MU staff might avoid overtime restrictions
Published Aug. 27, 2004
New overtime regulations that went into effect on Monday will ensure that roughly 400 MU faculty members will be granted overtime benefits. Many faculty members affected, however, feel as if they have received an unfair demotion as they are moved from exempt to non-exempt status.
UM system spokesman Joe Moore said roughly 400 MU faculty members would now be categorized under the non-exempt category and become eligible for overtime.
"We are working hard to make sure these new changes are not disruptive to our employees," Moore said. "I don't know of any employees that will lose benefits."
Many faculty members see the shift from exempt to non-exempt status as a matter of personal pride, and they are hurt by the sudden status change.
University spokeswoman Mary Jo Banken said 412 employees will be re-evaluated as non-exempt rather than exempt from overtime pay. These employees will be able to retain holiday benefits that were guaranteed from when they were classified as exempt.
Banken said, additionally, employees who are now non-exempt will be required to keep time sheets, and they will be paid bi-weekly instead of monthly. Faculty members have until May to accept the salary re-alignment in case they need to re-adjust their bill-paying schedule.
Gail Lawrence of the Staff Advisory Board said some employees see the change as a "slap in the face."
"Longtime employees who have worked their way up the ladder for 15 to 30 years feel they have been arbitrarily moved into non-exempt status," Lawrence said. "They feel as if they've gotten a demotion."
Overtime regulations fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
A new revision of the act went into effect Monday clarifying who is eligible for benefits and who is not.
Senior managers do not qualify for overtime when they work over 40 hours per week, but the controversy stems from whether low-level salaried employees should be able to receive overtime.
Under the new regulations, the definition of an exempt employee, or someone who is not eligible for benefits, was raised to someone making $455 per week or $23,660 per year.
In addition to the salary test, there is also a job description test, which determines eligibility. Traditionally, managers and supervisors are exempt from overtime benefits while lower-level workers fall under the non-exempt category.
A report issued by the Economic Policy Institute says that potentially six million workers nationwide will become exempt from overtime coverage. The Bush administration says that no more than 107,000 workers will lose eligibility and that 1.3 million workers will gain benefits.
Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry said the new regulations "represent a shameful assault on the paychecks of hard-working Americans." There has been a push among Democratic Congress members to introduce legislation to repeal the new rules.
Republicans say that attacks like these are merely partisan in nature and that the Bush administration has been courageous in its actions on such a contentious issue.
