HOUSE GOP PASSES BILL GUTTING OVERTIME LAWS

 The bill is called the "Working Families Flexibility Act" so you know it's just awful (had it been called the "Working Families Job Security Act," it probably would have re-legalized slavery). Dave Jamieson: "As part of their efforts to rebrand the GOP as a more caring party, House Republicans passed a hotly debated bill Wednesday that would loosen federal overtime laws, allowing for 'comp' time instead of pay for private-sector employees who work more than 40 hours in a week. Although GOP legislators made a strong public-relations push for the bill as worker-friendly legislation, the measure is not expected to go anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and the White House said M that the president would be advised to veto such legislation since it would weaken protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act...The measure passed by a vote of 223-204 along party lines... hourly workers must be paid time-and-a-half for every hour they work over 40 in a week -- both to reward workers for their extra hours and to discourage employers from pushing workers too hard. The Republican measure would instead give employers and their workers the choice to use earned 'comp' time instead of pay, an opportunity already afforded many public-sector employees." [HuffPost]