Barbara Boxer: “Even more to the point, collective bargaining agreements generally do not state that employees are hourly. So it is very…”

“Even more to the point, collective bargaining agreements generally do not state that employees are hourly. So it is very easy for an employer to say: Show me in your contract where it says you are hourly, even if you formally are. So people are going to be stuck, and they are not going to get their overtime pay. At the end of the day we have to get back to this bottom line. The Secretary says: I can assure you, however, it is not our intention to deny overtime pay to police officers, fire fighters, paramedics. . .. I say to my friend, put it in writing. I think that is pretty obvious. They will not put it in writing. I am so happy that my friend brought this up. When I first approached Secretary Chao, we had a very friendly conversation. It was right out here. I said to her: My people are up in arms. Talk to me. What are you doing? Well, it is hardly going to affect anybody, she said. I said: Well, if it is going to affect hardly anybody, why bother? That doesn't make any sense. Then I said: My policemen, my firemen, my first responders are really over the top on this. And she said: They are not affected. That is why I wrote to her and said put it in writing. She said: It is not necessary, they are exempt because they are not white collar, and all the rest. Here we find out from the police officers themselves how silly the Department of Labor position is because of the fact that many of our criminal cases are solved now on computers in the office, doing investigatory work.…”