DOL Official Joins with FOP and SBA in Correcting
Misinformation Campaign Regarding Police and Overtime Protection

WASHINGTON—At a news conference today Chuck Canterbury, President of the nation’s largest police labor organization in America, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and Ed Mullins, President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of the New York City Police Department (SBA), the largest police sergeants organization in America, joined with Department of Labor Wage and Hour Administrator Tammy McCutchen in denouncing the new low in the campaign of misinformation being waged against the Department’s new Overtime Security rules for white collar workers. They also called on the Senate to defeat Senator Harkin’s amendment to the FSC/ETI bill that would stop the Department’s new overtime rules from taking effect and strengthening overtime for America’s police officers and first responders.

“For the first time ever, the rules expressly address the overtime rights of police officers and make clear that police sergeants are entitled to overtime,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Tammy McCutchen. “These rules expand overtime protection to more workers than ever before and provide clear guidance that will reduce costly and unnecessary litigation against employers,” said McCutchen.

Concerned that false statements by an AFL-CIO subsidiary representing security guards and some policemen may confuse local officials into depriving police of overtime, McCutchen is sending letters to a handful of officials in the small number of localities where these groups operate to ensure these officials do not act in reliance on these baseless assertions.

The new rules expand the number of workers eligible for overtime by nearly tripling the salary threshold. Under the 50-year-old regulations, only workers earning less than $8,060 annually were guaranteed overtime. Under the new rules, workers earning $23,660 or less are guaranteed overtime. This strengthens overtime protection for 6.7 million low-wage salaried workers, including 1.3 million salaried white collar workers who were not entitled to overtime pay under the existing regulations. These workers will gain up to $375 million in additional earnings every year.

The FOP supports the Department’s final rule and urged the defeat of the Harkin amendment. President Chuck Canterbury said, “Despite what its advocates would have you believe, the fact is that the Harkin Amendment is not necessary, will negatively impact the public safety exclusion, and will not increase the protections available to these vital public servants.”

To provide even stronger overtime protection for workers, the Department’s FairPay overtime security rules add new sections that clearly state that “hourly” workers, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and licensed practical nurses are entitled to overtime protection. The Department’s new overtime rules were announced on Tuesday, April 20, 2004.

The final rule was published in the Federal Register on April 23, 2004 and the text version is also available online at www.dol.gov/fairpay. For further information about the Fair Labor Standards Act, visit the Department’s Wage and Hour Division web page at www.dol.gov.

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.