Democrats generally support the Obama administration's push to boost the number of workers eligible for overtime pay.
But some in the president's party seem to think the administration was moving too fast when the U.S. Department of Labor published a rule that would more than double the minimum salary threshold at which an employee may be exempt from overtime pay, from $23,700 to $47,476. Unless Congress acts, that rule will take effect Dec. 1.
Four moderate and conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill to phase in the overtime rule over the next three years. Under their legislation, the salary threshold would jump to only $36,000 at the end of this year, and then gradually rise to $47,700 by the end of 2019.
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Perhaps more crucially, the bill would scrap a provision of the new labor rule that automatically raises the overtime threshold annually, so that it keeps pace with inflation.
In a statement, Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., one of the bill sponsors, said that the current overtime threshold was far too low, but cautioned that too big of an immediate increase might result in layoffs, cut hours or wage cuts.
"Since the DOL's immediate phase-in date was announced, we've heard from business owners and their employees who are worried about implementing this increase overnight," he said. "Without sufficient time to plan for the increase, cuts and demotions will become inevitable, and workers will actually end up making less than they made before."
The Society for Human Resource Management and other business groups have strongly opposed the administration's rule, urging for a smaller or slower increase. SHRM has said it supports the Schrader bill.
Republicans, who control both the House and the Senate, are likely to embrace the bill as well. Their only objection may be that it does not go far enough in weakening the new rule.
As a result, the Schrader bill may be a rare instance of Democratic-authored legislation that has a chance of being passed by Congress. It's unclear whether Obama will fight the bill, but considering that his own party is likely to be split on the issue, there is a good chance the legislation will pass both the House and the Senate with the two-thirds majorities necessary to override his veto.
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