Group predicts new overtime regs will result in freezes, layoffs

The National Retail Federation on Thursday pointed a dire outcome if the new overtime regulations are implemented as is.



The NRF told the House Small Business Committee that the new regulations will lead to hiring freezes and layoffs for full-time workers if enacted as planned December 1.



“Proponents of this rule have touted the changes as a welcomed job creator,” NRF senior VP for government relations David French said. “These claims are riddled with partial truths.”



“Supporters of the rule who celebrate studies predicting a potential increase in part-time jobs fail to acknowledge to the public that any increase in part-time jobs comes at the expense of full-time employees’ hours and earnings,” French said. “The creation of part-time jobs due to hiring freezes or layoffs of full-time employees is hardly something to celebrate.”



French’s comments came in a letter to members of the House Small Business Committee, which is holding a hearing on June 23 on the “damaging repercussions” of overtime regulations released by the Labor Department in May.



NRF has argued that any job creation will come only if companies hire part-time employees who could work at straight time for a few hours a week rather than paying time-and-a-half to full-time workers when they go over 40 hours a week.



NRF urged committee members to support an act that would pause implementation of the new regulations and require the Labor Department to complete a comprehensive analysis of the impact the changes would have on small businesses and lower-wage regions of the country.



In addition, the bill would block the regulations’ requirement that the dollar threshold for overtime eligibility be automatically increased every three years.



“These are studies that DOL should have undertaken before issuing its final rule and on which the public deserves an opportunity to comment,” French said.