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Government is now definitely playing a much larger role in personal affairs.

Big Al
June 30, 2015

I received this article a few minutes ago from “The Hill”

I don’t really have a comment on its validity, but I do believe that this is simply a further example of government intrusion in our lives. But then again, the President and some other folks do have this agenda as evidenced by recent actions. I guess that my opinion is, “rather than loose sleep over Big Government simply voice you opinion and then do what CFS has done if you feel strongly enough.

Obama rolls out overtime rules, triggering fight with business

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The White House is issuing new rules that would make all salaried workers who earn up to $50,000 annually eligible for overtime pay, triggering a massive economic fight with business groups.

The new rules could raise pay for nearly 5 million American workers and represents one of President Obama’s most far-reaching moves to reduce income inequality. Obama will tout the proposal during an event Thursday in La Crosse, Wis.

 

“This proposed overtime rule goes to the heart of what it means to be middle class in America,” Labor Secretary Thomas Perez told reporters on Tuesday.The rule sets up a confrontation with business groups and Republicans in Congress, who believe it will cost jobs and slow the economy.

“It seems as if these proposed rules have the potential to radically change industry standards and negatively impact our workforce,” the National Restaurant Association said in a statement. “We are deeply concerned with the outcome this process will have on the employer community and our employees.”

The long-awaited rule would make all salaried workers who earn less than $50,440 per year automatically eligible to earn time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours a week. The cutoff under existing rules is around $23,660 per year.

The proposed rule, which is being issued by the Department of Labor, will be subject to a public comment period once it is finalized and could take effect as soon as 2016.

The proposal comes more than a year after the president first announced his intention to overhaul federal overtime rules in March 2014. The rules were due in February, but the Labor Department missed its deadline.

Opponents of the rule could file a lawsuit challenging it in court or try and pass legislation to block it from taking effect, but White House Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Muñoz brushed aside concerns.

“This is a rule that is totally within this department’s authority,” she said. “Support for this action will be strong, and we are looking forward to the rule going final.”

Some observers believe the rules will lead businesses to cut workers’ hours to skirt the overtime requirements. But White House officials said that might spur businesses to hire more workers to fill the lost hours.

“There will be new workers and new hours that have to be taken up to compensate for the fact that so many managers have essentially been working for free,” said Perez.

The rule will have the backing of Democrats and labor unions, who have urged the administration to raise the overtime threshold as high as it can.

As such, it puts Obama on the same side as organized labor and liberals in the House and the Senate, with whom he’s been feuding for much of the last two months over his free-trade agenda.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka praised the new rule, but he said labor will push for it to be strengthened further during the public comment and review process.

“Working people called on President Obama to go bold, and his response will provide a much needed boost to our entire economy,” he said in a statement. “The labor movement is committed to ensuring workers’ voices are heard, ensuring that this proposal is strengthened and fully implemented.”

The rule does not yet contain language indexing the overtime threshold to price or wage levels, a provision that labor unions have demanded. Perez said the indexing measure will be decided after the public comment period has concluded.

The proposal would restore the salary threshold to qualify for overtime roughly where it was in the 1975, adjusting for inflation. The new rule would make close to 40 percent of salaried workers become eligible for overtime pay.

Under current rules, employees who make more than $455 a week, or $23,660 per year, and work more than 40 hours a week are considered management and are not eligible for overtime.

The existing threshold falls below the poverty line for a family of four, and only 8 percent of full-time salaried employees qualify, the White House said.

In the 1970s, the last time the rules were updated, just over 60 percent of salaried workers qualified.

The gap is the result of a so-called “white-collar exemption,” which was intended to prevent executives and management from collecting overtime pay. But over time, employers used the exemption to withhold overtime for many low-wage workers.

The rule does not change the “duties test,” which is used to determine whether a worker falls under the white-collar exemption. But Perez said his department would solicit ideas to revise the test during the comment period.

Discussion
15 Comments
    Jun 30, 2015 30:55 AM

    Recently, our government (ECOTUS; E for extreme) repealed the laws of biology. Why don’t they simply create wealth out of thin air and give it to the poor? Can’t miracle-worker Obama simply wave his wand and make inequality disappear?

      Jun 30, 2015 30:21 AM

      He probably thinks he can Wayne, when you consider the way that Congress and the Supreme Court is rolling over.

        Jun 30, 2015 30:28 PM

        Term limits for the CONGRESS AND SUPREME COURT…………NO MORE LIFERS………….

    CFS
    Jun 30, 2015 30:41 AM

    Just where in the Constitution does it give the president the power to make such rules? Clearly civil disobedience is appropriate in this situation, if a company disagrees.

      Jun 30, 2015 30:07 PM

      CFS…Civil disobedience is long overdue…problem is many people are more interested in their tv soaps than they are with the future of their country..whatever it takes to get this Marxist authoritarian hoodlum out of office be it impeachment or election…

        Jun 30, 2015 30:22 PM

        Gator, last night I was sitting out on our porch drinking a beer and reflecting on how sorry I was with the direction of our country. I would suppose that some people are happy with BIG GOVERNMENT making all the decisions, I simply don’t happen to be one of those folks. This personally all makes me very sad!

          Jun 30, 2015 30:25 PM

          DITTO AL……………….YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN……………

      GH
      Jun 30, 2015 30:52 PM

      How many Americans even give a rat’s a@* about the Constitution anymore? Very few, and they’re increasingly regarded as extremists.

      Getting this particular hoodlum out of office will not make the slightest difference.

        Jun 30, 2015 30:16 PM

        Don’t know that I would call him a hoodlum, but I certainly agree with you about people who care about the Constitution.

        Unfortunately, that is why I am loosing a bit of faith. Never thought I would say that, sorry!

        Jun 30, 2015 30:27 PM

        GH..got ot disagree with you..this hoodlum is the head of the snake…with his pen and phone he has destroyed the Constitution…getting rid of him and those that think like him will make a difference…..

          Jun 30, 2015 30:46 PM

          No doubt a major change in the white house will make a difference but change is not spelled Clinton or Bush… And that is road American is (continuing) down.

            Jun 30, 2015 30:26 PM

            NEW PARTY IS NEEDED NOW………………….

          GH
          Jun 30, 2015 30:22 PM

          Well, opinions are highly divergent on these things.

          I’m one who thinks equally ill of both parties, doubts the president is as powerful as most believe, and thinks the US political process at the national level is a farce.

          I don`t believe power changes hands every 4 years in the most powerful country in the world–the powers behind the throne, and the dynamics behind the decline in the US are much more lasting and constant.

            Jun 30, 2015 30:31 PM

            I have to completely agree with you GH!

            Big Government makes me ill. Whatever happened to people thinking for themselves!

      Jun 30, 2015 30:23 PM

      I have not been able to find that CFS. But then again, some much going on right now that circumvents the Constitution.