March 15, 2014

I think we should have another look at Susie's article about how many different ways employers have to take money out of the pockets of their employees again after watching this precious Fox News segment.

In five minutes, this group came up with some of the dumbest reasons ever to oppose modernizing overtime rules that read like the US Chamber of Commerce wrote them. The dumbest claim of the lot was MacCallum's "concern" that paying employees overtime will diminish the standout effect of workaholics when compared to the rest of their co-workers.

Today's culture of wage slavery includes the exploitation of workers' time. In FoxWorld, there are employees out there who are such eager beavers they live to come in early, work late, work through their lunch, and shine like beaming beacons in a sea of mediocrity so their employers can exploit them more.

I was one of those. I know exactly how it works. You think that if you just do a little more, answer the call to go above and beyond, you'll get that raise or promotion. Instead you're more likely to get a layoff notice.

Other precious examples tossed out by Martha included the small employer with five employees, all of whom were managers under the current regulations and therefore not entitled to overtime pay. She was quite concerned that those small employers would just get rid of two managers and pay the overtime for their work to the three remaining.

Wow, what a stupid small businessman that would be. Either you need those five employees or you don't. If you don't, then overtime pay wouldn't make a difference.

Just for reference, the definition of a "manager" is a full-time employee earning $455 per week. That translates to $23,660 per year, and means virtually every full-time employee would be deemed to fall into that category, assuming they are salaried employees. The hourly equivalent is $11.38 per hour.

In 2004, the Bush Administration changed the regulations to broaden the definition of "manager" in order to avoid paying overtime to all those workaholic convenience store employees. The proposed regulation changes would undo that and more equitably define who is "management" and who is not.

If making overtime pay more equitable results in a few less workaholics, that's better for everyone. Work is important, but it isn't everything.

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