Bush Versus Overtime Pay

Very interesting new study by Ross Eisenbrey and Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan Washington think tank. (Press release/summary here; full study here.) Per the study, under the Bush Adminstration's new labor rules, employers can declare hourly employees to be "professional"--and thus ineligible for overtime pay--based solely on a basic amount of work experience or even military training, regardless of actual work responsbilities, education level or career experience.

“The administration’s proposal would create, in effect, a massive subsidy to employers paid for by their employees,” said Eisenbrey. “As more employers take advantage of the new rules, it will create a rush-to-the-bottom pressure that will eventually force even reluctant employers to participate in order to keep their labor costs competitive.”

“Under the guise of modernization, the Bush administration is threatening to gut the right to overtime pay for millions of workers,” said Bernstein. “This seemingly innocent set of rule changes will lower the incomes of working families, many of whom depend on overtime pay to make ends meet.”

The administration's new rules are clearly nothing more than a means of enabling employers to slash overtime pay, to the detriment of lower-level employees. (This is particularly galling in the case of employees with military experience. If you're a Reservist or National Guardsman serving in Iraq, the Bush Adminstration would like to thank you for your selfless service by eliminating your overtime pay once you're back on the job Stateside.) By all means, let's let corporations pad their next quarterly profit numbers by a penny or two a share. We can't disappoint Wall Street. After all, there are executive incentive programs at stake.