|
 Printer-Friendly Version
ESA News Release: [09/09/2004]
Contact Name: Pamela
Groover
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
Statement from the U.S. Department of Labor on the Obey
Amendment to the FY 2005 Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill
WASHINGTON—Alfred B. Robinson, Jr., Acting Administrator for
the Wage and Hour Division, the agency entrusted to enforce the overtime
regulations in the U.S. Department of Labor, released the following statement
regarding an amendment put forward by Congressman Obey (D-WI).
The amendment, adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives as part of
the FY 2005 Labor-HHS appropriations bill, if enacted, prevents the Department
of Labor from being able to “implement or administer any change to
regulations regarding overtime compensation with exception of provisions
raising the salary threshold from $8,060 to $23,660.”
“The Obey amendment puts the overtime rights of millions of
workers in jeopardy by preventing the Department of Labor from enforcing the
new rules which protect and strengthen these rights. Under the Obey amendment,
workers who make more than $23,660 will be left to fend for themselves, having
to hire expensive trial lawyers to defend their overtime pay.
“Especially hard-hit are police, fire fighters, construction
workers and others whose overtime rights were explicitly guaranteed for the
first time in the new rules. Whether intentionally or not, Congress has turned
back the clock nearly 70 years on a fundamental worker protection.”
# # #
_________________________________________________________________
| 
