DOL’s proposed changes, issued March 31, 2003, would significantly alter current overtime rules -- stripping eight million workers of their right to time-and-a-half pay for hours worked beyond 40 in a single week, according to a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
More than 100 workers gathered outside DOL headquarters on June 30, the final day of the agency’s public comment period, to protest the proposal. Unions had rented a room at DOL weeks in advance -- planning a rally and news conference -- but agency officials reneged on the deal just days beforehand, denying the group the space.
The White House has further responded to this intense opposition by threatening a veto of the Fiscal Year 2004 Labor-HHS appropriations bill if an amendment is added blocking the overtime changes. The threat may have proven critical since an amendment by Reps. David Obey (D-WI) and George Miller (D-CA) to block the DOL rules failed on a 213-210 vote.
DOL will now review public comments and could issue final standards as early as this fall.