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Your Pay Is About To Go Up (gawker.com)
The Department of Labor's overtime rule is expected to be updated some time later this summer, and when it does, you will soon be entitled to overtime pay if you make less than $50,000 per year. According to Gawker, "It now appears that even if you are a salaried employee or some sort of 'manager,' you will still be entitled to time-and-a-half pay for working more than 40 hours per week, as long as your total salary falls under the threshold." How did they come to this conclusion? Gawker points out that the Department of Labor promotes a Wall Street Journal story which says that "The threshold would be increased to $970, or $50,440 annually. That level is about the 40th percentile of weekly earnings for salaried workers." Hamilton Nolan writes, "This rule has been a matter of political contention for years. But now that it is actually approaching, its import is becoming clear: overtime pay, which has long been isolated to a minority of workers, is about to be extended to almost the entire middle class."
Isn't everyone here a tech worker? Does anyone here actually make under 50k?
Around where I live, $50K, including said overtime, is damn near poverty.
Get ready for things to get more expensive. You didn't actually think companies were going to give that money away freely, did you? People will lose jobs, too, because businesses won't be able to afford this. It's the same reasons economists agree that minimum wage hurts the economy.
If the pay for overtime is going to go up, that means it's less likely that a business will want you to work overtime.
But they may not be able to quite get everything done they need to, so they will hire a part time worker...
But then that's too many extra hours, so that means your full time to overtime job gets cut back to a half-time position also. Now they have two people working 60 hours instead of one person working 50, with no overtime.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
App guy, look up "fiat currency." All you did is trade money for money. You should write a new app, App Money! You can app it wherever apps app, right?
Take arbitrarily selected number, 40%.
Those above it: shove it
Those below it: take it
Reality is that most of unpaid overtime is done by faceless, nameless IT workers, project managers, accountants, office workers with the salary band of $50K to $100K.
>, you will soon be entitled to overtime pay if you make less than $50,000 per year.
I have never made less that $50,000 per year in the 17 years I have lived in the USA. My pay is not about to go up on the basis of this change.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I have been in IT for 20 years and I haven't made less than $50K since 1998 as a systems administrator with no degree. This was in Santa Rosa, CA just north of San Francisco from until 2004 until I moved to Portland, OR. The trend has continued up here, too. It just seems to me that anyone who is making less than that, say $45,000 would just get a pay increase to the minimum and continue to be worked 50-60+ hours a week. Anyone making less than $45K is probably help desk and doesn't really have the same overtime requirements that server admins, network admins, and developers do.
If you're not part time in retail you're likely a manager and holy shit do they work those people over.
If you talk to anyone who manages in fast food or for any big box retailer they'll all tell you its 60 hours a week absolute minimum. Take home for these people is usually well below minimum wage if you look at it hourly.
"Overtime is not authorized." But we'll still base our performance evaluation on the same goals as before.
That's th excuse for lowering your pay when you don't meet expectations and you'll end up exactly where you were before, except with more bullshit all around, and Dear Leader Obama gets to say he's "done something for the little guy."
And that's why I'm a Republican.
Not sure what they are smoking, that is the lower middle to lower class.
The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through
My point is that for every rule that the government invents to make itself look populist there are ways to get around the rules. Give me a limit of 50,000, I can do something about it. Give me a number of hours per week or per day or per month, I can do something about it.
In reality of-course your pay will not go up, you may lose your job, while somebody's pay may go up. The number of dollars available to a business is not based on the desires of the politicians to buy votes, it is based on the ability of a business to generate revenue. This ability does not improve when another rule comes out that makes it more difficult to hire and pay workers.
I am just going to add this: the number of well paying full time jobs in the USA is falling while the number of part time jobs is going up. For each full time job that is lost, maybe 2 or 3 (or more!) part time jobs can be created. Of-course as the number of part time jobs goes up, so does the ability of government to declare 'job growth'.
