NATION
Thursday, May 19, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 7A
More work, more pay? Rule extends overtime to millions
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio — More
than 4 million U.S. workers will
become newly eligible for overtime
pay under rules issued Wednesday
by the Obama administration.
The rule seeks to bolster overtime
protections that have been eroded
in recent decades by inlation. A
diminishing proportion of workers
have beneited from overtime
regulations, which date to the 1930s
and require employers to pay 1½
times a worker’s wage for work that
exceeds 40 hours a week.
Vice President Joe Biden
announced the changes at Jeni’s
Splendid Ice Creams in Columbus,
Ohio.
Being overworked and underpaid
is preventing middle-class Amer-
icans from improving themselves
and from spending time enjoying
their lives and families, Biden said.
“You’re deprived of your dignity
when you know you’re working
much, much harder and much,
much stronger than you’re getting
compensated for,” he said.
In the fast-food and retail indus-
tries in particular, many employees
are deemed managers, work long
hours but are paid a lat salary that
barely exceeds the income of the
hourly workers they supervise who
receive overtime pay.
Under the new rules, released
in draft form last summer, the
annual salary threshold at which
companies can deny overtime pay
will be doubled from $23,660 to
nearly $47,500. That would make
4.2 million more salaried workers
eligible for overtime pay. Hourly
workers would continue to be
mostly guaranteed overtime.
The White House estimates that
the rule change will raise pay by $1.2
billion a year over the next decade.
Some employers, though, might
choose to reduce their employees’
additional hours to avoid paying
Democrats,
Sanders on the
brink as campaign
nears end
WASHINGTON (AP)
— The awkward embrace
between Bernie Sanders and
the Democratic Party may be
nearing a breaking point.
Leading Democrats are
growing increasingly vocal
in their concerns about the
White House hopeful’s
continued candidacy, and
if he and his legions of
enthusiastic supporters
ultimately will unite behind
Hillary Clinton in a general
election against Donald
Trump.
For his part, Sanders
has sharpened his critique
of the party. He says it
would be “sad and tragic”
if Democrats don’t stop
relying on big money, and
he is assailing Clinton for
her dependence on wealthy
donors. Clinton backers
grumble that such comments
can only help Republicans,
belying Sanders’ claims
that he’ll work tirelessly to
ensure Trump doesn’t end up
the president.
The tone on both
sides is worsening after
last weekend’s fracas at
the Nevada Democratic
Convention. Furious
over rules they claimed
favored Clinton, a group
of Sanders supporters
shouted obscenities,
brandished chairs and
threatened and harassed
Chris Russell/The Columbus Dispatch via AP
Vice President Joe Biden explains to a group of supporters new overtime rules on Wednesday in
Columbus, Ohio. More than 4 million U.S. workers will become newly eligible for overtime pay under
rules issued Wednesday by the Obama administration. The rule seeks to bolster overtime protections
that have been eroded in recent decades by inlation.
overtime, thereby making the
workers’ schedules more consistent.
“Either way, the worker wins,”
Biden told reporters Tuesday.
Business groups, however,
argued that the changes will
increase paperwork and scheduling
burdens for small companies and
force many businesses to convert
salaried workers to hourly ones to
more closely track working time.
Many employees will see that as a
step down, they said.
“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.
“Most of the people impacted by
this change will not see any addi-
tional pay.”
the party chairwoman. And
after Democratic oficials
including Senate Minority
Leader Harry Reid of
Nevada pressed Sanders
to denounce the events,
Sanders deiantly asserted
that his supporters were
treated unfairly.
The tenor of the Sanders’
statement disturbed
Democratic leaders.
They’re worried that as the
primary process nears its
end, Sanders may resist the
graceful exit that Democrats
expect of him and instead
heed advisers and supporters
pressing him to maintain the
ight, perhaps all the way to
the Democratic convention
in Philadelphia in July.
Trump unveils list
of potential picks
for Supreme Court
WASHINGTON (AP)
— Presumptive Republican
presidential nominee Donald
Trump on Wednesday
released a list of 11 potential
picks to replace Antonin
Scalia on the U.S. Supreme
Court, a mix of federal and
state judges that appeared
tailored to win over
conservatives still skeptical
of his candidacy.
The decision to release
such a list is highly
unusual for a presidential
candidate, and comes
as Trump is working to
unite a Republican Party
fractured by his candidacy
and assuage still-skeptical
The overtime threshold was last
updated in 2004 and now covers
just 7 percent of full-time salaried
workers, administration oficials
said — down from 62 percent in
1975.
