Bush's overtime regulations take effect
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| Tue, 08-24-2004 - 1:32am |
* 5.4 million salaried workers, who under the previous regulations were unsure if they should be paid overtime, get an ironclad guarantee of overtime rights under the final rule — regardless of their job duties.* 1.3 million salaried white-collar workers, who were not entitled to overtime pay under the previous regulations, will now be entitled to either overtime pay or higher salaries.
* The changes guarantee overtime to an employee working 50 hours per week managing a restaurant for $15,600 per year; a worker putting in 60 hours a week managing a department store for $18,000 per year; an employee working 42 hours a week supervising a machine shop for $17,000 per year.
* Fraternal Order of Police National President Chuck Canterbury praises the new rules. The regulations... clarify why these employees, regardless of their rank or pay level, cannot be classified as executive, administrative or professional employees, and thus be exempted from receiving overtime pay. In addition, the Department acknowledges that the right to overtime compensation may be extended to some public safety employees who are currently classified as exempt because of changes to the regulations.
"Where others were content to ask the Department to say in its final rule only that 'no expansion of law enforcement exemptions is included in or intended by the new rules,' the Fraternal Order of Police said 'today's public safety work is more unique than ever before, and the final regulations must account for the challenges faced by our nation's first responders in the post-9/11 environment,''" Canterbury said. "The final regulations achieve that goal."
http://www.nationalreview.com/kerry/kerryspot.asp
Renee ~~~

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Also received an e-mail stating that Registered Nurses are at risk. Bush says they aren't likely to lose their overtime because they are in such demand in the market, but if they so much as oversee one or two people, even without rights to hire or fire, they could be considered management and therefore lose overtime. First responders and fire fighters were specifically written into the law NOT to lose their overtime. Nurses have to hope that hospitals and HMOs are nice?
We should know in a couple of weeks how this law is being interpreted and who wins and loses - just wait for paychecks to be issued.
We'll see how it works out. I hardly think that this will "hurt" so many people. I see it as a help to employers. Without extra overtime pay, maybe they can afford to provide better benefits and more employees overall.
An RN's salary isn't so bad. Yes, we work our butts off, but the pay has come up quiet a bit since I started working 20 years ago at $8.00 and hour and $1.00 extra for night shift. The lowest paid nurses are in Dr's offices/clinics, making around $15/hr on average, and often more- 4 years ago I was offered $18. Nursing homes pay in the mid $20/hr range, where I am I see adds for up to $30/hr. Hospitals lowest salaries probably come close, but are typically higher than nursing homes. Across the country this varies of course. I am in Illinois, outside of Chicago. I wouldn't feel too sorry for an RN, taking on additional responsibility for additional pay having to give up OT. Now, that restuarant mgr making $17,000 getting OT now, I think they should as their salary hasn't hit what could be considered on a professional level. I guess though, when we have unions that guarantee OT to folks already making $30 or more an hour, then it seems that everyone should get it.
20 years ago the corp my husband worked for capped OT at $25,000, at that level, you became 'salaried' and there was no more OT. Of course, at that level you were incurring more and more responsibility, and the OT came with that. Personally, as much as I hate the OT and knowing what his checks would look like with them, I like this system. But were not even talking about not paying them for their time, we are just talking about not increasing their salary by 50-100%, even as much as 200%. We have all kinds of parameters that are applied to wages. Don't you think that someone pulling in $30/hour is doing well enough that that just getting the same $30 an hour isn't going to hurt them. Don't you think that the guy that is less skilled, making $17,000 a year, and being asked to work for maybe even nothing if they are calling it a salaried position with no OT, should be compensated for a 16 or more hour day?
Alicia2210:
Mich
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm
Hope that link helps clear the air a little on the subject. For myself I think we're just going to have to wait and see how it all plays out in the real world before knowing whether it's really a losing or winning proposition for most employees.
~mark~
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