Bill seeks to limit OT for high-tech workers even further

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/02/06/137977/bill-seeks-to-limit-ot-for-high.html

Posted on Monday, February 6, 2012
By Franco Ordoñez and John Murawski

WASHINGTON — High-tech workers could see smaller paychecks under an industry-led campaign to revise labor laws to limit overtime benefits.

Some of the multinationals behind the effort, such as IBM and Intel, say the changes are necessary to keep jobs from going overseas, where workers in technology are paid a fraction of U.S. wages.

Computer workers see it as an effort to squeeze more work out of employees for less pay in an industry notorious for killer hours and all-nighters.

U.S. Sen Kay Hagan, D-N.C., introduced the federal legislation last fall to expand the kind of technology workers who currently are not automatically entitled to overtime. The bill, S. 1747: Computer Professionals Update Act, would expand the pool to those whose job duties include securing, configuring, integrating and debugging computer systems, she said.

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It's unclear how many people would be affected. But many are already not entitled to automatic overtime pay, which is defined as time and a half after 40 hours of work in a work week. Employers can pay for overtime if they choose even if federal law doesn't require it.

U.S. labor law says computer employees who are paid a fixed salary of at least $455 a week ($23,600 per year) or an hourly wage of at least $27.63 and who perform job duties such as systems analysis and programming are not entitled to automatic overtime pay.

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It's unclear how many programmers, analysts and web designers would be affected by the proposed legislation, but the goal is to make overtime pay for these kinds of workers an exception, not the norm.

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