BLOGGER WAS DOWN

Blogger was down for maintenance last night right during my usual weekday blogging time so I didn't get to post anything. However, I'm in the middle of a slow teacher "work day" before the students come back from their Christmas holiday, so I've got a few minutes to try to catch up:

Labor Dept. offers tips to avoid paying overtime

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

But the Labor Department, in a summary of its plan published last March, suggests how employers can avoid paying overtime to those newly eligible low-income workers.

"Most employers affected by the proposed rule would be expected to choose the most cost-effective compensation adjustment method," the department said. For some companies, the financial impact could be "near zero," it said.

Employers' options include:

-- Adhering to a 40-hour work week.

-- Raising workers' salaries to a new $22,100 annual threshold, making them ineligible for overtime pay.

If employers raise a worker's salary "it means they're getting a raise -- that's not a way around overtime," Frank said. The current threshold is $8,060 per year.

-- Making a "payroll adjustment" that results "in virtually no, or only a minimal increase in labor costs," the department said. Workers' annual pay would be converted to an hourly rate and cut, with overtime added in to equal the former salary.

Essentially, employees would be working more hours for the same pay.

So, the Department of Labor, which is supposed to be enforcing labor law and rights, is now in the business of screwing workers. This is, of course, no surprise. The D of L has been quietly allowing businesses to violate labor law in a massive way since as far back as the Reagan administration. It sounds like they're getting braver: if this trend continues, the US should be a third world nation in two or three decades, if not sooner.

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