The Bush administration proposed new rules March 27 that would erode the 40-hour workweek and could deny overtime pay protections to millions of workers. The proposed changes to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations would affect a wide range of the more than 80 million workers protected by the FLSA.

FLSA’s current overtime rules protect workers from employers who do not now require workers to work unreasonably long hours because they are required to pay overtime. The Bush rules could mean that many workers would face unpredictable work schedules because of an increased demand for extra hours for which employers would not have to pay time-and-half.

The Bush administration claims its proposal to raise the income ceiling for workers to automatically qualify for overtime pay would extend protection to some lower-income workers currently excluded. But most of these workers already are covered by overtime protections because of the nature of their jobs. In contrast, the Bush administration’s proposed changes in workers’ job definitions and duties that must be met to allow an employer to classify workers as “exempt” and thus ineligible for overtime would affect many more hundreds of thousands of workers.

Many working families depend on overtime pay to balance their checkbooks and pay bills—especially during the current economic recession that has resulted in stagnant and declining wages, increasing costs of health care, prescription drugs, child care, gasoline and other everyday expenses. The Bush proposal would cut into many of those families’ paychecks.

The Bush overtime proposal:

• Excludes previously protected workers by reclassifying them as managers, administrative or professional employees who are not eligible for overtime pay.
• Eliminates certain middle-income workers from overtime protections by adding an income limit, above which workers no longer qualify for overtime.
• Removes from overtime protection large numbers of workers in aerospace, defense, health care, high tech and other industries.

More

Tell President Bush and your lawmakers that you are opposed to changes in overtime rules that would lower workers’ paychecks.

Get the details on Bush's overtime proposal.

Find out what the current overtime rules are and what you can do if denied overtime pay.

Read more about federal overtime pay guarantees.

Get details on how today’s economy affects working families.