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But there are other schemes for “spreading the work,” often put forward by union spokesmen and legislators. The most frequent of these is the proposal to shorten the working week, usually by law. The belief that it would “spread the work” and “give more jobs” was one of the main reasons behind the inclusion of the penaltyovertime provision in the existing Federal Wage-Hour Law. The previous legislation in the states, forbidding the employment of women or minors for more, say, than forty-eight hours a week, was based on the conviction that longer hours were injurious to health and morale. Some...

Dec 1, 2008 7:34 pm US/Mountain Troopers Have Yet To Be Paid For DNC Overtime DENVER (CBS4) ― Colorado state troopers say it's been more than three months since the Democratic National Convention and they have yet to get compensated for their overtime. The economy is bad and the holiday season is here and the extra money or time off that some troopers counted on has yet to be approved. There seem to be a lot of factors of work in the hold up, including an extraordinary event, troopers were used from around the state, and asking federal government to...

Delpeyrat is the kind of company French president Nicolas Sarkozy believed he would give a boost to when he introduced a measure on tax-free overtime pay earlier this month. As one of France’s leading foie gras producers, every October Delpeyrat has the arduous task of recruiting the same 260 seasonal workers needed to ensure that production at its factory in south-west France keeps up with the flood of pre-Christmas orders. The job is easier said than done. With students back at university during autumn and a local population of just 7,500 people – 32,000 if you count the surrounding satellite...

A federal lawsuit filed in Greenbelt alleges that a Maryland company that paints luxury condominiums in the District defrauded Latino immigrant workers who routinely worked 60 hours or more a week by failing to pay them overtime. The company, SCCP Painting Contractors Inc., also allegedly did not pay the four plaintiffs named in the suit for their final two weeks of work. One of the workers, Ivan Aplicano, 34, of Gaithersburg said in an interview yesterday that he worked 113 hours during his last two weeks with the company. Its refusal to pay him after he was fired in April...

A veteran Houston police officer has been relieved of duty and charged with felony bribery after investigators say he took cash in exchange for not issuing a traffic citation, department officials said today. Police allege that senior officer Alfred Alaniz, an accident investigator who joined the force in 1986, took an unspecified amount of money in an undercover sting.

Here's an example of the overtime orgy, as outlined by Triantaphilides in his report to the City Council and the retirement board on Tuesday: In 2005, a police corporal was paid a base salary of $70,429 and earned a stunning $78,231 for 1,630 hours of overtime, bringing total compensation to $148,660.

As the state's fiscal year came to a close, the California Highway Patrol sped up its use of budgeted overtime pay in May and June, with at least one CHP division urging its workers to rack up extra hours. The Valley Division's officers "did an excellent job of using up overtime, spending nearly $943,000 since May 14," according to a June 14 e-mail obtained by The Bee. "Now we are counting on non-uniformed employees to make a dent." The division's commander, Stan Pérez, "has granted approval for every non-uniformed employee under Valley Division to use as much overtime as they...

Despite two years of trying to trim lucrative overtime pay for city firefighters, more than a dozen pulled in $100,000, or more, in OT last year, a Daily News analysis shows. Fifteen of the 17 firefighters earned more in overtime pay than their base salaries, and two made more than $175,000 in OT that bumped their gross pay to more than $268,000 - about $5,000 more than their boss, Chief William Bamattre. With base pay, OT and other pay and bonuses, firefighters and their bosses accounted for nearly two-thirds of the 100 city workers who earned more than $200,000 last...

LONDON (Reuters) - More British workers will call in "sick" Monday than on any other day in 2006, many opting to make their excuses by text message or by phoning in with an artistic cough or splutter, research revealed Monday. Widespread dissatisfaction with holiday allowances combined with a post-Christmas comedown will contribute to thousands of Britons, who work some of the longest hours in Europe, staying at home to recharge their batteries. "Early February is a very popular time for taking a 'sickie', the first bank holiday still seems a long way off, the days are gloomy and many people...

MBTA officials say rampant absenteeism is hurting bus and subway service, discouraging riders, and eating away at the agency's finances by forcing it to pay overtime. ...about 35 percent of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's roughly 6,000 employees were absent for 11 or more days in 2004, and 16 percent were absent 26 or more days. Khalida Smalls, coordinator for the watchdog group called the T Riders Union, said yesterday that excessive absenteeism directly affects passengers. ''People stand at their bus stop at 4:45 waiting for a bus that doesn't show up," ...

