Georgians React To New Federal Overtime Pay Rule

The new rule could affect people like Joanna Simmons, of Scottdale, Georgia, who currently works as an administrative assistant. She said she recently left a nonprofit job in the Atlanta area making $31,000 a year, and where she averaged about 50 hours a week without overtime. 

“Because it was a not-for-profit, I wanted to do it for the benefit for the community,” Simmons said. “I just figured, I’d get my gold stars in heaven and I would never have to go to purgatory.”

But she said she would have benefited a lot too from being compensated for those extra hours, something she would have been eligible for under the new Labor Department rule.

While the rule has drawn praise from some, critics say it will cost too much for employers, and could lead to layoffs and fewer hours for workers.

James Miller, a spokesperson with the Georgia Retail Association, said a business has a finite amount of money.

“So what this does is, now this business is forced to pay more, potentially, to employees for overtime so they’re going to have to make cutbacks in other areas,” Miller said.

Sen. Johnny Isakson blasted the rule Wednesday, saying it would harm small businesses.

“This overtime pay rule adds burdensome new regulations on businesses while doing nothing to grow our economy,” Isakson said in a statement. “With this new regulation, fewer working parents will be able to have flexible schedules or work from home if their employers are forced to track every hour they work. The Obama administration thinks that it knows better than business owners and employees, but I disagree.”

His office said Isakson plans to co-sponsor a bill in the Senate to block the rule.