29 April 2004, Matt Bivens, Daily Outrage
When the Bush Administration last year unveiled its startling new plans for "reforming" the laws on overtime, there was general agreement: all sorts of workers could kiss time-and-a-half goodbye.
For example, under current law, workers who are "learned professionals" -- understood as doctors, lawyers, scientists and others with advanced degrees and a lot of control over their own time -- aren't eligible for overtime pay.
Enter the Bush team with its complex new overtime regs. "Learned professionals" would now include not just M.D.s and Ph.D.s but just about anyone who had amassed a vaguely defined yet impressive set of knowledge and skills "through a combination of work experience, training in the armed forces, attending a technical school, attending a community college or other intellectual instruction."
Training in the armed forces?
More on: The President's Pay Cut
The president's pay cut
