Last week I wrote about Michigan Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette’s federal lawsuit to deny you being paid overtime if you are a low-paid salaried worker. However, Schuette isn’t the only Michigan Republican who wants to stop the new federal law from taking effect. MI-07 Republican Congressman Tim Walberg is also getting in on the act. Last week he introduced the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act to delay the rule from taking effect for six months. It was scheduled to become law on December 1st.
Yesterday, every Republican in Congress voted for the bill (along with five Democrats) and it now goes to the Senate.
The new law requires businesses to pay overtime to white collar workers who make less than $913 a week or $47,476 a year. The move would expand overtime pay to around 100,000 Michigan workers and over 5 million nationwide. Right now overtime pay is restricted to workers who make less than $23,660 a year ($455 a week) which is just one and half times the poverty rate for a family of two and or less than the poverty rate for a family of four.
According to Walberg, “…too many hardworking people impacted by the rule are now struggling to prepare for drastic changes in just a few short months. The administration should go back to the drawing board altogether, but at the very least, it should work with us to delay the rule and provide much-needed relief.” He also strangely claims it “jeopardizes vital services for vulnerable Americans”.
Ironically, when the law was last updated in 2004 under President George W. Bush, the rule took effect just four months after its final announcement. Apparently things work differently when a Republican president is in charge.
Republicans: Working hard to help businesses exploit low-paid workers for their personal profit.
Please help out Walberg’s Democratic opponent Gretchen Driskell with a donation so we can get this menace out of office.
