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Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: inside the Beltway, outside the loop
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I can see more clearly now...
The changes in the overtime rules that Bush tried (and failed) to push through last year were enacted in the las-minute omnibus spending bill. Guess what: Some companies are interpreting language in new national overtime pay rules as possibly allowing them to exempt workers who have received military training. Quote:
The overtime pay revisions have become a contentious political issue in recent weeks, with Democrats in Congress saying they will cost millions of workers extra compensation. Some veterans and workers groups have expressed concern about the interpretation by Boeing Co. and several smaller employers, and the AFL-CIO plans to highlight the issue today at a press briefing.
Under federal law, workers who are "learned professionals" are presumed to have control of their own time and are exempt from receiving overtime pay. Historically, that category included workers such as doctors, lawyers, scientists, theologians and others with advanced degrees.
In proposing changes in the rules last spring, the Labor Department said in the Federal Register that "the exemption is also available to employees in such professions who have substantially the same knowledge as the degreed employees, but who have attained such knowledge through a combination of work experience, training in the armed forces, attending a technical school, attending a community college or other intellectual instruction."
Boeing, the nation's largest aircraft manufacturer, wrote the Labor Department in June, saying it "strongly supports" the revisions, particularly one that would classify employees who had received military training as "learned experts." An air ambulance service from New Mexico and a helicopter company in Portland also wrote the department saying that military, technical school or community college training should exempt pilots and mechanics.
"Boeing observes that many of its most skilled technical workers received a significant portion of their knowledge and training outside the university classroom, typically in a branch of the military service, where through a combination of classroom training and field experience they become 'learned experts' on very sophisticated aerospace products or services," wrote Cheryl A. Russell, Boeing's director of federal affairs. "Boeing thus supports the Department's focus on the knowledge used by the employee in performing her job, rather than the source of the knowledge or skill."
Labor Department officials late yesterday said that "there seems to be some confusion" among employers. Victoria A. Lipnic, assistant secretary of labor for employment standards, said the Labor Department reference to military training was just an attempt to clarify which workers must receive overtime pay under existing rules and case law.
"Where people have raised concerns, we're confident we can address it in the final rules," Lipnic said. "Vets can be assured their vet status will not result in them losing overtime."
Peter Gaytan, principal deputy director for veterans' affairs and rehabilitation at the American Legion, the nation's largest veterans service organization, said Labor Department officials have assured his group that the new rules would not hurt veterans. But he added: "We're concerned and we want to learn more."
William J. Johnson, executive director and general counsel of the National Association of Police Organizations, which represents 234,000 rank-and-file officers -- many of whom have military training -- also expressed concern.
"Even if it's true that the Department of Labor didn't intend to cover police officers . . . the problem is that, as written, it would allow an administrator or manager of a police department to argue that officers with specific training are now exempt, no matter the initial intent," said Johnson, who is an employment lawyer.
Boeing spokeswoman Amanda Landers said yesterday that the company thinks "you should look at all the knowledge and skills" an employee has in deciding workers' employment status.
"There are tons of Boeing employees who are retired Air Force, retired Navy," said Cynthia Cole, a Boeing engineer in Seattle who has studied the proposed regulations. "They're told go into the Air Force, and get training, and it'll make you good to go get a job, and now they're told, 'Oh, you got the job, but we'll take away your overtime [pay] because you were in the military.' It's a Catch-22."
Cole said that even unionized employees could be affected by the rules change, because when contracts expire, employers could say that federal law had changed and that they no longer need to pay overtime.
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