Aug. 20, 2004 - 17:50 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Got Me

It will have little affect on me, other than abuse from disgruntled workers being crabby to me.

This overtime bit that a certain executive managed to get through looks to me like it will hurt a whole bunch of people.

Following is what a kind lady sent me today when I asked her if she had heard anything about this governmental overtime change:

FACT: The new Bush Administration overtime laws are written such that many workers who currently earn overtime pay in this pay range are likely to lose it. For example: Concurrent Duties�Under the old rule, an employee who spent a substantial amount of his or her time on nonexempt work but who also performed some exempt supervisory duties generally remained eligible for overtime pay (under old rule 541.116). Under the new rule, that person will generally be an exempt executive, and not eligible for overtime pay. (New section 541.106)

EXAMPLE�An assistant manager in fast-food, grocery or retail may spend most of his or her time performing "line" duties, like burger flipping or ringing up customers, but still be "in charge" of other workers at the same time. Under the old rule, many of these workers still received overtime pay. Under the new rule, they may very well lose their overtime pay, even if they make as little as $23,660 a year�a wage that qualifies a family for food stamps.

Salary Basis Test�The old rule required an employer to pay a worker a salary in order to deprive the worker of the right to overtime pay. The new rule (541.604) defines salary as an hourly wage, so long as the employer guarantees a minimum wage that bear a loose relationship to hourly compensation. EXAMPLE�Registered nurses (RNs) are very likely to lose their overtime pay rights. RNs' work satisfies the duties test for professionals, but they are paid hourly, and they don't have much freedom to come and go. If they come in to work late, they are docked an hour's pay, for example. They used to receive overtime pay for the many hours of overtime they are required to perform. Under the new rule, they are likely to lose that right. There are many other examples of how workers in this salary range are likely to lose overtime pay rights. In general, the final overtime regulation will have an especially large impact on workers with minimal supervisory or "leadership" responsibilities, workers who perform minimal amounts of administrative work, workers with special skills, and certain kinds of employees in the computer field.

MYTH: The new Bush Administration overtime law merely clarifies murky law, thus eliminating unnecessary lawsuits. The law is part of its "proven commitment to protecting workers' rights."

� FACT: The new Bush Administration overtime law, in fact, lays out in the regulation exemptions which corporations have not been able to win in the courts. For example: Journalists�There has been a lot of litigation over whether journalists have the right to receive overtime pay. Courts ruled both ways, based on the facts of each case, and many decisions prohibited journalists from losing the right to overtime. The Bush Administration points to the cases in which journalists have lost the right to overtime as the basis for their new rule, which now makes it much harder for journalists to get overtime pay. In fact, there's a big difference between court cases in a limited number of jurisdictions and the new Bush Administration federal rule, which broadens the exemption nationwide for all journalists. (New section 541.302) Insurance claims adjusters�Again, court cases on whether insurance claims employees receive overtime pay have gone both ways�some courts have said they are exempt and other have said they should receive overtime pay. This is a very heavily-litigated field, and corporations have not been able to win a blanket victory. The Bush Administration has handed them that victory by changing the nationwide regulation to specify that these employees are generally disqualified from receiving overtime pay. (New Section 541.203(a)) A quarter of insurance claims adjusters make less than $35,000 a year.

� MYTH:� The Bush Administration merely updated the rules to reflect today's modern workplace, but did not strip workers of overtime pay rights.

FACT: The Bush Administration could have supported the Harkin Amendment which allows them to make any updates to the rules, as long as no worker loses overtime pay.� In fact, the Bush Administration has made it MORE difficult for many workers in the structure of today's workplace to receive overtime pay. Team leaders�Many workplaces are moving toward having a team leader structure under which co-workers oversee one another's work. In the old overtime law, the only people disqualified from receiving overtime pay were "staff" who oversaw "special projects." The new Bush Administration overtime law changes that language so that people who do "line" work�whether it's turning out hamburgers or ringing up sales�and who oversee "major projects" will be likely to lose overtime pay rights. "Special projects" implied that there was a definite start and end to the project, whereas the new "major projects" could go on indefinitely, thus knocking many team leaders out of overtime pay rights.

� MYTH: The Bush Administration has cut back on the number of lawsuits which will arise over overtime pay.

FACT: The 500 plus page rule and preamble is very likely to lead to MORE, not LESS, litigation.� The rule is, at best, ambiguous.� It essentially invites employers to push on these ambiguities, forcing workers who lose overtime pay to challenge their new status in court.

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The preceding is what I received. She made some comments that are relevant, quite good they were. But, I want to rant a bit too about this overtime.

The way things were in the early days of this country, there was no overtime pay. Common for a man to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. So if he got a day off it was because his employer was magnanimously good hearted. (heh)

A 40 hour work week and overtime pay were two things that were fought for and the fight was many years before a goodly amout of people got any benefit out of it.

Those and vacations were things fought for.

One thing many people fail to realize is that their very NON-Union companies and corporations who give employees vactions and other things which allow them to play on an even field (or as near as they will ever get) were fought for by unions and in many union contracts. Otherwise there would be none of that fancy fol-de-rol pampering of the peons.

I was among the lucky people who worked under a union contract that read, 40 hours a week, time and a half pay for anything worked over eight hour or 40 hours per week. Any work on Sundays or holidays was double time. Not everybody had that good fortune and some still were working at non-union places where vacations and overtime pay was at the whim of the employer.

I think many good things were brought about by unions, safety measures, health care among other things.

I don't really think that I would like to ride an aircraft piloted by someone ticked off at his employer in a machine that might have been checked by a p.o.ed maintenance worker

Things such as break-times, so mundane that they are hardly thought of as subjects for conversation are pretty well universal in our country. Why ? Because it has been demonstrated by company experiments that a worker does more and better work if he breaks every two hours. I have had practical experience on that, on a manufacturing assemble line a station I worked on subassembled the right hand units of a machine and across the aisle a station subassembling the left hand units which were identical but mirror images. My partner and I would take our breaks, and eat our lunches. The two guys across the aisle wouldn't take breaks and would eat while they worked, but my partner and I easily out produced them week after week.

I think it is pretty well accepted that any work done over eight hours a day and over 40 hours a week is less productive than people working a straight 8 hour day and a 40 hour week. It gets more difficult after time to work hard while tired or accomplish much as well as injuries are more frequent and lost time accidents are more frequent.

And I feel that working people are are being sold a bill of goods on their Social Security funds. Letting people not knowledgeable in the stock market or othere investment methods do their own investing with part of their Social Security money -- as they go. How much sense does that make ?

Then too, what is going to happen to the pension system now that United is playing poor mouth and bankers saying that they can't loan money to United if United keeps putting truly owed money into the pension system ?

Another thing in the news today, Senator Kennedy has been stopped five times when he was trying to fly aboard commercial jetliners. Quote, "The well-known Massachusetts Democrat was stopped five times as he tried to board US Airways shuttles because a name similar to his appeared on a list or his name popped up up for additional screening."

"If they have that kind of difficulty with a member of Congress, how in the world are average Americans, who are getting caught up in this thing, how are they going to be treated fairly and not have their rights abused ?" Kennedy asked the Homeland Security undersecretary, Asa Hutchinson.

From all sides we of the hoi polloi are being squeezed into units, chessmen or ladies to be put where the upper echelon wants us to be, whether we are eating well, clothed adequately, or sheltered. Our rights to move around freely hampered and if we attempt to protest or even think about it we are objects of suspicion.

Will things eventually get better in this country ? Damfino, you sure Got Me . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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