The White House on Tuesday announced a new rule that will boost the number of Americans who qualify for time-and-a-half pay whenever they work more than 40 hours in a given week.
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CBS 58-Big changes to overtime rules could mean a pay hike for millions of workers.
Traditionally low-wage, long-hours industries like retail or restaurants are expected to be most affected by the new rules. As an assistant manager at a sandwich shop, Elizabeth sometimes worked as many as 70 hours a week, without a dime of overtime pay.
“What our members have told us, what many other employers have told us, is there’s not a golden pot of money out there sitting in employers’ pockets where they can all of a sudden pay a lot more overtime pay”, said David French, vice president of the National Retail Federation.
The Labor Department on Wednesday at the behest of the White House will issue new rules regarding overtime that will double the salary threshold up to which employees would be eligible for overtime pay. Opponents claim the change will be a job- and income-killer, forcing many businesses to either cut their employees’ hours, make do with less workers, or even switch more work over to automated technology that minimizes or eliminates the need for human involvement.
A study by Oxford Economics found that the DOL proposal would result in far more workers than intended coming under overtime in rural and low-income areas. “They’re going to have to clock in and clock out”. Or they may no longer be entitled to bonuses or profit-sharing. Or they may simply not allow salaried workers who don’t meet the threshold to work more than 40 hours per week.
The retail federation warns that numerous affected workers will have their hours reduced to below 40 hours a week.
President Obama first announced his plans to update the rules two years ago, but some consumer groups say they have been pushing him to alter the rules since he took office.
That’s why tomorrow, the Department of Labor is finalizing a rule to update overtime protections so they can help millions more Americans.
“The overtime rule is about making sure middle-class jobs pay middle-class wages”, Perez said.
Perez said the new rule also clarifies the types of duties white-collar employees must perform to be exempt. Perez said that will still be a plus because it will restore leisure time to overworked employees.
Some colleges said they anxious they might have to cut services or raise tuition prices to keep up with the guidelines. That is the equivalent of a 4.3 percent increase in tuition, Harig said.
Wirt said her firm has been advising clients for months to prepare for the changes. “But we believe due diligence has not been done on the impact for higher education institutions”.
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The whittling away of overtime protections is one of the ways the rules of our economy have been rewritten to favor corporations over working families. Review and edit time cards with just a few clicks. If they make less than the salary threshold, they are guaranteed overtime pay, but if they make more than the threshold and they fall into the categories of executive, administrator, or professional, their overtime work can be exempt.
