Millions of America's workers who now earn overtime pay face lower pay,
longer hours and unpredictable work schedules under changes to federal
overtime pay rules that go into effect on Aug. 23.
On Aug. 23, 2004, the Bush administration's changes to the rules that
determine who is eligible for overtime pay go into effect. The changes
could
cut paychecks for more than 6 million workers, including nurses, nursery
school and pre-kindergarten teachers, store supervisors and many others.
Millions of working people would face unpredictable work schedules and
reduced pay because employers would not have to pay a premium for
demanding
that employees work for more than 40 hours a week, according to an
Economic
Policy Institute report.
If the Bush administration's overtime pay take-away goes into effect:
a.. Millions of salaried workers making between $22,101 and $100,000 who
now are eligible to receive overtime pay could be reclassified as
executives
or administrative or professional employees-and would no longer qualify
for
overtime pay.
b.. Workers earning relatively low salaries who have supervisory
responsibilities or management-related responsibilities would be
penalized,
as would workers with advanced education or specialized training. Some of
the workers affected could be nursery school and pre-kindergarten
teachers,
nurses, retail managers, insurance claims adjusters and medical
therapists.
c.. Employees not covered by the new rules also could be hurt. Employers
most likely would assign overtime hours only to them and eliminate
overtime
for other workers.
d.. Anyone making $100,000 or more a year likely would lose overtime
pay,
effectively eliminating many middle-income wage earners' much-needed extra
pay.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor's own estimates, the Bush
administration's proposed rule changes could mean 107,000 workers (47,000
hourly and 60,000 salaried) could be converted to exempt salary status as
a
result of the new test for highly compensated workers.
The Bush administration says its plan would give overtime protections to
more workers by allowing anyone who earns $22,100 or less to automatically
qualify for overtime pay. But many of those workers, such as fast-food
employees, already are covered. And the Labor Department has spelled out
for
employers how they can avoid paying overtime to low-wage workers.
Many working families depend on overtime to pay bills-especially during
the
current economic recession that has resulted in stagnant and declining
wages
coupled with increasing costs of health care, prescription drugs, child
care
and other essential expenses. The Bush proposal would cut into many of
those
families' paychecks.
Sorry for the unrelated topic, but I am a workingman and Bush can kiss my
ass.
Rick
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