No More Overtime Pay?

The Senate has two competing measures for increasing the federal minimum wage. Both measures are amendments that may be inserted into the bankruptcy bill that’s currently being debated (more on the bankruptcy bill in a future post). And Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is trying to insert an amendment that would eliminate weekly overtime pay.

The minimum wage is currently $5.15 an hour; the last increase was in September 1997. After adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage is now at its second lowest level of the past 45 years.

Ted Kennedy wants the minimum wage increased, in several stages, to $7.25 per hour by the middle of 2007. Santorum is pushing for an increase to just $6.25 an hour, in addition to eliminating weekly overtime pay. He wants to replace the 40-hour week with an 80-hour two-week period. In other words, an employee could be forced to work 50 or 60 hours in one week, with no overtime pay, as long as the total doesn’t exceed 80 hours in a 2-week period.

Christ, what’s next for the chopping block? Let’s see, these Child Labor laws sure are intrusive. Who needs a bunch of Socialistic bureaucrats meddling in the personal affairs of employers? And those wimpy safety regulations for coddling the workforce — don’t get me started…