Welcome to Thomas Perez’s new on-the-clock white-collar workplace, in which employers will be under the legal gun to monitor lunch breaks, revoke permission to telecommute, disallow “comp time” setups allowing a day with the kids, and forbid email or company-cellphone use after business hours. I’ve got a link-heavy new post at Cato surveying the damage after the Department of Labor’s final adoption of its new overtime rules, much criticized already in this space. The press is already reporting on the business consequences.
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Another example of a policy which will result in companies replacing initial entry career path jobs with benefits, with a couple of part time, no benefits positions, which create no career path.
Don’t bet that they won’t keep pushing that envelope until even the CXOs have to punch a clock and be paid for overtime.
My wife regularly telecommutes for her IT job, and she has to track her hours. For her job, she has to open up a software package, and the system tracks when she is logged in. Usually, when she is logged into the system, and when she claims to have worked match. She even has a company issued cell phone. In my current workplace – I am paid on a wage basis – people will, within the same pay period – take comp time, in lieu of getting time and a half. But this is supposed to be optional. And no, nobody is replacing us with part timers.