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June 3, 2004

Dear Milt:

Thank you for contacting me. I hope you will pardon my delay in responding to you.

As you may know, the Fair Labor Standards Act sets the regular workweek at 40 hours, requiring that most employees receive time-and-a-half pay for overtime unless they are specifically excluded for reasons such as the duties they perform or the salaries they earn. Although there are no legal limits to the hours employees can be required to work, time-and-a-half pay is meant to discourage employers from forcing overly long hours. It also provides an obvious income benefit to workers who give up their own premium time to work additional hours.

I am proud to have led the fight in the U.S. Senate during this congress to protect American workers' overtime rights. The Senate has twice, on a bipartisan basis, passed my amendment to prohibit the Bush Administration from implementing any part of its new overtime regulation that would take time-and-a half protection away from workers who currently enjoy it. Last year, the House of Representatives voted, likewise on a bipartisan basis, to instruct conferees on an appropriations measure to accept my amendment in that bill's conference report. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has ignored the will of both Houses of Congress and a large majority of the American public on this issue. The Department of Labor finalized the rule in April.

Strong opposition in Congress and among the public led the Administration to modify its overtime rule before making it final, leading to certain improvements. Nonetheless, the President's final rule, when implemented, will likely take overtime pay away from millions of working families by allowing employers to reclassify employees as managers, administrative or professional staff not eligible for time-and-a half. The rule is anti-family and bad economic policy. It will take money out of the pockets of hard-working Americans, and it will not create one new job.

My amendment, should it pass again in the House and be signed into law as part of the "jobs" bill pending in that chamber, will not prevent the Administration from enforcing that portion of its new rule which grants additional overtime eligibility to those ineligible under current rules. I will continue to fight to block the harmful provisions of the President's overtime rule, and I will also fight to protect overtime by opposing other pending legislation in the Senate, such as S. 317, which would further undercut the 40-hour workweek.

Workers are on of our nation's most precious resources. It is our obligation to ensure that they have decent wages and a safe environment in which to work. As a nation, we have a choice: continue down the path of lower wages and lower productivity, or take the option of high wages, high skills and high productivity pursued by some of our major international economic competitors, Please be assured that I will continue to support legislation that is in the best interest of America's workers.

Again, I apologize for my delay in getting back to you. Please keep in touch and continue to keep me informed of your views and concerns.

Sincerely,

Tom Harkin
United States Senator