Corporate Republicans Push for Repeal of Overtime Pay

March 26, 2002

Anti-labor Republicans in the House of Representatives have renewed the push to repeal overtime pay and paid time-off. The so-called "comp-time" bill (HR1982) is the same bill that was passed by the House of Representatives in 1995 and 1997, but died - thankfully - due to lack of any action by the Senate.

The "comp-time" scheme would allow bosses to force workers to work more than 40 hours in any week, but not pay time-and-a-half. The "overtime" amount would instead be given back to workers at a later date as payment for time-off. In the real world, the bill would immediately provide bosses with the ability to compel overtime work without overtime pay. It would lead to many employers forcing workers to "earn" their various kinds of paid time-off by "working overtime." The real thrust of the bill is to abolish the concept of time-and-a-half payment after 40 hours work - as well as the idea of paid time-off as we currently know it - along with providing employers with a new gimmick to dangle in front of workers desperate for more time away from the job. Working people in the U.S. have less paid time-off than workers in almost every other industrialized country.

Workers in the private sector covered by union contracts that provide for the payment of overtime pay after at least the first 40 hours worked in one week would be protected, if this destructive bill should pass. Union workers without that contract language, and the many millions of unorganized workers would be the immediate victims of this greedy scheme. While immediate passage of the bill is highly unlikely, it is significant to note that Republican House members were bold enough to introduce such a disgraceful piece of legislation in an election year. The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives senses that many Democrats are reluctant to confront big business or President Bush - even in the wake of the Enron disaster - so they are moving full-steam ahead as a result.