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July 25, 2004

The Bush administrations new rules on overtime pay are coming August 23 and they will "harm rather than promote and protect the interests of U.S. workers and their families."

Three former top-ranking officials of the Labor Department under both Republican and Democratic administrations say despite Bushs claims to the contrary that millions of workers will lose pay under the new rules.

In an independent review of the Labor Departments final regulations, John Fraser, Monica Gallagher and Gail Coleman concluded that more classes of workers and a greater proportion of the work force overall will be exempted from overtime eligibility. They said the new regulations also remove protections for large numbers of employees who are currently covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which guarantees workers time-and-a-half pay for more than 40 hours per week. Overall, they condemn the rules as vague, internally inconsistent and likely to result in greater confusion and a profusion of litigation.

"The Departments final rule fails to achieve the Departments own stated goals to simplify, clarify and better organize the regulationsthe trio state in their observations. "The Department goes on to state that, Rather than broadening the exemptions, the final rule will enhance the understanding of the boundaries and demarcations of the exemptions Congress created. In fact, it is our view that the Department did just the opposite broadening eligibility for exemption without substantially clarifying the rules."

As the implementation date approaches, economists continue to conclude that millions will lose their overtime pay. A new study published this week by the Economic Policy Institute estimates that 6 million workers will have their right to earn overtime taken away. The EPI report said nearly 2 million administrative workers who could be considered team leaders would lose the time-and-a-half pay. And another 1 million who would qualify as learned professionals even if they dont have college degrees would be stiffed too. Almost 1.5 million more would lose overtime because they would be executive under the new rules.

In the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Republicans rejected an amendment that would have prohibited any reduction in the number of workers eligible for overtime.

But businesses are already gearing up for the changes they lobbied to win. One management group offers employers guidance to the rules in a special report called "New FLSA Rules: Seize the Day," and special software to make employee reclassification faster and easier.

50 Creative Ways to Cheat Workers Out of Pay By the U.S. Labor Department

House Says No to Overtime Overhaul... October 6, 2003

Senate Says No to Overtime Regs... September 17, 2003

Bill Would Nix Overtime Rules... July 14, 2003

Hundreds Rally For Overtime... July 1, 2003

DOL Targets Overtime Pay... June 26, 2003

Labor Prevails to Defeat Comp Time Legislation... June 11, 2003

Overtime Rules Menace Workers Nationwide... May 30, 2003

Bush Proposes Changing Federal Overtime Rules... April 2, 2003

Overtime Pay... U.S. Department of Labor