WASHINGTON – It was reported today that President Barack Obama will use his executive authority to mandate that businesses pay more overtime to workers.
According to the New York Times, Obama will ask the Department of Labor this week to change its rules on how workers that are classified as “executive or professional” are paid. Currently, workers that companies name as “executive or professional” are not required by law to be paid overtime wages. The Fair Labor Standards Act says that any worker covered by the act must receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay.
Many salaried workers are left out of the overtime pay requirement. In many cases, the government ends up subsidizing workers who make too little, by giving them food stamps, reduced price school lunches, and more.
Also at this time, the president is seeking a large increase in the minimum wage, from $7.25 to $10.10. Many large corporations have seen record profits while wages remain stagnant over the past 10-15 years. The president’s imminent move to force companies to pay more overtime plus a possible minimum wage increase is seen by many as an attempt to even out the flow of dollars to workers who have been left behind as corporate profits boom.
The US Chamber of Commerce, known to be anti-worker, has blasted the minimum wage and any move by government to impose mandatory overtime pay.
“The empirical evidence generally suggests that the effect of overtime regulation is to raise wage rates and reduce employment…and a variety of other distorting effects” on the economy, the Chamber claimed. “Overtime coverage causes firms to substitute more expensive for less expensive labor, “redistributing income from lower to higher earning workers.”
Republicans continue to fight the minimum wage hike, and will likely furiously battle the president and Democrats on this executive order.
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Diamond Jo Casino won’t like that news.
What overtime actually does is give company’s incentive to hire more people. Every good manager knows that long term overtime cause loss productivity and excessive absenteeism. The problem is there are lots of company’s that are not run by good managers with good policy. Fast food company’s are notorious for taking advantage of their employee’s. They use every trick they can to put people on salary and therefore not eligible for overtime. Damn shame they treat people this way.
No overtime. No wage hike. Unskilled people don’t deserve it. You want a raise? Get a degree.
I’ve never felt, personally, that a degree was indicative of skill.
I have met a lot of highly skilled people without degrees.
I’m all for getting an education, but to use getting a degree as a prerequisite for getting a decent job seems wrong to me.
I Mediator-I completely agree with you on this. I have known many tradesman that are just as intelligent as a degreed individual. I have long said that it is the schools fault for pushing college at all cost that we so many unemployeed and underemployeed people. Not everyone is college material and they shouldn’t be. And, not everyone can be a doctor or a lawyer. Sending kids to a good trade school or vocational school will reduce debt and get these people into good, skilled, decent paying
I had my own electronics repair shop and sub contracted 2 others without a college degree, all self taught.
@maybe-if we ever meet in person (over coffee) I will tell you what I have done. I won’t put it on here.