New overtime regulations face dispute in the House

The new regulations are set to take effect in August.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In the election-year dispute over overtime pay, the Labor Department's regulations promise stronger "protection for more than 6.7 million salaried workers" earning less than $455 a week.
Yet the regulations also note that 2.6 million of these employees have been entitled to overtime pay all along -- adding they were "at particular risk" for having their employers improperly refuse to pay it.
"The administration is just clearly misleading the Congress and it's misleading the American public about the impact of these regulations," says Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. The rules, he added, would harm large numbers of workers.
Whatever the accuracy of the claims and counterclaims, the newly revised regulations are getting an airing today in the Republican-controlled House, an opportunity for Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to sell them and for Democrats to challenge her and the rules, which will reach into every corner of the 21st century workplace.
The regulations, the first overhaul of federal overtime rules since 1949, are to take effect in August. Democrats in the House and Senate, backed by the AFL-CIO, have vowed efforts to block them, although they face difficult odds. Even if they prevail, the Bush administration pledged last year to veto a similar effort.
Revisions
The regulations that Chao unveiled last week included several revisions from an earlier draft, changes that several Republicans said had eased election-year concerns among GOP lawmakers.
Among them were provisions stating that police, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and other "first responders" would be eligible for overtime, as well as an explicit statement that blue collar workers such as carpenters, plumbers and electricians are entitled to premium pay.
In addition, the regulations were changed to make clear that veterans may not be denied overtime on the basis of their military training or experience.
The rules also provide for overtime eligibility for salaried workers who earn up to $23,660, higher than the $22,100 originally proposed. Overall, the final rule "is as protective as the current regulation for the 57 million paid hourly and salaried workers who earn between $23,660 and $100,000" a year, the regulations say.
Despite the claims, Democrats in the House and Senate said they intended to press for election-year votes to stonewall the regulations.
"There has been a lot of happy talk out of the Department of Labor, but the fact is that this regulation is riddled with loopholes, potentially making millions of Americans earning as little as $23,660 vulnerable to losing their overtime," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, the leader of the effort to block the rules in the Senate.
Harkin and other critics prevailed last year on a vote of 54-45, with the help of six Republicans who abandoned the administration on the issue.
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