Last year, Contra Costa County paid more than $24.3 million in overtime, nearly a million dollars more than the year before. As one of a diminishing number of counties that still runs a fire department and a hospital, Contra Costa can expect to continue hemorrhaging overtime dollars, one expert says. Kern, Los Angeles and Ventura counties also maintain a hospital and fire department -- which, like law enforcement, compel overtime to see that shifts are covered. Unions say counties would rather pay employees overtime than hire more staff members, because then they would have to pay for health care and...

... A survey by the Families and Work Institute in New York found that 1 in 3 Americans feels chronically overworked, and a study by the American Sleep Institute found that 50 percent of Americans would be willing to work fewer hours for less pay. As companies across the nation feverishly downsize and restructure to improve their bottom lines, overtime hours have crept up and now average four to five hours a week, 25 percent more than a decade ago, says Lonnie Golden, an overtime expert at Pennsylvania State University. A lot of that is forced overtime, and 50- or...

6/03/05 Daily News Clippings New York Times "FAA Says Controllers Abuse Overtime" Washington Post "FAA Faults Air Traffic Controllers; N.Y. Workers Accused of Abusing Overtime and Sick Leave" Associated Press State & Local Wire "FAA, after studying NY facility, disputes claims of threats to air safety made by traffic controllers union" Newsday (New York) "Report says air safety threatened" ABC-7 (New York) "Air Traffic Controllers Under Fire" Aviation Daily "FAA Finds Controller Overtime Abuse in NY, No Staff Shortage" Air Transport World "FAA blasts controller union over 'inefficient and wasteful practices'" PR Newswire (FAA Release) "FAA Investigation Into New York...

I have been trying to do some research on whether or not the cuts went into effect for first responders i.e. fire fighters, paramedics, police etc...that was supposed to be passed through the Senate late last year. All I seem to find is articles from 2004 about overtime cuts for different industries like retail and other industries. Can some Freepers point me to some good articles explaining Bush's position on this and if he truly proposed the cuts in their funding? I have never been 100 percent clear on this and I don't want to stick my foot in my...

Today National President Chuck Canterbury said that vice presidential candidate John Edwards' promise to overturn the new Federal overtime regulations revealed either a fundamental misunderstanding of their positive impact on public safety employees, or an early assurance of the political payback his trial lawyer colleagues can expect to receive in a Kerry-Edwards Administration. Speaking in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday, Edwards stated that "the first day John Kerry is sworn into office, we're going to reverse the overtime rule." "It's good to know in October that if elected they are not going to waste any time in dismantling the historic...

Protestors Ransack Bush/Cheney Headquarters In Orlando 2 People Receive Minor Injuries During Protest POSTED: 6:05 pm EDT October 5, 2004 UPDATED: 9:10 pm EDT October 5, 2004 ORLANDO, Fla. -- A group of protestors stormed and then ransacked a Bush-Cheney headquarters building in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, according to Local 6 News. Protestors Storm, Ransack Bush-Cheney Headquarters In Orlando Download RealPlayer Local 6 News reported that several people from the group of 100 Orlando protestors face possible assault charges after the group forced their way inside the Republican headquarters office. While in the building, some of the protestors drew horns and...

The Louisville metro government owes millions of dollars in overtime to firefighters after a Jefferson circuit judge ruled that officials for years calculated the pay incorrectly. Jefferson Circuit Judge Lisabeth Hughes Abramson has sided with firefighters who sued the old city of Louisville for failing to calculate their overtime based on their total salaries, rather than their base pay. The exact amount of back pay owed still is being determined. (snip) If the court agrees, Oldfather estimated the metro government would owe $10 million to $35 million to some 700 current and former firefighters. Herb Segal, who represents the Louisville...

House Votes to Block New Overtime Rules JIM ABRAMS In a sharp rebuke of a new administration policy, the House moved Thursday to block the Labor Department from carrying out overtime rules that critics argued could deprive millions of workers of their overtime pay. The 223-193 vote in favor of blocking the new overtime rules defied the White House, which has threatened to veto a massive spending bill now on the House floor if it contains any language tampering with the rules that took effect Aug. 23. Democrats, united against the rules, were joined by some 20 Republicans in voting...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Wednesday warned of a presidential veto of a $142.5 billion spending bill if Democrats pushed through an amendment that would block new Labor Department rules about overtime pay. House Democrats contend that millions of workers could lose their overtime pay under the rules. Lawmakers said they had enough Republican support to approve the amendment, leading the GOP leadership to put off a vote Wednesday. "They want to pull the bill so they have another chance to twist arms overnight," said Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin. He is the top Democrat on the Appropriations...

