Labor rule would change who owns tips

If you work in a restaurant, who owns the tips you receive?

In general, you do. The restaurant may require you to pool your tips with other workers who normally are tipped. But a 2011 Obama administration regulation prohibited restaurants from requiring you to share them with other employees who aren't normally tipped. Or with the restaurant owners.

The Trump administration has proposed a change to this protection - one that would allow the restaurant to allocate your tips any way it chooses.

The restaurant may decide to pool tips among all of its workers - including cooks and dishwashers who do not interact with customers and currently are not entitled to a portion of the tips. Or the restaurant legally could choose to keep the tips itself.

There is a catch. Restaurants are required to pay employees such as servers and bussers only half of the Federal Minimum Wage, as long as the other half is made up for by tips. It's a rule referred to as the tip credit. The new rule still would prohibit restaurants from taking tips away from employees it uses the tip credit for.

A restaurant could, however, decide to pay those employees the full minimum wage, and then be allowed to control all of their tips. While this would hurt servers who make more than the minimum wage due to their tips. It also would affect customers, as less of their tips would go to the person who provided their service.

Update: The public comment period has been extended to Feb. 5, 2018

For more, read this Washington Post analysis and this Newsweek analysis.

Click here to read the full proposal.

The public comment period for this new regulation runs through Feb. 5 2018 (extended from Jan. 4). Click here to write and submit your comments on this.

Bill would allow workers to take time off rather than overtime

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would allow employees of private sector companies choose extra time off rather than overtime pay.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) specifies that overtime pay be paid to employees who work more than 40 hours in a week.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would allow workers to choose an equivalent amount of paid time off instead of the immediate pay. The employee can request the payment at any time (the company would have 30 days to reimburse the worker). Any compensatory time not used in a particular year would revert to being paid.

That means the bill effectively allows a company to hold onto an employees earned compensation for up to a year longer (with the employee's consent).

However, there is little practical benefit to workers. Someone working overtime (and getting paid for it immediately) already can request unpaid leave for any needed time off. This bill offers no scheduling advantage to employees who would choose to receive compensatory time as opposed to pay.

The primary effect of the bill would be to allow a company to earn interest on the money that legally belongs to the worker.

A larger downside for the worker, however, is risk. If the company declares bankruptcy and does not have enough money to pay all of its workers, workers with accrued overtime could lose the pay they otherwise would already have had.

The bill still must pass the Senate and be signed by the president in order to become law.

For more, read the Washington Post story.

For more on the ramifications of this bill, read The Hill editorial.

Click here for more information on the Working Families Flexibility Act.

Trump signs bill to revoke Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces order

A 2016 Executive Order by then-President Barack Obama would have held large government contractors accountable for workplace violations.

President Trump has signed a bill nullifying the order.

The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces would have required companies with more than $500,000 worth of government business to disclose wage, safety, and environmental law violations over the prior three years.

To avoid a filibuster by Senate Democrats, the bill was passed using the Congressional Review Act.

For more, read the Washington Post story.

House bill would make Right-to-Work the national law

Reps. Steve King and Joe Wilson have introduced a national Right-to-Work bill in the House of Representatives.

Despite the name, right-to-work laws do not guarantee employment. Instead, they make it illegal for contracts to require employees to pay dues to a union, even though they still receive higher wages negotiated by the union.

Right-to-work laws weaken organized labor - ultimately lowering wages and benefits as well as limiting workers' rights. They are largely supported by corporations and anti-union activists.

About half of U.S. states currently have right-to-work laws. This bill would introduce a similar law nationwide.

King and Wilson are former members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has long pursued right-to-work legislation at the state level. Wisconsin and Indiana, among others, have passed right-to-work laws similar or identical to ALEC model legislation.

King has introduced a similar bill in several prior Congressional sessions.

For more, read the Village Voice story.

Click here for our discussion of the the Right-to-Work issue.

House votes to delay overtime protection

In May, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a rule that would expand overtime protection for more than 4 million workers by Dec. 1.

In September, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would delay the expanded minimum wage protection for six months.

The delay almost certainly will fail - the White House already has said that President Obama would veto the bill even if the Senate passes it.

However, the timing of the bill is significant because of the upcoming presidential election. A delay to June 1 would mean that the 4 million workers would not receive the new protection until the new administration is in office. This bill passed entirely with the support of Republicans. If a Republican is elected president and the House and Senate remain with Republican majorities, the regulation could be repealed without ever having taken effect.

For more, read the statement issued by the White House.

To follow the progress of the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act, read our explanation.

More workers to get overtime pay

If you work more than 40 hours in a week but haven't been eligible for overtime pay, you might find yourself with a bigger paycheck by the end of this year.

Since 2004, overtime pay is legally guaranteed only to workers earning less than $23,660 per year. But starting in December, the threshold will increase to $47,892. That will add 4 million workers who must be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a week.

The threshold will adjusted every three years to account for changing wages.

Click here to read the announcement from the Department of Labor.

Major retailers are increasing their minimum wages

Major retail stores have announced they are increasing the minimum wage they will pay employees.

In February, Walmart announced it would pay all of its employees at least $9 per hour. Target announced the same in March.

The stores already pay most of their employees more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Part of the reason for that is several states set their minimum wage higher.

For a list of the minimum wage in each state, visit the website for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

For more on Walmart's increase of its minimum wage, read the CNN Money story.
For more on Target's increase of its minimum wage, read the BBC News story.

Labor Department plans for minimum wage increase

A regulation proposed by the Department of Labor (DOL) would implement President Obama's Executive Order increasing the minimum wage for workers employed under a federal government contract.

For more information about this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, see the Department of Labor announcement.

President demands higher minimum wage for federal contractors

Companies who contract with the federal government will be required to pay their employees at least $10.10 per hour starting in 2015, according to an executive order issued by President Obama on Feb. 12.

The minimum wage for these workers would increase each year, based on the Consumer Price Index.

Workers on these contracts who are paid partially through tips would see their minimum hourly wages increase to $4.90 per hour, increasing each year until it reaches 70 percent of the regular minimum wage.

The executive order applies to new contracts only. It does not apply to existing contracts.

Click here to read the executive order.

Senate proposes increasing minimum wage to $10.10

A new bill would gradually increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour over the next two years. Every year after that the minimum wage would be increased based on the Consumer Price Index.

Though the minimum would not apply to workers who receive most of their income as tips, those workers also would see their minimum wage raised until it stabilizes at 70 percent of the regular minimum wage.

For more, see our description of the Fair Minimum Wage Act