White House threatens to veto bill delaying overtime rule

The White House has threatened to veto a Republican-backed bill to delay the administration’s controversial rule expanding overtime pay to some 4.2 million Americans.

The House is expected to voter later today on the Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act, introduced in September by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), to delay the overtime rule for six months.

{mosads}“While this bill seeks to delay implementation, the real goal is clear—delay and then deny overtime pay to workers,” the White House said in a statement.

“With a strong economy and labor market, now is a good time for employers to provide these essential protections for workers, who cannot afford to wait.”

The rule, which takes effect Dec. 1, makes anyone earning up to $47,476 a year, or roughly $913 a week, eligible for overtime pay. The salary cutoff for overtime pay now stands at $23,660 per year.

House leadership was quick to slam the rule after it was finalized in May, with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) calling it an “absolute disaster.”

Students, nonprofit employees and people starting a new career, he claimed, would be hurt most.

“By mandating overtime pay at a much higher salary threshold, many small businesses and nonprofits will be unable to afford skilled workers and be forced to eliminate salaried positions, complete with benefits, altogether,” he said at the time.

The National Federation of Independent Business is urging members to support the new bill to give them more time to comply with what they called a “costly and disruptive” regulation.

“Small employers typically do not have HR departments and compliance professionals to help them implement massive new rules like this,” the group’s president and CEO, Juanita Duggan, said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s hugely problematic for a wide range of employers, including small businesses, universities and colleges, local governments, and non-profit organizations.”