They are not reporting on the quality and compensation for those jobs, they are just using total numbers, which makes it seem like the unemployment is getting better while in the reality it's getting worse.
You can't handle the truth.
Kinda hard to see how decisions made by the US Department of Labor impact pay rates in other countries.
Just started a new gig -- full-time, exempt, over the threshold by more than 100% -- but I had to read the employee handbook that covers overtime rules for non-exempt employees.
Yes, we have to give you overtime pay if you work more than 40 hours per week.
No, you're not allowed to work overtime without reporting it.
If you work overtime without prior management approval, you'll be reprimanded. If you keep doing it, you can be terminated.
Now, you've been assigned a certain duty on the production line, and you're not going to be able to finish it in the 40 hours you've been allotted. Which rule are you going to break?
Because I do not work in a third world country like the United States of America, nor am I forced to work overtime for free.
The exempt/non exempt classifications have been kind of bendy over the years. Back when I managed people we had a lot of jobs in which the exempt people made less per hour than the non-exempt, which seemed wrong to me. It's sort of implicit that if you're exempt you're making more money than the hourly guys.
From a policy perspective I like it, but this is a big sort of change I would have thought you needed Congress to okay. I'm a little bit concerned the bureaucracy seems to be just kind of ruling by fiat these days.
Forcing companies to pay for overtime just means you're going to get fewer hours or a lower base salary so overtime doesn't affect the company's bottom line.
I'd rather work for a handful of companies and between them completely blow away overtime limits because none of them have to pay me overtime and all I care is that I make my hourly rate which means none of them are complaining and neither am I. Not everyone is interested in only working 40 hours a week.
The people this benefits are the managers who take on salary and end up being a slave to the company. But then, this just bumps their salary up marginally and doesn't change anything.
There's no way for the government to set employee / employer agreements in such a way that everyone benefits. The sooner you can excel at something to the point you move past these income brackets of government meddling, the better.
Work Safe Porn
Tommorow's Headline.
Sudden uptick in the number of new independent contractors baffles researchers.
"I dunno man, like one day there was this huge like 40% of the population that was making less than $50k salary, now all those positions have been filled with independent contractors. Total mystery, dude!"
Why do people still share links to Gawker? Seriously. My mind completely shuts off at that point. Do not support that cesspool. Please let it die.
That said, anyone have any reliable sources? I'd like to hear the rest of the story because my mind shut off at "According to Gawker."
Because when all the businesses in rural nowhere: population 'me' catch whiff of that I'm either going to be relegated to burger flipper salary equivalent wage to compensate, layoffs will force more small businesses into the hands of contract IT vendors (of which there are maybe two that matter around here), or forced to move again.
I suppose I'm in the minority considering $15/hr flipping burgers in California by comparison would be middle class here, but a sweeping adjustment like that will certainly do more harm than good around here where median income for nearly everyone is far below that 50k/year threshold.
I just love that idea that greedy, selfish bosses are walking around with pockets full of gold, and some new law will grab them by the ankles and shake it out of them. People don't get rich by giving all their money to employees and government.
If your salary is between $23,000 and $50,000, you'll be told not to work more than forty hours a week without prior approval, which is seldom granted. (Working unauthorized overtime has always been a fireable offense.) Promotions and raises will go to those who get the most work done, and if you suspect they did some of it off the clock, you can't prove it.
I just love this quaint idea that bosses are walking around with pockets full of gold and some new law will grab them by the ankles and shake it out of them. People don't get rich by giving their money away!
If you earn between $23,000 and $50,000, you will be told in no uncertain terms that working overtime without prior authorization is a fireable offense. Naturally, those who get the most work done in 40 hours a week will be first in line for raises and promotions, and last in line for layoffs. If they're doing extra work off the clock, you can't prove it, and you have no standing to complain.
overtime pay, which has long been isolated to a minority of workers, is about to be extended to almost the entire middle class."