I was wondering if some of you could help me out here. I consider myself to be very informed on 90% of what's going on. I must admit however, that I am somewhat in a fog with regard to this new Overtime Law. Some of my friends who want to vote for Bush are asking me questions like: "Why does Bush want to take overtime pay away from hardworking people who rely on it to survive?" While I'm sure that the Dems and the Unions are distorting the real truth of the matter, I am not adequately informed in this...

This Labor Day finds many workers in a state of anxiety over the overtime rules that became law on Aug. 23. The worry is understandable, but unnecessary. Contrary to reports from many self-described worker advocates, the new overtime regulations are unlikely to cost many employees their overtime pay. The day the new rules took effect, Sen. Tom Harkin...passed along a story from the ...Chicago Sun-Times reporting ... 2,000 employees of Sears Roebuck and Co. ...were no longer entitled to overtime pay. In fact ...2,000 employees of the department-store chain were about to begin receiving overtime pay under the new regulations....

New rules for overtime start today BY ELAINE WALKER AND PATRICK DANNER ewalker@herald.com New federal overtime rules covering 115 million workers take effect today, but a legal struggle over the issue seems likely to take months or even years to resolve. The Labor Department says the changes are meant to protect low-wage workers and limit lawsuits. Yet union leaders argue that the new rules will actually mean less money in the paychecks of up to six million American workers who are likely to lose their overtime. A wide array of employees -- from registered nurses to chefs, insurance claims adjusters...

"John Edwards and John Kerry are up to their typical scare tactics. Kerry and Edwards know the President's measure will strengthen overtime protection for nearly seven million workers, increase overtime benefits and protect workers. The Kerry-Edwards ticket is once again misleading voters and in the process hurting their own credibility." - Brian Jones, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman The Democrats' False Attacks False Claim: The Bush Overtime Changes Eliminate Federally Mandated Time-And-A-Half Pay After 40 Hours In A Week. The Truth: President Bush Is Guaranteeing Overtime Pay For More Than 6.7 Million Workers. It is a patently false accusation that President...

"John Edwards and John Kerry are up to their typical scare tactics. Kerry and Edwards know the President's measure will strengthen overtime protection for nearly seven million workers, increase overtime benefits and protect workers. The Kerry-Edwards ticket is once again misleading voters and in the process hurting their own credibility." - Brian Jones, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman The Democrats' False Attacks False Claim: The Bush Overtime Changes Eliminate Federally Mandated Time-And-A-Half Pay After 40 Hours In A Week. The Truth: President Bush Is Guaranteeing Overtime Pay For More Than 6.7 Million Workers. It is a patently false accusation that President...

White House - AP Cabinet & State New Overtime Rules at a Glance Fri Aug 20, 9:56 AM ET Add White House - AP Cabinet & State to My Yahoo! By The Associated Press Highlights of the Labor Department (news - web sites)'s new overtime regulations taking effect Monday:   _Workers earning $23,660 annually or less are eligible for overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a week. The department says about 1.3 million workers will be newly eligible. _White-collar workers earning $100,000 or more a year are newly exempt from overtime pay. _Changes to duties that determine whether...

From foxnews.com website --> New Overtime Rules to Start Labor-law overhaul takes effect Monday; liberals still outraged

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stumping for the ouster of Pennsylvania's Republican senior senator, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton called Wednesday for a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate to protect overtime pay for workers. Unfortunately for Clinton, however: Specter is one of the few Republicans who has sided with Democrats on the controversial issue. "It is essential for Pennsylvania, in my view, that there be a Democratic majority," Clinton, D-N.Y., told reporters on a conference call with Specter challenger Rep. Joe Hoeffel, D-Pa. "I'll give you one example: This (Bush) administration has tried to end overtime as we know it and everybody's...

The Republican-controlled Senate voted yesterday to block new Labor Department rules that critics said would deny overtime pay to millions of white-collar workers, handing an embarrassing rebuff to the Bush administration on a politically sensitive jobs issue. [snip] But, on the final vote, Republicans Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Colo.), Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) joined all Democrats present except Zell Miller (Ga.) in voting to protect overtime pay.

Dems Want Overtime Pay Rules Killed Wednesday, April 28, 2004 WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Elaine Chao told Congress on Wednesday that new overtime regulations would strengthen "protection for more American workers that ever before," but a former federal investigator countered that the rules would subtly undermine eligibility of nursery school teachers, nurses and others. Appearing before a House committee, Chao said the regulations would mean guaranteed overtime protection for 1.3 million salaried workers who earn $455 a week or less. "They are predominantly married with less than a college degree and live in the South," she said. Other workers earning...

