Bill Lead Sponsor: Senator John Hart, First Suffolk 

Bill Number: SB1104

Bill Co-Sponsors:

General Laws Affected:
Chapter 151 Section 1A

Proposed Law:
The legislation will insulate employees from the negative effect of the federal changes which make it easier for employers to classify their employees as exempt from the right to earn overtime.  At the same time, the provisions preserve the salary threshold established by the new regulations, below which employees, regardless of their job duties, must earn overtime at $23,660. States have long held the right to establish minimum wage and overtime protections that are greater and more protective than the federal level.

Rationale:
The Bush Administration's final overtime regulations went into effect on August 23, 2004.  Although some of the proposed regulations' most outrageous provisions were cut from the final rules, there will be many white and blue-collar workers who will have their right to overtime pay eliminated under these new rules.

The Bush Administration's final regulation restricts overtime eligibility for workers earning as little as $23,660.  The Bush Administration claims that no workers earning between $23,660 and $100,000 will lose their overtime rights under the final regulation, but this claim does not account for numerous changes to the eligibility rules that strip overtime rights from workers earning as little as $23,660 per year.  These include: "team leaders", working supervisors and assistant managers, outside salespeople, chefs, computer employees, registered nurses, insurance claims adjusters, funeral directors and embalmers, and workers in the financial services industry. 

AN ACT RELATIVE TO MINIMUM FAIR WAGES
The second paragraph of section 1A of chapter 151 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2002 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out clause (3) and inserting in place thereof the following clause:-

(3) as a bona fide executive, or administrative, or professional person, but only if the worker earns not less than $455 per week, on a salary basis as defined in regulations of the United States Department of Labor as they may be amended from time to time.   The director of the department of labor shall increase the minimum salary level at least biennially, using a formula based on changes in the consumer price index prepared by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics for all urban consumers nationally.  The term professional person shall include computer employees, as defined in regulations of the United States Department of Labor.  The director shall similarly adjust biennially the salary amounts set forth in those regulations for highly compensated employees.