When the old threshold was approved it applied equally extensively, but it eroded over the years. They are now just bringing it back to what used to be.
I dunno, I'd be pretty pissed if my employer tried to pay me in apps.
I mean, the bank who I owe for my housing app, and the grocery store who supplies content for my eating app, and for that matter the gas station where I get gasoline apps, they just don't seem thrilled about the idea either.
the idea of unpaid OT needs to change I can see some stuff being ok.
But this idea of useing to get more coverage
have people no call with pay for doing so with the idea of even if you do need to work late that we still want you in on time the next day.
Places where you need some to be there all the time you are open and it's cheaper to work someone 60 hours then hiring more people.
Endless crunch time to get some thing done and when it's done it's on to the next thing with no added time off.
The push to have people work from home with the balls to say it's out passion Yes some work places do say some of people do it out of passion but how true is that?? and how much is it dead lines / other bs we can get a collage kid to do your job for less.
Which is what's happening now because they don't want to pay us more
Last fall I was helping my wife find a job as an admin assistant. One job listed itself as a "manager", but was an admin assistant that didn't actually manage anyone. This was an obvious ploy to try to get around overtime pay rules, or create a non-exempt employee that really should have been exempt.
The purpose of this is to prevent employers from working their salaried employees 60-80 hours/week. It basically will encourage if not force employers to hire more people or pay a penalty. More jobs == Less competition for work == Hire wages for all. It's supply and demand. Right now there's an oversupply of labor. This will help that.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
....sentences. Reading this is just like when I used to work at Taco Bell in high school.
Yes, I'd like a with sour cream and a and don't for blue chicken or . Oh, put a on the burrito and forget the on the taco. Thanks!
In case you hadn't heard, Gawker just had their ass handed to them by Hulk Hogan for shitty 'journalism.'
Thus, never, EVER, source them, cite them, or use them on this site, ever again.
They do not count as a worthwhile or trustworthy source of information. Thus, they do not belong here, EVER.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
He probably thinks its a missprint - didn't they mean 80 hours a week?
"Laugh while you can a-monkey boy!" - Dr Emilio Lizardo
since I graduated college in 1995.
In 2013 median earnings for young adults with a bachelor's degree were $48,500
I really don't see the point. When I went from salaried to hourly, they actually treated us worse. Comp time was wonderful.
How about I do my job for a predictable expense to the accounting department for an agreed upon amount of money and if there's less work I leave early and if there's more i leave later like a normal IT manager.
Btw I actually quit to run a computer repair store like half a year ago but still.
A lot of people making around 48K are about to get a raise!
I don't who the "you" this headline/summary is referring to, but it's not me.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Behold Zartan, King of the Apps!
The number is actually $47,892, not 50K - big difference when you are on the bubble.
From Regulations.gov, you know, the source...
"The proposed increase to the standard salary level is also intended to address the Department's conclusion that the salary level set in 2004 was too low to efficiently screen out from the exemption overtime-protected white collar employees when paired with the standard duties test. The Department believes that a standard salary level at the 40th percentile of all full-time salaried employees ($921 per week, or $47,892 for a full-year worker, in 2013) will accomplish the goal of setting a salary threshold that adequately distinguishes between employees who may meet the duties requirements of the EAP exemption and those who likely do not, without necessitating a return to the more detailed long duties test. (2) The Department believes that the proposed salary compensates for the absence of a long test, which would have allowed employers to claim the exemption at a lower salary level, but only if they could satisfy a more restrictive duties test; moreover, it does so without setting the salary at a level that excludes from exemption an unacceptably high number of employees who meet the duties test."
I read that as - what you do, how you do it and for how long, no longer has any bearing on whether you are classified as "exempt," only your salary level.
Great, so now I'll have to work 90 hrs/ week and make half as much as the "nonexempt" guy working 40+ overtime.
AWESOME!!
Let me know when salaried employees who aren't managers making over 90k annually get overtime. Are there any programmers (even those fresh out of school) making less than 50k a year?
