Not Fair!! Not at all
Now I know that life isn't fair and all is fair in love and war. And all of those sayings, we've all heard them for ever it seems. But here is my new soap box for the day. Why the Hell can't the gov't stay out of our lives or do more for America than it does.
Let's see we try to feed everyone in the world it seems except ppl here at home that have no food. We run to every country that has a major crisis but I think we forget to stop and take of the crisis at home. I don't mean to offend any of my friends that live in other countries but I think the US has it's fingers sometimes in places when they should be at home doing what is right for the ppl that live here. Like oh let's just give big companies tax breaks to move their companies oversea instead of keeping them here in the US. One day we will wake up and find that there are no jobs in the US. Maybe that is what will have to happen to wake up the damm gov't.
I don't know all the answers and I don't know all the reasons for what has been done, I will admit to that. But looking over the hi-lites of this new overtime law that is posted on a local TV channels web page. I hate to see what will happen to my family now or even some of my friends that I know count on that overtime. You see the house and apartments in MD where we are moving to start at 850 and up. The average is 925.00 a month. This is more than we wanted but like Ray said that is only 2-3 hours of overtime in 2 weeks to make the difference and he thinks he can do that. Well hell, his major company is talking about the employees having to take concessions again, so I just bet there goes any overtime for Ray and the others he works with. Not Fair!! We are trying hard to make a nice life for us and the kids. We don't live the high and fancy life. Just plain boring life at times, but that is all we can afford. I'm not asking to be rich in money but just enough to pay the bills/kids needs and maybe a little extra left over so that we can do a fun thing once in a while with the kids.
So anyway if you haven't seen or heard what the new overtime law is, here are the hi-lites:
NEW LAW
- The new federal law on overtime pay goes into effect Monday, August 23.
- The Labor Department refers to the changes as the "FairPay" rules.
OVERALL - WHO DOES IT HELP? WHO DOES IT HURT?
- There is significant disagreement about how many people the changes will affect.
- The Labor Department says as many as 107,000 workers could lose overtime eligibility but about 1.3 million will gain it.
- However, the Economic Policy Institute - a liberal Washington think tank - says 6 million people will lose overtime and only a few will gain it.
- The law comes after decades of lobbying by business groups facing major lawsuits about overtime.
- Among those are: Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Radio Shack, Rite Aid and Bank of America.
- Labor Secretary Elaine Chao says the new rules will help stop needless litigation because they clarify who's entitled to overtime.
OVERTIME 101
- The 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act set the current standards for pay and overtime and covers about 115 million workers.
- That law requires employers to pay no less than minimum wage $5.15/hour for all hours worked.
- For every hour worked above 40 hours in single workweek, the law mandates that employers pay one-and-a-half times the regular rate of pay.
- But, that law has always had exemptions for certain professions and classes of workers - meaning some employers do not have to pay time-and-a-half.
WHO GAINS OVERTIME UNDER NEW LAW
- Workers earning $23,660 or below automatically must receive overtime now. That raises the income bar.
WHO COULD LOSE OVERTIME UNDER NEW LAW
- White-collar workers earning $100,000 or more a year.
- In addition, people from a number of professions identified as generally exempt from overtime: pharmacists, dental hygienists, physician assistants, accountants, chefs, athletic trainers with degrees or specialized training, computer system analysts, programmers and software engineers, funeral directors, embalmers, journalists, financial services industry workers, insurance claims adjusters, human resource managers, management consultants, executive and administrative assistants, purchasing agents and registered or certified medical technologists.
- Employers are told to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
NURSES
- Registered nurses who are paid on an hourly basis should receive overtime.
- Those who are paid on a salaried basis, earning more than $455 a week, no longer have to be paid overtime under federal law.
EMERGENCY WORKERS & UNIONS
- Emergency workers (including police, firefighters and rescue personnel) will continue to get overtime. The new law clearly states those workers cannot be exempted from overtime.
- Union workers covered by contracts will not be affected by the change. But organizers say the new rules will make bargaining more difficult when contracts come up for renewal.