The higher threshold, to take
effect Dec. 1, will lift that ratio back
to 35 percent, Labor Secretary Tom
Perez said. Perez has spearheaded
the administration’s effort and has
worked on formulating the rule for
the past two years.
The new rule is intended to
boost earnings for middle- and
lower-income workers, Perez said,
which have been stagnant since the
late 1990s. Overtime pay hasn’t
received as much attention as
nationwide efforts to increase the
minimum wage, but it could have a
BRIEFLY
establishment Republicans
who question his ability to
win a general election.
“I have a lot of people
that are conservative
that really like me, love
everything I stand for, but
they really would like to
know my view,” Trump
said Wednesday in an
interview with Fox News,
“because perhaps outside of
the defense of our country,
perhaps the single most
important thing the next
president is going to have
to do is pick Supreme Court
justices.”
The list, which featured
several prominent names
loated repeatedly on
conservative wish lists
to replace Scalia, won
immediate praise from those
Trump is trying to win over.
“This list ought to be
encouraging to anyone
who prioritizes the rule of
law, and I congratulate Mr.
Trump on making a very
signiicant policy statement
about his desire to prioritize
the future of the Supreme
Court,” said Carrie Severino
of the Judicial Crisis
Network, a group leading
the opposition to President
Barack’s Obama’s pick
to replace Scalia, Merrick
Garland.
Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Chuck
Grassley, a Republican who
has refused to hold a hearing
to consider Garland’s
appointment to the high
court, said Trump has “laid
out an impressive list of
“Can You Dig It?”
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6:00–7:30 p.m.
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broad impact.
“This, in essence, is a minimum
wage increase for the middle class,”
Judy Conti, federal advocacy coor-
dinator for the National Employ-
ment Law Project, an advocacy
group, said.
Workers making more than
$47,500 may still be eligible for
overtime pay, unless they perform
management, supervisory or profes-
sional functions — the so-called
“white collar” duties test.
The liberal Economic Policy
Institute estimates that 4.9 million
people will become newly eligible
for overtime, slightly more than the
government’s igure, and that an
additional 7.6 million will beneit
because they have previously been
denied overtime pay as white collar
workers. Yet with salaries below the
new threshold, they will now have a
stronger claim to overtime pay.
Overtime has become a sore
point for many managers, assistant
managers, and management trainees
in the fast food and retail industries.
Despite their titles, they have
complained in lawsuits against
such chains as Chipotle and Dollar
General that they spend most of
50- or 60-hour workweeks stafing
cash registers, mopping loors, or
performing other tasks typical of
regular employees. Yet they don’t
get paid time and a half when they
clock more than 40 hours in a week.
The retail federation warns that
many of the affected workers will
have their hours reduced to below 40
hours a week. Others might receive
overtime pay but would have their
base wages reduced so their overall
income would remain the same.
Tammy McCutchen, a lawyer
who
represents
employers,
contended that that workers
converted to hourly pay from
salaried status will likely have less
lexible schedules.
An hourly worker “who takes
an afternoon off to attend a parent-
teacher conference will not be paid
for that time, but an employee (who
is exempt from overtime) will be
paid her full guaranteed salary,”
McCutchen said in congressional
testimony last week.
Joe Kukla, general manager
of the 501 Bar and Grill in Flint,
Michigan, said he has mixed feel-
ings about the new overtime rule. It
beneits him personally, but will also
“hurt the business.” Kukla, speaking
from behind the bar, predicted 501
will be forced to raise its food prices.
Perez said the administration
took steps in the inal rule to
address business concerns: The
threshold was lowered from the
original proposal of $50,440. Bonus
payments can count toward the
threshold.
highly qualiied jurists.”
Foreign hackers
spying on
campaigns
WASHINGTON
(AP) — The United States
sees evidence of hackers,
possibly working for foreign
governments, snooping on
the presidential candidates,
the nation’s intelligence
chief said Wednesday.
Government oficials are
assisting the campaigns
to tighten security as the
race for the White House
intensiies.
The activity follows
the pattern set in the last
two presidential elections.
Hacking was rampant in
2008, according to U.S.
intelligence oficials, and
both President Barack
Obama and Mitt Romney
were targets of Chinese
cyberattacks four years later.
Nevertheless, cyber experts
say Donald Trump and
Hillary Clinton’s campaign
networks aren’t secure
enough to eliminate the risk.
“We’ve already had some
indications” of hacking,
James Clapper, director
of national intelligence,
said Wednesday at the
Bipartisan Policy Center in
Washington.
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