President Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion of Overtime Pay WASHINGTON -- President Obama this week will seek to force American businesses to pay more overtime to millions of workers, the latest move by his administration to confront corporations that have had soaring profits even as wages have stagnated. On Thursday, the president will direct the Labor Department to revamp its regulations to require overtime pay for several million additional fast-food managers, loan officers, computer technicians and others whom many businesses currently classify as executive or professional employees to avoid paying them overtime, according to White House officials briefed on the announcement. Mr. Obamas decision to use his executive authority to change the nations overtime rules is likely to be seen as a challenge to Republicans in Congress, who have already blocked most of the presidents economic agenda and have said they intend to fight his proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour from $7.25. Mr. Obamas action is certain to anger the business lobby in Washington, which has long fought for maximum flexibility for companies in paying overtime. Oh well a Republican President would do the same, right? We know this because the parties are the same... oh, wait... whats that you say? In 2004, business groups persuaded President George W. Bushs administration to allow them greater latitude on exempting salaried white-collar workers from overtime pay, even as organized labor objected. But it seems that... Since the mid-1980s, corporate profits have soared, reaching a post-World War II record as a share of economic output. The profits of the companies in the Standard & Poors 500 have doubled since the recession ended in June 2009, but wages have stagnated for a vast majority of workers in the same period. Recently, workers wages fell close to an all-time low as a share of the economy. In 2012, the share of the gross domestic income that went to workers fell to 42.6 percent, the lowest on record. Under current federal regulations, workers who are deemed executive, administrative or professional employees can be denied overtime pay under a so-called white-collar exemption. Under current rules, it literally means that you can spend 95 percent of the time sweeping floors and stocking shelves, and if youre responsible for supervising people 5 percent of the time, you can then be considered executive and be exempt, said Ross Eisenbrey, a vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research organization in Washington. The Radio Shack employment model was to make every employee an assistant manager. Sure they had no management duties, but it did keep RS from paying them OT. Until they were exposed in court. nytimes/2014/03/12/us/politics/obama-will-seek-broad-expansion-of-overtime-pay.html?google_editors_picks=true
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 14:54:32 +0000
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