NOW Applauds Passage of Harkin Amendment Protecting Overtime Rights

September 10, 2003

"NOW applauds today's Senate vote to protect overtime pay guarantees for countless working families," said National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy. "The Senate has essentially blocked the Bush Administration and Department of Labor (DOL) attempts to eliminate overtime pay for certain employees. It's a desperately needed step to safeguard millions of working families from current and future workplace abuses."

In March of this year the DOL proposed regulations that would disqualify more than eight million workers from overtime protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The proposal would make it easier for employers to reclassify moderate-income workers as "white collar," "professional" or "executive employees, and thus ineligible for overtime.

"Of the workers who receive overtime, the time-and-a-half pay accounts for roughly 25 percent of their income. For these workers, the DOL proposal amounts to a huge pay cut. Think about a working mom whose boss requires her to work an extra four hours one night. Without the guarantee of overtime, she has to pay the babysitter while she's doing work for which she isn't getting paid extra," Gandy said. "Workers stripped of their overtime protection would end up working longer hours for less money. In hard economic times, this is a step further into the hole."

"The Senate's vote is a victory for many people who work in moderate-income jobs, like nurses, secretaries, cooks and paralegals—the majority of whom are women. The Bush Administration's sneak attack on working families has been thwarted this time, and we'll be ready for the next one," Gandy said.

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