6 million to lose overtime, think tank says
By Martin Crutsinger
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Disputing Bush administration estimates, a liberal think tank said yesterday that new federal rules will remove overtime protections for at least 6 million U.S. workers.
The study by the Economic Policy Institute was released a day after three former Labor Department officials said in a report requested by the AFL-CIO that "large numbers" of employees entitled to overtime would no longer get it when the new rules take effect Aug. 23.
The Bush administration took issue with the findings.
"These latest studies are a rehash of misinformation that the AFL-CIO put out about the department's final overtime security rule in April, assertions that were completely discredited in congressional hearings," said Labor Department spokesman Ed Frank.
The department estimates that up to 107,000 high-income workers making $100,000 or more annually could lose overtime under the new rules, while 1.3 million low-wage workers who are now denied overtime will become eligible for it.
On a party-line 31-29 vote yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee rejected a proposal by Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., that would have prohibited implementation of any portion of the new rule that would reduce the number of workers eligible for overtime.
Obey offered the language as an amendment to a massive spending bill covering the Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services departments.
Underscoring the political sensitivity of the overtime issue, Republican leaders changed course and decided they will not bring that spending bill to the House next week for a vote, said a House GOP aide speaking on condition of anonymity.
Instead, they will delay it — and a likely Democratic effort to force a vote on overtime — until after this summer's presidential nominating conventions, the aide said.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has said that if elected president, he would move immediately to restore overtime protections.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said the analysis by the former labor officials, who worked in Republican and Democratic administrations, demonstrated that the rules "represent a shameful assault on the paychecks of hardworking Americans."
The Economic Policy Institute's report estimated that among those who would lose overtime protection were nearly 2 million administrative workers who can be classified as "team leaders" and 920,000 workers who can be reclassified as a "learned professional" even though they do not have college degrees.
The EPI study also said 1.4 million workers who, because of the rules changes, can be reclassified as executives will lose overtime pay, as will an estimated 130,000 chefs and cooks, 160,000 financial service workers and 117,000 teachers and computer programmers.
The institute, which says it receives 29 percent of its support from labor unions and 59 percent from foundations, said its estimate of more than 6 million workers who will be denied overtime is based on revisions to the regulations issued last April. The original plan would have eliminated overtime protection for 8 million workers, the EPI said.
