New OT Rule Could be Bad
This is why I’m going to start moving away from writing or speaking about politics, I think. Time is just too precious and I’m really losing my mind about the insanity going on in our country.
Here’s a quick example: Josh Barro, a Senior Editor at Business Insider, Tweeted out a link to an article he wrote that was posted at around 9:45 a.m. He wrote: “Obama’s new overtime rule is likely to create 100,000 jobs in 2017, according to a Goldman Sachs research note.”
Here’s the link to the article: GOLDMAN SACHS: New Obama rule on overtime likely to add 100,000 jobs to economy
I don’t follow him and wouldn’t have seen it if Ray Buckley of the NHDP hadn’t re-Tweeted. While I don’t agree with him on everything, I respect Ray and, frankly, think his sarcasm is top notch. I learn from what he re-Tweets which is why I follow him on my work Twitter account. He usually only re-Tweets things he approves of or wants to share. In this case, I think he re-Tweeted it because he liked the “100,000 jobs” headline. However, look at the body copy and you’ll see something shocking and dangerous concerning this overtime rule change:
“There are three ways employers may respond to this rule change:
* Simply making the overtime payments.
* Reducing employees’ base pay, in an effort to leave their total compensation unchanged after the new overtime payments — though this can be complicated, especially because the employers don’t always know in advance how much overtime each employee will work.
* Employing more workers and have them work fewer hours, so they do not run afoul of the 40-hour limit.”
Now, let’s be honest, guess what most private sector companies are going to do with this OT rule change? They will reset – for less money – salaried employees between $24K and $48K to an hourly rate.
For most working folks (including me), this means there is A PAY CUT coming. From there, more people will be hired but guess what else? If my pay is cut, I HAVE TO GO GET A SECOND JOB to make up the difference that I was getting as a salaried employee. I’m in the same – if NOT WORSE – position I was in before the OT change the only difference is that I have TWO EMPLOYERS to be concerned about and might even make less money in the long run, requiring a THIRD FRIGGIN’ JOB.
As someone who has been a salaried employee in the private sector for nearly the last 14 years (and 16 of the previous 18 years), this type of rule change DOES NOT make my life easier – this makes my life HARDER; this makes working folks POORER.
The private sector isn’t the public sector and all the rule changes President Obama and the Democrats try and make aren’t going to make it the public sector. I understand why most Democrats think this is a good idea but seriously, it’s a bad idea. Please stop it.