Politicians, labor unions, trade associations and employment attorneys reacted with varying degrees of enthusiasm to the new overtime pay regulations released last week by the Labor Department. Most experts agreed that the rules will provide overtime protection to more workers than the version proposed last year that touched off a firestorm of debate. But they don't do enough to eliminate the ambiguity in the old rules and will still cause too many workers to lose overtime protection, some compensation experts and labor leaders said. "At first glance, it seems to be an improvement over the proposed rule, but still worse...

Let's cut right to the chase: Are you going to lose your overtime pay under the new Labor Department rules? While lawyers, labor leaders and policy wonks pore through the 536 pages of regulations the government released Tuesday, a few clear winners and losers have emerged. If some of the critics are right, millions of U.S. workers are in danger of losing their overtime pay. And don't think the issue doesn't apply to you. If you are suddenly no longer eligible for overtime, what's to stop your boss from working you 60 hours a week? Or 80? So, let's get...

Bush revising rules to preserve OT for most white-collar workers WASHINGTON -- Retreating under pressure, the Bush administration intends to revise a proposed overtime regulation to preserve eligibility for most white-collar workers making up to $100,000 a year as well as for police, firefighters and other first responders, Republican officials said Monday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said revisions also would guarantee overtime for lower-wage workers making less than $23,660 a year, up from the $22,100 initially proposed. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is expected to preview the new proposals Tuesday, the sources said. A spokeswoman for the...

AP: Bush Administration to Revise OT Plan Tuesday April 20, 2004 3:01 AM By DAVID ESPO and LEIGH STROPE Associated Press Writers WASHINGTON (AP) - Retreating under pressure, the Bush administration intends to revise a proposed overtime regulation to preserve eligibility for most white-collar workers making up to $100,000 a year as well as for police, firefighters and other first responders, Republican officials said Monday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said revisions also would guarantee overtime for lower-wage workers making less than $23,660 a year, up from the $22,100 initially proposed. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is expected...

RadioShack Corp. remains at odds with thousands of current and former store managers in a class-action suit brought under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act over unpaid overtime. The case has already taken 18 months, cost untold dollars and distracted corporate executives including chief executive Leonard Roberts, who gave a deposition in February. But it may be one of the last suits of its kind as the U.S. Department of Labor prepares to release dramatic revisions to the nation's overtime laws. The Office of Management and Budget is expected to sign off on the new regulations this month. Lawyer Jim...

<p>A months-long Senate fight over proposed new rules on overtime pay for U.S. workers is threatening to derail a high-priority bill aimed at ending trade sanctions by Europe that could eventually cost American exporters $4 billion a year.</p> <p>The bill to substitute corporate tax cuts for export subsidies that have been outlawed by the World Trade Organization has broad, bipartisan support in the Senate. But the Senate is more closely divided over a Democratic proposal to add a provision that would block a Bush administration proposal to reduce overtime pay protections for many white-collar workers.</p>

Executive summary On March 31, 2003, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed regulatory changes, which if adopted, could make more than eight million white-collar employees ineligible for overtime pay. Under the current Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations adopted in 1938, most workers—an estimated 79% as of 1999—are guaranteed the right to overtime pay, or time and a half, for every hour worked beyond the normal 40-hour workweek. For white-collar workers, three tests determine whether they are exempt, and thus ineligible for overtime pay, or nonexempt, and thereby eligible for overtime pay. The rule changes proposed by the Bush Administration...

Would Bush Eliminate Overtime Pay for 8 Million? A TV ad from an anti-Bush group says so. But it's based on a study that actually says something different. March 5, 2004 The latest TV ad from the Moveon.org Voter Fund says "George Bush wants to eliminate overtime pay for 8 million workers," referring to new overtime rules that the Department of Labor has proposed. The 8-million figure (hotly denied by the Bush administration, of course) comes from a study by the labor-funded Economic Policy Institute. The ad misquotes the study, however. What the study actually says is that an estimated...

Summary The latest TV ad from the Moveon.org Voter Fund says "George Bush wants to eliminate overtime pay for 8 million workers," referring to new overtime rules that the Department of Labor has proposed. The 8-million figure (hotly denied by the Bush administration, of course) comes from a study by the labor-funded Economic Policy Institute. The ad misquotes the study, however. What the study actually says is that an estimated 8 million would lose the legal right to premium overtime rates should they work more than 40 hours per week. It does not say they would actually lose pay as...

