Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


One of the more interesting developments I came across this week was a development late yesterday in regard to the overtime rule and the most recent attempt by Democrats to get this back on track.  The "Restoring Overtime Pay Act" was announced yesterday by Democrats in an attempt to codify the original overtime rule proposed during President Barack Obama's administration.  While this is likely nothing short of a hope and a dream for the time being, as explained below, it has brought the overtime rule topic back into the forefront.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Restoring Overtime Pay Act Attempts to Codify Obama Administration's Overtime Rule

Yesterday, Senators Sherrod Brown and Patty Murray (joined by Representatives Bobby Scott and Mark Takano) introduced legislation which seeks to codify the Obama Administration's proposed overtime rule which has stalled out in the courts.  The Restoring Overtime Pay Act would increase the overtime salary level from $23,660/year to $48,412/year and subsequently make at least 4 million new workers eligible for overtime pay.  This legislation, introduced and supported by Democrats, likely will not get very far as Republicans control Congress (and therefore can decide what bills head to committee, make it to a floor vote, etc.)  Until Democrats can get control of at least one part of Congress and get this bill into committee for debate and hearings (the first step a piece of legislation takes on the way to becoming law), I would not hold out much hope that this Act will get very far...unless Democrats can peal away a few Republican votes that is.


Wage Theft on the Rise For Day Laborers in Houston During Post-Harvey Work

While likely inevitable after any natural disaster, there is a report out that wage theft is on the rise among day laborers in Houston after Hurricane Harvey hit the area.  After the storm, there became (and still remains) a need for numerous day laborers to assist with projects throughout the city and Gulf Coast region.  With the increase of day laborers also came many "predatory" employers/contractors who have sought to take advantage of these workers by failing to pay them fully or even pay them at all for their work.  As the report indicates, unpaid wages range from $212 to $2,700 among 361 day laborers surveyed in Houston.  While reports will be filed and complaints will be made with the State, I would expect that many (if not most) of these day laborers unfortunately will likely never see these wages actually paid...A sad testament to the scrupulous nature of some in the employment context who use a natural disaster to take advantage of workers.



Late last month, it was announced that the hourly minimum wage rate in Missouri will rise to $7.85/hour beginning January 1, 2018, up from its current rate of $7.70/hour.  As The Associated Press writes, it is interesting to note that tipped employees will also be paid at least $7.85/hour.  Employers will be required to pay these tipped employees at least half that $7.85/hour amount and make up any difference if employees do not make at least that much in tips.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per
Post a Comment
Read more