WASHINGTON
- In an election-year snub of the Bush administration,
the Republican-controlled Senate voted Tuesday to require that new
Department of Labor regulations guarantee the right to overtime pay
for all workers who currently qualify.
The vote was 52-47, with five Republicans siding with Democrats
and organized labor. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said the action put
''at risk the new, stronger, overtime protections for police,
firefighters, blue-collar workers and millions of other Americans
guaranteed'' by rules set to take effect in August.
The Senate move took the form of an amendment to corporate-tax
legislation that has been stalled for months and has yet to clear
the House. Moreover, the administration threatened a year ago to
veto legislation that would've halted work on the rules.
The new rules would mark the first overhaul of government OT
rules in more than 50 years. Administration officials say they would
guarantee OT rights for all white-collar workers making up to
$23,660 a year and protect or expand current eligibility for those
making up to $100,000 a year.
Chao and other officials also say the rules aim to clarify
confusion resulting from changes in the workforce over the years and
to eliminate the need for workers and employers to go to court to
determine eligibility.
Chao told a House committee recently that such lawsuits were on
the rise and that, often, ``workers receive only a few thousand
dollars each while the lawyers may walk away with millions.''
The department estimates that only 107,000 workers earning more
than $100,000 annually would be adversely affected by the proposed
rules. Chao revised the regulations substantially over a draft
issued a year ago, in response to complaints by Republican lawmakers
fearing that police, firefighters and others could lose overtime
eligibility.
But Democrats and organized labor have said that, even with the
revisions, millions of workers in dozens of occupations -- from
police sergeants to employees in the computer industry -- could wind
up losing the right to earn overtime pay.
