The FLSA proposed changes

WOCO Frank

Is it just me, or is there an awful lot of innaccurate/misleading/deceptive advertising all-of-a-sudden?

My daughter came home from school the other day, railing about how the government is trying to eliminate the requirement to pay overtime. In fact, she had been assigned to write a paper on the bad things that could happen if the changes were enacted! Her "suggested resources" provided by the teacher included the AFL/CIO website. Sheesh.

I printed out a FAQ sheet from SHRM (I think it was SHRM), and told her to attach it to her paper. I also told her if her teacher wanted someone to talk to the class about what the proposal was really about, I would be available.

Hunter1

Kudos to you, Frank! Yes, there is a lot of misinformation out there, lots of it put out by unions. I recently read a 'news' story in the local paper about how local police and firefighters would lose overtime pay under the new regs. I don't know about your jurisdiction, but in WI, I don't think there are many non-represented police officers or firefighters, and their labor agreements will protect the little darlings regardless of the FLSA.

Careful about what kind of position you put your daughter in though. One of my grandchildren was telling me recently that her school district was going to have to lay off 6 teachers in order to balance their budget, and I told her the solution to the problem was simple: Have teachers in her district contribute $100/mo for health ins, (In WI, few teachers contribute to health ins. Highly unionized and very well placed in the state capital) and they could probably HIRE another 6 teachers. Well, she communicated this solution to her teacher who 'jumped down her throat' about how much they are already contributing through copays and deductibles. Didn't make her the teacher's pet!

Peggy

Thanks, for this I thought I was the only one confused on this issue.

The President of our Company just called to ensure we were following the "NEW" overtime rules. He said he just heard it was in effect now. I tried to assure him that this is trying to pass with alot of resistance.

If you would please share with me the FAQ's you provided to your daughter, I would greatly appreciate it.

My email address is [email]pbyrnes@saratogawarehouse.com[/email] and my fax number is
518-587-3129.

Thanks, again!

System

You may have heard that the U.S. Senate voted to block the DOL's proposed regulations on the white-collar exemptions. Here's an article about it from our new newsletter, the Federal Employment Law Insider, which is written by an attorney who's right there on Capitol Hill watching it all unfold:
[url]http://www.HRhero.com/hrheroline/flsa_vote.shtml[/url]

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

ritamcguire

As I understand the problem, there is one major complaint reagrding the proposed FLSA changes. That problem is the phrase in the proposed change that lets the employer substitute comp time in lieu of monetary payment when an employee has earned overtime. If this is true, then of course, the employees through their unions would be upset. If however, the changes grant the employee the choice to take comp time or get paid for overtime then there shouldn't be a problem. I believe this to be the case. But even in this case, the unions are arguing that the employer could put pressure on the employee to take the comp time and thus save the company the expense of having to pay overtime.

Can someone clarify this for me. It seems that there wouldn't be any problem if changes to the FLSA gave the employee the option of taking comp time or overtime without being presssured. I believe the other changes, i.e., definition of exempt, etc, are supported by both employers and employees.

Add my kudos for Frank's effort to correct his child's teacher. The teacher was truly out of place and should be disciplined. I also hope Frank's comment to the teacher doesn't cause the student to be harrassed by the teacher in question.

WOCO Frank

The comp time bill is actually one of two proposed changes. The first was the redefining of exempt / non-exempt status. I could see union opposition to the comp time bill, although I think any such opposition is organizational selfishness and completely ignores the welfare of their members. Remember - under the comp time changes, it is the individual employee's choice whether to take the money or the time. I can't understand opposition to the exempt / non-exempt changes. The proposal actually makes more than a million U.S. workers newly-eligible for overtime. You would think the unions could support that.

P.S. - My daughter says her teacher shrugged off my objections as evidence that I am some type of Bush administration patsy. My daughter says she didn't bother to tell her teacher that I've never voted Republican beyond the county level in my life. Maybe that's why my daughter is a 4.0 student - she's smart, works hard, but knows when to go with the flow.