Obama's minimum wage hike for salaried workers

[Clocker]

I guess that should read Obama's pen, which just signed a Labor Department rule concerning overtime pay for salaried employees. Currently, employees making less than $23,660 annually must be paid overtime for anything more than 40 hours a week. The new rule raises that to $47,476 a year.

No businesses, of course, will make any changes to operations as a result of this new ruling, and will just pay the overtime. :rolleyes:

We're from the government and we are here to help you.

“These rules are a career killer. With the stroke of a pen, the Labor Department is demoting millions of workers,” David French, a senior vice president for the National Retail Federation, said in a statement Wednesday morning.

But critics warn workers could actually lose out as employers try to avoid the extra costs by converting salaried workers to hourly ones in order to more closely track working time, and cutting back in general.

Business groups say the changes will increase paperwork and scheduling burdens for small companies. The NRF’s David French said hundreds of thousands of workers in the retail sector alone will lose salaried-employee status.

“These regulations are full of false promises. Most of the people impacted by this change will not see any additional pay. Instead, this sudden and extraordinary increase will mean more red tape and fewer advancement opportunities for salaried professionals,” he said.



http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/18/career-killer-obamas-new-overtime-expansion-under-fire.html (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/18/career-killer-obamas-new-overtime-expansion-under-fire.html)

[Dave Schwartz]

Personally, I have no problem with this.

In Nevada, casinos were famous for making box men and floor men as salaried during the summer months and work them 6 days for 5 days pay, then in the winter, switch them to hourly when they were working 4 days.

There were a couple of N. Nevada casinos who were punished by the government and back pay was forced.

[Clocker]

Personally, I have no problem with this.

In Nevada, casinos were famous for making box men and floor men as salaried during the summer months and work them 6 days for 5 days pay, then in the winter, switch them to hourly when they were working 4 days.



I don't see that this order would change anything. Employers can still switch employees from salaried to hourly at will. And they will. No matter what the government says, they will work around it.

In any case, how is this the business of the federal government? The government has no business micromanaging how firms operate, and the usual result is unintended consequences that hurt workers. Like businesses cutting a lot of jobs to under 30 hours because of ObamaCare. In this case, a lot of salaried people will be switched to hourly at a pay rate such that their regular pay plus overtime will be equal to their current salary. Just more hassle and paper work and administrative costs for everyone.

Just like with the hourly minimum wage, government imposed changes result in winners and losers, and the government is the last entity that you want picking winners and losers.

[delayjf]

Employers can still switch employees from salaried to hourly at will.

I'm not so sure, there are big penalties for employment misclassification (at least in CA). I think a lot of them get away with because they are not challenged. There is more than just salary that goes into determining if a employee can be classified as exempt. Is the employee a manager, can they hire or fire another employee. Can they sign for the company. Does their job function require a special skill or education level, etc. I think a lot of companies if call out on the issue would lose (at least in CA).

[Dave Schwartz]

Forgive me lest I sound more like a L-L-Liberal, but IMHO there must be some government intervention other wise there would be a return to indentured servitude.

As an example, were there no minimum wage law at all, there would still be people making $2.50 an hour. (I remember working as a waiter as a teenager and being paid $0.50 cents per hour because that was how tipped employees were paid.)

I am not advocating draconian action or, as you called it, "micro-management."

[Shemp Howard]

Forunately, the pen of President Donald J Trump can reverse this on January 21, 2017.

[Tom]

Everyone where I work who is under the cap is going to go on the clock.
None are too happy about it.

[Tom]

As an example, were there no minimum wage law at all, there would still be people making $2.50 an hour.

And the fact is, many of them would still be over-paid.
A certain percentage of people should be paid nothing and charged to park there. Judging by the quality and quantity of their contribution.

[Clocker]

Everyone where I work who is under the cap is going to go on the clock.
None are too happy about it.

They just don't know what is good for them. :rolleyes:

That's why we have a federal government, to make those big decisions for people who can't do it themselves.

[Fager Fan]

Personally, I have no problem with this.

In Nevada, casinos were famous for making box men and floor men as salaried during the summer months and work them 6 days for 5 days pay, then in the winter, switch them to hourly when they were working 4 days.

There were a couple of N. Nevada casinos who were punished by the government and back pay was forced.

But there's no need for this. I'm fairly sure that the Feds require salaried employees to be paid overtime unless that can prove that employee has actual managerial responsibilities (like the ability to hire and fire, etc).

[Dave Schwartz]

That was not true at the time.

[Saratoga_Mike]

But there's no need for this. I'm fairly sure that the Feds require salaried employees to be paid overtime unless that can prove that employee has actual managerial responsibilities (like the ability to hire and fire, etc).

If that were the case, why would the Obama admin make this change?

[Clocker]

If that were the case, why would the Obama admin make this change?

The current law exempts employees from overtime pay requirements if they fit certain job classifications AND if they make more than $23,660 a year.

The categories are executive, administrative, professional, computer, and outside sales. "Executive" means supervising 2 or more employees. None of the others need to have people working for them.

The change keeps the classifications the same, but raises the minimum to $47,476 a year. So what this says is that anyone, regardless of job or duties, making less than $47,476 a year must be paid overtime for more than 40 hours a week.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17g_salary.htm (https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17g_salary.htm)

When this has been implemented at the state level, businesses generally convert a lot of people from salaried to hourly, at hourly rates that, with overtime, pay the same total wages that they were making on salary. Employees generally hate it because they often lose a lot of perks, like flextime and working from home.

[davew]

I do not understand how this can be implemented. If someone is contract salaried at $3000/mo and working times depend on workload and weather- some weeks 35 hours, with others 50 hours, how does the 'overtime executive order' apply?

[Clocker]

If someone is contract salaried at $3000/mo and working times depend on workload and weather- some weeks 35 hours, with others 50 hours, how does the 'overtime executive order' apply?

If that person remained on salary, he would get full pay for the 35 hour week and would get full pay plus 10 hours of additional pay at 1.5 times his effective hourly rate for the 50 hour week.

More likely, the employer would convert him to hourly wages for all work.

[Tom]

Just Obama' s way of fundamentally changing our country.
Leave it to a POG who NEVER held a real job try to tell others how to do it.

[Clocker]

Leave it to a POG who NEVER held a real job try to tell others how to do it.

Lacking real world experience, he thinks that this will stimulate the economy by putting more money in the hands of workers. He thinks that employers will either pay their current workers the overtime, or hire more people to avoid paying overtime.

In either case, he is ignorant of a basic fact of business life: where does that money come from? When all of your increased spending comes from debt that you will never be responsible to pay back, you don't have to think about such things.

The reality is that an employer can pay the same wages by moving the employee from salaried to hourly, at an hourly rate that results in the employee working the same number of hours and getting the same paycheck.