.

[Bandit]

8. It has been my experience that only certain qualified people are allowed to be salaried.

Those people also get to choose whether they wish to work on the clock or by Salary. Almost without exception people choose to be on Salary. Once you make that decision there is no such thing as overtime. It is possible I guess that the rules that apply to salaried people might get tightened up some so that fewer people are allowed to be on Salary. I believe you have to be a manager now or very integral to the company.

[StatGirl]

10. Of course there are scrupulous companies

And these employers and employees would probably be unaffected by the new ruling.

But truly, there are companies who will hire, for example, retail and restaurant managers at truly disgraceful salaries, and then expect them to be available on all shifts. And the response if people object to not being able to have a life is "Go find another job if you don't like it."

So no one is saying that salaried positions shouldn't exist. They're just saying that the income threshhold should be more in the range of $50,000/yr than $25,000/yr. When I am queen of the world, I'll set it at $60,000/yr and index it to inflation.

[Aristus]

6. But Obama is a right-leaning corporatist who hates the American worker!

Right?

Right?

Well, that's what I heard...

[dickthegrouch]

9. There's one BIG problem with this

Many workers are scheduled for far less than 40 hours a week to make sure they can't earn overtime even if they end up working more than they were scheduled for.
It would be far better if the rule required overtime any time the worker performed more than they were scheduled for.

Retail employees in this area are regularly scheduled for 30-32 hrs/week. Just enough to give the illusion that they are full time, and not enough to be able to earn much more than minimum wage.

My partner's pay went down by $4000 last year after all his bonus plans, and yet more hours, were taken away by a very profitable retail giant that paid its executives handsome bonuses.