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Senate Looks at Overtime Issue
In spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Department of Labor is refusing to back off its claim that just 644,000 workers would lose overtime pay under changes the agency intends to make to the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Wage and Hour Administrator Tammy McCutchen stuck by the highly disputed figure during a brief hearing Thursday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, but Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute told lawmakers that at least 8 million Americans would be affected.
Eisenbrey testified that EPI asked the labor department to explain how it arrived at the 644,000 figure, but the agency wouldn't respond. He presented the subcommittee with a detailed analysis of what's missing from the DOL's equation, showing how murky language in the proposed regulations will give employers broad authority to exempt workers from overtime protection.
Eisenbrey said that among the many problems with the agency's math, it only took into account people who currently receive overtime pay -- about 12 million Americans -- as opposed to the 80 to 90 million Americans who are eligible.
"Because the overtime premium works as it was designed to, and discourages employers from assigning overtime to non-exempt workers, removing overtime protection will result in many employees working overtime who don't work overtime now," he said. "Congress and the public should be concerned about the loss of overtime protection, not just the loss of overtime pay."
Eisenbrey and CWA attorney Mark Wilson, a specialist in the FLSA and overtime law, also spoke earlier this week at a media briefing hosted by TNG-CWA at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The Senate is expected to take action on the overtime issue after its August recess, likely in the form of an amendment to an appropriations bill. In addition, Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have introduced a bill (S.1485) to prevent the new regulations from taking away any workers' overtime protection.
Wage and Hour Administrator Tammy McCutchen stuck by the highly disputed figure during a brief hearing Thursday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, but Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute told lawmakers that at least 8 million Americans would be affected.
Eisenbrey testified that EPI asked the labor department to explain how it arrived at the 644,000 figure, but the agency wouldn't respond. He presented the subcommittee with a detailed analysis of what's missing from the DOL's equation, showing how murky language in the proposed regulations will give employers broad authority to exempt workers from overtime protection.
Eisenbrey said that among the many problems with the agency's math, it only took into account people who currently receive overtime pay -- about 12 million Americans -- as opposed to the 80 to 90 million Americans who are eligible.
"Because the overtime premium works as it was designed to, and discourages employers from assigning overtime to non-exempt workers, removing overtime protection will result in many employees working overtime who don't work overtime now," he said. "Congress and the public should be concerned about the loss of overtime protection, not just the loss of overtime pay."
Eisenbrey and CWA attorney Mark Wilson, a specialist in the FLSA and overtime law, also spoke earlier this week at a media briefing hosted by TNG-CWA at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The Senate is expected to take action on the overtime issue after its August recess, likely in the form of an amendment to an appropriations bill. In addition, Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have introduced a bill (S.1485) to prevent the new regulations from taking away any workers' overtime protection.