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News :: Labor |
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The Family Time Flexible Leave Act: A Trojan Horse For Labor Rollbacks |
Current rating: 0 |
by Dan C.
Email: dan.chambers (nospam) ieanea.org (unverified!) |
03 Jul 2003
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The real story behind the insurgent campaign against the 40 hour workweek. |
This spring, the Bush Administration spearheaded an effort to roll back the overtime protections enshrined in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. If successful, this effort would have expanded the number of employees exempted from overtime protection, and would have made it possible for people to choose compensation time instead of “time and a half” pay. Critics view this new legislation as a gift to employers a slap in the face to workers, and an unprecedented rollback of hard-won union gains. Supporters say it will provide time off to those who need it most.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate introduced bills (H. 1119 and S. 319) that would have amended the FLSA to reclassify some workers as managers, eliminate workers making $65,000 or more from protection, removing OT protections for large numbers of workers in aerospace, defense, health care, and high tech industries, allowing employers to give protected workers “comp time” instead of OT pay.
In a letter from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce dated April 29th, sponsors John Boehner, Charlie Norwood, and Marsha Blackburn raise the banner for workplace rights aloft, stating “Working men and women should not have to sacrifice family at the expense of work.” The authors also lambast opponents of the bill which include “hypocritical Democrat leaders,” and the AFL-CIO. In case you missed the dynamic’s trio appearance on the worker’s rights scene, read on.
In testimony given to the House, Houston L. Williams a CEO of PNS, Inc. talked about the need to for finding creative scheduling agreements and the looking for ways to encourage innovative employer-employee partnerships by giving workers and bosses more options, so together they can find solutions to balance work and home needs. He also (without providing any specific proof) decried those who claim this bill would lend itself to exploiting the workforce. “Employers are genuinely interested in providing employees with flexibility to meet family and personal commitments and this legislation would give me, as an employer, an additional tool to help me meet the needs of my employees.” He also called employer abuses of the new changes a “remote possibility.”
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao issued statements commending the Rep. Judy Bigert of IL and Senator Judd Gregg of NH for introducing the bills, and for their leadership to expand access to flexible working arrangements, and for helping America’s workers.
On the other side of the fence is arrayed a wide variety of opponents including the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a liberal think-tank in Washington, the various unions of the AFL-CIO, and even the National Organization of Women (who figure that since women make 80% of their male counterparts, none of them can afford to lose any OT pay).
The EPI issued a report tearing apart the arguments of the bill’s proponents. It identified three major problems with the new legislation. First, it intensified the incentives for employers to overwork employees. Mainly, it removes the disincentive (time and a half pay) from working people past the 40-hour limit, encouraging employers to overwork the newly classified “managers” as much as they see fit. Second, if a fraction of the comp time goes unused, then employees have still worked more than they would under the old system. That is, if you never get to take the time you accrued, then you haven’t benefited from these new rules. Third, this legislation makes it much more likely that workers schedules would become less traditional and more volatile, in affect making it much harder for employees to spend time with their families, the stated aim of the bills.
As proof of how overworked Americans already are, the NOW issued a release pointing out that the average American worker, labors more than 350 hours a year than their European counterpart. The EPI report builds on those facts, stating that the number of exempt employees has risen by 25% over the past 25 years. They went on to cite a workforce study by Cornell University that 18% of all workers perform involuntary overtime work. The EPI study further trashed the claim that government employees already enjoy the fruits of comp-time, and that private sector employees are being held back from this worksite bliss.
As it turns out, the average public sector employee works 40.3 hours a week with comp time, as opposed to their private sector counterparts. The EPI also identified at least 8 million workers (as opposed to the DOL’s 640,000) who would lose overtime protection status. Tammy McKutchen, administrator of the DOL’s wage and hour division, called that figure “misinformation.”
Other problems found by the EPI were that the new changes would require employees to first work overtime to have any chance of earning comp time. Rather than discouraging employers from assigning OT, the bills encourage OT work by making it an interest free loan on people’s labor. Furthermore, the employee has up to 13 months to claim their comp time, which is highly problematic for workers whose companies face bankruptcy and foreclosure. After businesses close, it’s a little difficult for workers to earn back that time they lost. Further effects of the legislation would be a dampening of hiring in the workforce (why would you hire new employees if you can just work your current folks past exhaustion), an overall weakening of overtime payment for employees, preferential hiring for employees likely to favor comp time, discipline for those who don’t, and a boost for managers who can’t see past the next quarter. All in all, a disaster for an economy that’s widely held to be in the toilet.
And if you believe its supporters, under H. 1119 employers would be scrutinized by DOL regulators, which sounds good until you realize that there are only 1,000 inspectors for over 7,000,000 worksites. In 1997, an employer testifying on behalf of the US Chamber of Commerce stated openly that he assigned overtime to employees on weekends, and forced them to take vacation if they refused the assignment!
This battle royale resulted this spring in a massive attempt by the AFL-CIO to organize its membership to flood the DOL with complaints about this legislation. They largely succeeded, with an estimated 75,000 people contacting the DOL to voice their complaint. On Monday, June 2 150 workers gathered outside the DOL headquarters to demonstrate against the proposed changes. Most were extremely upset because they had scheduled a press conference inside the building that was cancelled at the last minute by the DOL because of “scheduling conflicts.” Secretary-Treasure of the AFL-CIO Richard Trumpka was on hand that day, calling for American workers to stop the Bush administration from removing what he called “the legacy of some of the greatest uprisings of workers in our history.” In early June, Republicans pulled the plug on a floor vote after a tally found them lacking enough support. Many union leaders believe they will attempt to push another vote later in the summer or early in the fall.
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See also:
http://www.labourstart.org
http://www.aflcio.org/yourjobeconomy/overtimepay/underattack.cfm
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