Arbitrator: EEOC Willingly Violated Overtime Rules
By Susie Madrak Wednesday Apr 01, 2009 11:45amThe arbitrator says the illegal overtime practices are "ongoing." However, there are mitigating circumstances - namely, that BushCo cut agency resources to the bone (they've lost 25 percent of their staff in the past eight years). Apparently job discrimination wasn't all that big a priority under Bush:
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, responsible for ensuring that the nation's workers are treated fairly, has itself willfully violated the Fair Labor Standards Act on a nationwide basis with its own employees, an arbitrator has ruled.
The agency's practice of offering compensatory time off to its employees rather than overtime pay amounted to "forced volunteering" and was a knowing violation of the law, according to the ruling.
"The case before me, in my view, demonstrates action that went beyond mere negligence," arbitrator Steven M. Wolf wrote in a decision released last week.
The union representing EEOC employees said the decision lends credence to its frequent complaint that the agency is undermanned and its staff is overworked.
"This overtime ruling against the EEOC is vindication that the 'model employer' should not be exploiting the dedication of its hardworking employees," Gabrielle Martin, president of the National Council of EEOC Locals, said in a statement.
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were well known. Bush himself cheered them on.
EEOC anyway. At least that's what my inner Mr. Plumber tells me.
They have pills that, if you take them, will allow you to pass your inner Mr. Plumber and you will feel well and smart again.
to drink PLENTY of fluids to help pass the inner Mr. Plumber. Lord help you if it gets stucks in mid pee.
Especially lots of cranberry juice, lord knows, you don't want to get backed up with a load of Joe.
About 3 years ago, I was rejected for (the only) full-time teaching position in my field, in favor of someone less than 30 years old, who had the same degree as I (same university!), but whose degree was from 2004, rather than mine from 1980; not an American citizen; and male instead of female. I had 10 years of teaching experience; he had only one. I also had 25 years of experience working in the field, while he had never been anywhere except a classroom in his whole life! I filed an age discrimination complaint.
The EEOC rep who took my initial information said the following things during the interview:
"Sorry it took me so long to get to you; I don't walk as fast as I used to."
"They changed the software recently, and at my age, I just don't learn the new procedures very fast."
"I'm catching up; I've been sick, but that is what happens when you are 70 years old like me."
So I said to him, "You told me that you think that older workers are less healthy, slower, and less able to learn the new technologies. If employees at the EEOC feel that way, how can you except other employers to give the older worker a fair opportunity? Personally, at age 47, I'm sharp as a tack, extremely healthy, and I'm the one that is programming the new online courses, not the guy they hired."
It was a total waste of everyone's time for me to file that complaint. Not to mention that the following semester, and thereafter, they "no longer needed my services."
because here is what the OPM website states
Mandatory
Agencies may require that an FLSA exempt employee (as defined at 5 U.S.C. 5541(2)) receive compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay for irregular or occasional overtime work, but only for an FLSA exempt employee whose rate of basic pay is above the rate for GS-10, step 10. No mandatory compensatory time off is permitted for wage employees or in lieu of FLSA overtime pay.
Unless EEO was applying those rules to employees who were covered by FLSA or FLSA exempt employees whose rate of pay is below a GS-10 Step 10 they weren't violating the law.
What should happen in the case of overtime is it be offered to all employees in a shop. Those with the most seniority get first choice. If their pay is greater than a GS-10, Step 10, they have to accept comp time. If they don't get enough of them to fill the overtime they need done, the others get a choice, comp time or overtime.
I've rarely seen overtime offered like it's supposed to be and I've seen management strong arm employees who don't know any better to take comp time. I wonder if there will be a ripple effect govt wide based on the finding by the arbitrator.
"forced volunteering" is a nice new euphamism for slavery. A big part of the "ownership society".
...the "ownership society"!!! ...I agree.
It reminds me immediately of April 15th!!!
The Deadline for everyone who is (forced?) to "volunteer" an income tax confession/return!
they were under instructions to fuck up as much of it as they could, as much as they could, as long as they could, as bad as they could.
Mission: Accomplished. The Mierdas touch: Everything they laid hands on turned to shit. It wasn't just bad luck or tough circumstances, much less incompetence. It was what they were installed to do. From Day 1.
These were people who believed "Government was the problem." People like that should not be allowed to govern (probably, not to procreate, either; at least not be encouraged to; given bright, shiny disincentives; anything).
..."Government was the problem." But...
He actually almost doubled the size of it and tripled the spending...
(Obama is gonna put Bush to shame though) and Quadruple the size of govt and increase govt spending 10 fold.
You have got to be kidding me.
what I have always seen is that offices make people "do more with less" which eventually leads to a lot of overtime hours being put in.
The next step in screwing over the employees was to create an INCREDIBLY unfriendly computer system for tracking work hours, that MUST be done by the employee. The current program (DHMRS-i) is very difficult to learn and was rolled out with zero to minimal prior training. When I took my job back here in the U.S. last Oct., I was expected, as the supervisor, to train my employees on how to use it, however, it's a program I had never heard of before.
I will say this about it. You can set it up rather easily to spit out "crazy eights" or a straight 40 hour work week. So, if you are an employee who absolutely cannot understand this program (I have two), it's easier to just say screw it and eat the overtime. So...anyone surprised by that?
Moving on...
After that, the govt. says no overtime pay; we'll give the time back to you as comp time that you can take at your leisure, instead of using your leave days.
SO...we use our comp time as vacation time instead of our vacation time. Once you accrue too much vacation time however...YOU LOSE IT! You can only carry 240 hours on the books passed the new year.
Every year, around Christmas, you end up with a ton of employees with "use or lose" leave. They have to take vacation or the days are simply taken away. But...if that impacts the mission, then the employee is just screwed and loses the vacation days they have earned.
So, what people end up doing is using their vacation leaves as their sick leave (so they don't lose the vacation days). The big difference is, you cannot save vacation leave; you can save up sick leave and you can sell it back to the govt. when you retire.
It's a pretty fucked up system, really.
Dumbya fucked up this country so badly that it will take at least the next eight years to clean it up.
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