Lubbock Chamber Of Commerce Comes Out Against New Overtime Law

Have you noticed a trend here? Anything being done positive for the workers of America is immediately classified as something that will 'hurt business and slow job growth.' Well, maybe it's time to 'hurt business and slow job growth' so at least some workers can feed and/or spend time with their families.

The Lubbock Chamber of Commerce has issued a statement against new Federal Overtime Rules (complete with an unnecessary Obama slam and/or tone).

I understand their need to stand up for businesses in Lubbock, but making it personal is just the type of classless behavior we've come to expect from Lubbock Officials.

Here's the new overtime rule in a nutshell. If you make less than $47,476 annually, you are entitled to time and a half (AKA overtime) when you work more than 40 hours in a week. That's it. It's just an update of an old rule that had $23,660 as the threshold.

Like any rule, there are a million ways for employers to get around it. There's also ways to make it work for you. At least if your boss doesn't want to pay overtime, you'll have those hours to make money on a side job or some other way. Until now, your boss could pay you $23,660.01 and work you until you fall over without paying you a dime more.

There are plenty of ways for employers to skirt this law, and if that's what they're going to do, you at least deserve to know it. It's also infuriating that EVERYTHING done for the working man is seen as 'bad for business.' I'm sure the people overseas who run sweatshops say that not allowing them to hire kids is 'bad for business.' There has to be some type of happy medium here, and workers have been getting the shaft for decades now.

The Lubbock Chamber of Commerce isn't helping anyone with their gloom and doom statement that is based not on facts, but with supposition, conjecture and paranoia.

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