(The AFL-CIO circulated the following news release on September 10.)
WASHINGTON — The new “Ask A Lawyer” and overtime quiz websites designed to help workers worried about losing their overtime protection under the Bush Administration’s new regulation have attracted more than 45,000 visitors since its inception August 19 – four days before the regulation took effect. The interest in the websites indicates the level of concern and the need for a resource to help workers understand and protect their rights to overtime pay. The websites can be found at www.workingamerica.org.
Hundreds of workers across the country have submitted questions to “Ask A Lawyer” attorney Baldwin Robertson about the new regulation and whether they may be at risk of losing their overtime protections. Workers from different occupations – nurses, production line supervisors, service consultants, medical technologists and retail employees – are seeking information about the regulation’s impact. Nurses have expressed their concerns that the new rule will affect patient care since fewer nurses will probably work overtime.
“If our overtime pay is taken away we will have more of a shortage and more nurses will refuse to work overtime,” said a nurse who visited the “Ask A Lawyer” website. Even union members who have overtime protection in their current contracts have said they’re concerned their employer will try to take away their overtime pay when their contract expires.Up to six million workers are at risk of losing their overtime protection under the Bush Administration’s new regulation and some workers who submitted questions to the “Ask A Lawyer” website say their employers have already stopped their overtime pay because of the regulation.
“I have been informed by my immediate supervisor that…I will no longer be an hourly employee but rather an ‘exempt status employee’ and have essentially lost the rights to overtime,” said an information technology worker from Pennsylvania.
A bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives yesterday approved a measure to repeal portions of the regulation that restrict overtime eligibility, but President Bush has threatened to veto the measure if it becomes law.
The “Ask A Lawyer” website was launched by Working America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO that represents non-union workers and retirees who want to make sure the nation’s economy and politics work for all Americans.