"Working Families e-Activist Network" 03/04/2004 06:16 PM Please respond to notice-reply-dbe32ze3bbe Subject: Overtime Pay Update: Senate Fails to Act / Petition Tops 500,000 Dear Working Families e-Activist: A lot is going on in the drive to block President Bush's overtime pay take-away. Here is all the news: * The U.S. Senate scheduled but failed to vote today on new legislation to block the Bush Department of Labor from implementing the overtime pay take-away. * Unless they are stopped, it is now likely that the overtime pay take-away will be finalized before April 1. The exact date is up to President...

Dear Friend, President Bush is taking overtime pay away from millions of Americans who rely on it to make ends meet, and veterans will be among the first victims of the new rules. The new regulations will allow employers to define some military training as equivalent to a four-year degree and declare their veteran employees ineligible for overtime pay. That's President Bush's program for those who join the military: drop into a war zone, risk your life for your country, then come home to find you aren't eligible for overtime pay. Bush's overtime outrage is a devastating attack on families,...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 — The Senate gave President Bush and his Republican allies a victory today by approving an $820 billion spending bill covering more than a dozen federal departments and agencies in the fiscal year that began almost four months ago. The vote was 65 to 28. But that vote was anticlimactic, in a sense, because minutes earlier the chamber had voted, 61-32, to end a delay, or filibuster, that had blocked the measure. The 61 votes were one more than needed to defeat the filibuster. The bill, approved by the House weeks ago, was a conspicuous item of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Labor Department on Tuesday defended Bush administration plans to change overtime rules, and labor groups said the proposed changes threaten to cut paychecks of millions of Americans. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said the administration wants to change the 1938 law to ensure an additional 1.3 million low-wage workers can claim overtime pay. Updating the law to better define who is eligible for overtime would also help cut down on litigation in pay disputes, Chao told a Senate panel. But Richard Trumka, secretary treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation, said 8 million workers...

WASHINGTON · The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year. Among the options for employers: cut workers' hourly wages and add the overtime to equal the original salary, or raise salaries to the new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible. Employers' options include: >Adhering to a 40-hour work week. >Raising workers' salaries to a new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible for overtime pay. If employers raise a worker's salary "it means they're...

<p>The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year.</p> <p>The department's advice comes even as it touts the $895 million in increased wages that it says those workers would be guaranteed from the reforms.</p>

White House Wins Fight on OT Rule Changes WASHINGTON - Foes of the Bush administration's proposed rules changing which workers would qualify for overtime pay abandoned their fight Friday in the face of unrelenting pressure from the White House and the House. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the chief Republican opponent of the new rules, agreed to drop a provision killing the regulations from a massive spending bill, lawmakers, congressional aides and lobbyists said. Critics of the new rules said they could lead to 8 million Americans losing eligibility for overtime pay, largely white-collar workers earning more than $65,000 a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration won a Capitol Hill battle on Friday over proposed changes to U.S. overtime work rules that are supported by business and opposed by labor, congressional aides said. They said Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, had lifted his objections to the proposal, clearing the way for passage of a huge year-end spending bill without a provision that would have blocked the new regulations. Specter made the about-face a day after he floated a possible compromise that was shot down, and just hours after he told a news conference he was still seeking a deal....

Specter sees compromise near on overtime rules Reuters, 11.20.03, 4:31 PM ET By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key Republican senator voiced hope Thursday that a compromise would soon be reached on an embattled proposal by the Bush administration to redefine who in the American work force has the right to overtime pay. "I think we are on the verge of getting it done," said Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who has declined to publicly disclose his possible deal, in a statement. The U.S. Labor Department, which drafted the proposed work rules, had no immediate response. Backers contend the...

Arlen Specter may not be working overtime this time next year. In 2004, Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania's liberal Republican Senator, may find himself without a job. Pat Toomey, currently serving in the House, may run for the Senate next November, challenging Specter in the Republican primary. This is an important development, because the loss of the notoriously "bipartisan" Specter would visibly shore up the Republican majority in the Senate. However, Specter doesn't seem to realize what a nasty position he is in. Right now, Specter is encouraging a popular wartime President from his own party to withhold support for him in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Organized labor scored a rare victory in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday when lawmakers opposed a Bush administration proposal that foes say could cost millions of Americans overtime pay. On a nonbinding vote of 221-203, the House backed a U.S. Senate-passed provision to block the proposed expansion of overtime exemptions for white-collar workers under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. The vote instructs House negotiators to put the provision in the final version of a massive spending bill for health, labor and education programs that they are putting together with Senate conferees. But House...

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