According to SHRM’s latest news on the subject, a bill to block proposed Overtime regulation changes has been introduced.
- This Republican-backed bill may result in such a delay that allows a newly elected Republican President to veto the matter altogether.
- The Bill proposes that more work be done to assess the economic impact that the proposed changes will have on the lowest-earning employees in the American workforce and on employers forced to pay mandatory overtime wages to newly qualified non-exempt employees.
- Employers are already unsure of the unintended consequences of proposed overtime changes and this bill helps add more clarity to the matter.
“This mandate on employers will hurt the lowest paid American workers the most, by reducing their opportunities for a promotion or a better job and making it all but impossible for workers to negotiate flexible schedules,” said Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., when introducing the bill. Alexander said small independent colleges in Tennessee estimate the rule would cost each of their schools a minimum of $1.3 million—“a giant figure that may cost the colleges’ students in tuition hikes and cost employees in job cuts.”