I live in Texas (I know, I know) and Texas is an "at will" state or "right to work" state. Employers here can and do sack people legally, as the law says "without cause or condition". Your manager can wake up, not like your new outfit and fire you. No documentation required.
I'm in IT. I make a pittance compared to what others doing the same thing do. The oil companies here in Houston are laying off IT workers left and right as the oil industry continues to suffer. These laid off guys are competing for work. IT in Texas is notoriously low paying. When I lived in NOVA (Northern VA) and was a IT security analyst, my base pay was a hair under 100k. I make less than half now. There are no unions here, no IT collectives. No one is really interested in furthering the IT worker here. The large companies here like HP and others are bringing in Indian H-1B workers to handle their stuff, leaving the local Americans out of work or struggling with crap jobs.
What do I do for my ~40k salary? Run an Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, provision and manage VoIP phone system, attend to the firewall and anti-virus stuff, manage the desktops of ~200 or so people, plus the road warrior laptops. I'm happy to be employed, but pissed off at the same time.
If I so much as let on I know about this legal change, they would find a way to let me go.
JAJAJAJA...Good joke... here in PR if you earn 30k a year your are "rich", well for the government at least, more taxes for you, no help whatsoever, etc. I really really doubt they are going to earn more... At best employers will force you to do more in 8hr....
I made $52,000 last year... And i worked 60-70 houts a week.
I still make that same amount and i still work 6-7 days a week night shift.
I didnt have anything to do last thursday because we were out of a specific part. Instead of letting me go home, i had to go do someone elses job. Then im told i have to work Saturday.
"We are doing you a favor by giving you so much overtime". No you are keeping me from my family because the big people that call the shots go home at 3pm. I go home at 2am and fight drunks on the roads. Everyone is asleep when i get home or at work/school when i wake up.
How about we night shift workers make double time while day shift make time and a quarter. I dont want to work my life away like this. I only see my loved ones on my day off. Literally.
So all these people begging for overtime... Come to my job. Highest turn-over rate than any 3 jobs.
that Gawker thinks that almost the entire middle class makes less than $50k a year. Obviously, more clueless liberals talking out their asses again.
Can you describe the supply chain and figure out which employee isn't getting paid what they're worth?
The McDonald's CEO makes $10 per year per employee.
So where is the money to pay these low wage workers who are getting "screwed?"
Where in the supply chain is someone bleeding funds off?
The government takes thousands per year per employee.
Can you describe this "living wage" and show a sample budget that accounts for quality of food, travel (car, public transit, etc), commute time, living arrangements, clothing quality, etc?
Work Safe Porn
I take home $300 a week, which is about 19k/year gross, 15.6k net, for being on call 24/7/365 in maintaining a large e-commerce site. That's all I get. If I get called, I do the work. Paycheck is exactly the same.
I work in a rural area. I am almost 60. I am not good-looking. I have an arrest record, but no conviction. I have mad skills in comparison to most here on /., but I do not have a degree.
The presumption that "tech worker" means making 50k? Not so.
I love the story, and glad you kept walking! :) Thanks for your insight!
BTW when you say Prime do you mean Primary Contractor, as in the company who is managing the contract staff? Thanks.
*Sorry to ask, but we're all from varying fields and come here to learn other peoples' stuff
and it depends on how you define overtime. Yes, I get paid for every hour I work on my Government contract but that will be straight time not time and a half. This change mandates time and a half for any employee that is paid less than 50K per year.
About time that they put a stop to the shit of adding Assistant Manager to the title of one of the line workers at McDonalds or Wal-Mart and then make them an exempt employee not getting overtime or time and a half and 27K per year.
I really think this change is aimed at those kinds of situations as will as help desks using the Tech exemption to work support people 60 hours a week for 30K a year.
Am I the only one who read the submission title in the voice of the narrator from Gauntlet?