A coalition of ten nursing groups representing 400,000 nurses has asked the
Labor Department to alter its proposed regulations and exclude nurses from the
proposed rules for determining eligibility for overtime compensation, the Boston
Globe reports.
As the House prepared to vote on a bill that would allow employers in the private
sector to offer compensatory time off in lieu of overtime pay, labor unions
stepped up their opposition to the legislation, the Associated Press reports.
Republicans in Congress have once again introduced legislation that would allow employees to take time off for overtime, rather than money. But the leaders of two government employee groups in Houston say their experience with time banking has been anything but successful.
An investigation by the Labor Department found Precision Cleaning Services paid janitorial workers straight time for all hours worked beyond 40 per week and that certain salaried supervisors were also entitled to overtime compensation.
A total of 969 workers in approximately 20 states will share $1.7 million in back pay as part of an overtime settlement, according to the Labor Department.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that $175 million in back wages collected for 263,593 workers in fiscal year 2002 is the largest amount collected by the department in 10 years.
The AFL-CIO is urging the Senate to defeat the nomination of Eugene Scalia, son of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, as the Labor Department's top lawyer, contending that his views are extreme and hostile to workers.
The Employment Policy Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that analyzes workplace trends, says the 63-year-old Fair Labor Standards Act needs a an overhaul.
