Jun 9, 2016

Retailers laud congressional action to block overtime rules

The National Retail Federation today released the following statement on the hearing by the House Education and Workforce Committee on the Labor Department’s new overtime rule.

“Retailers are happy to see that our allies in Congress aren’t taking their foot off the gas when it comes to trying to stop DOL’s reckless overtime rules from going into effect,” NRF’s Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French said. “Under the leadership of Sen. Alexander, 44 senators went on record earlier this week in opposing this rule, which Sen. Alexander rightly observed would be better named the timecard rule or the higher tuition rule for its real-world impact on the American people.”

“Today, members of the House Education and Workforce Committee will hear from human resource officers from a university in Kansas and a nonprofit in New Hampshire about how this rule will harm their organizations and the people they serve. While supporters of the rule have offered up a think-tank philosopher to argue why further regulation of the workforce will supposedly benefit everyone.

“Retailers large and small agree with nonprofit organizations, higher education institutions, municipal and county governments, and other employers overtime eligibility will not suddenly lead to overtime pay. Instead, by direction of the Labor Department, we will be forced align our workforce to limit overtime pay in ways that undermine career opportunities and better futures for both retail associates and retail companies.”

Research conducted for NRF shows that the rule will force employers to limit hours or cut base pay in order to make up for the added payroll costs of overtime expansion, leaving most workers with no increase in take-home pay despite added administrative costs. A separate survey found that the majority of retail managers and assistant managers the new regulations are supposed to help oppose the plan.