Overtime work

“ All overtime work done by a wage earner, as well as the remuneration received by him for the same, must be recorded in his labor booklet.
101. The total number of days on which overtime may be permitted in any enterprise, establishment or institution must not exceed 50 days per annum, including such days when only one wage earner worked overtime.
102. Every enterprise, establishment or institution must keep a special record book for overtime work.
103. All wage earners must be allowed a weekly uninterrupted rest of not less than 42 hours. ”

“ Rather, six of the hours the employee worked were always treated as overtime and compensated at the rate of one and one-half times the formula rate regardless of the total hours actually worked, thus resulting in average hourly compensation considerably in excess of the formula rate. The payment of 'overtime' compensation for non-overtime work raises strong doubt as to the integrity of the hourly rate upon the basis of which the 'overtime' compensation is calculated. ”

“ The government argues in the alternative that the 'normal, non-overtime workweek,' said to be the hours controlling the regular rate of pay, is to be determined by reference to peacetime conditions, rather than the abnormal war-time conditions, and that the statistical studies show that the work of longshoremen is sufficiently concentrated within the scheduled hours to compel the finding that the contract straight time hours are the regular working hours. ”

“ No overtime work shall be permitted on Saturdays, except to workers not working on Saturdays, nor on any day or more than two and one-half hours, nor before 8 A.M., nor after 8.30 P.M.
For overtime work all week workers shall receive double the usual pay. ”

“ XI. When owing to special circumstances it becomes necessary to increase the working hours, there shall be paid as wages for the overtime one hundred per cent more than those fixed for regular time. In no case shall the overtime exceed three hours nor continue for more than three consecutive days; and no women of whatever age nor boys under sixteen years of age may engage in overtime work. ”

“ The increased activity in the mill affected the engineering workshop in the first place. New hands were taken on, the compulsory hours were extended until nine, and overtime work until midnight. The first two hours of overtime were paid double, the next three times as much. A stricter control was introduced, and if anyone left off work before time, so much was deducted from his wages that his profits were practically reduced to nothing. The hands were weary in consequence, especially Gosławski, who, as the most expert, was obliged to work until midnight. ”

“ A few chargemen in every shed systematically nurse the overseer and entreat, or influence him, directly or otherwise, to allow them to work a few quarters, a Saturday afternoon, or a Sunday.
Very often, too, some of the men live in houses owned by their foreman. In that case a little overtime will expedite payment of the rent; it will not then be amiss to allow them to work a few quarters. The putting on a few new hands and the addition of a night shift would obviate much overtime and give the unemployed a chance, but the daymen are offended should that proposition be made. ”

“ Except in extreme cases work in excess of the normal hours, or what is usually called overtime work, is not permitted. No females and no males under eighteen years of age may do any overtime work, and the time spent by those on such work in the course of two consecutive days must not exceed four hours. ”

“ We,” it goes on to say, “would ask if the practice of working overtime by a number of hands, is likely to create a good feeling between masters and servants. Those who are worked overtime feel the injustice equally with those who are condemned to forced idleness. There is in the district almost sufficient work to give to all partial employment if fairly distributed. ”

“ The adoption of a maximum working-day in Switzerland has put a stop to the practice on the part of manufacturers of taking away their competitor’s orders and executing them by means of overtime work, so that amongst industrial managers also, the tide is beginning to turn against too frequent indulgence in overtime work. ”

“ Neither the policy of the Act nor the legislative history gives any real basis for excluding piece workers from the benefits of the statute. This legislation was designed to raise substandard wages and to give additional compensation for overtime work as to those employees within its ambit, thereby helping to protect this nation 'from the evils and dangers resulting from wages too low to buy the bare necessities of life and from long hours of work injurious to health.' Sen.Rep. ”

“ That means if you take off a Friday that you have earned by working overtime your employer could simply make you work Saturday without paying overtime because you haven't worked your full 40-hour week. ”

“ However, the pressure of the contract overtime wages is not solely toward a spread of employment. Since work is in fact done outside straight time hours, the employer can use men who have previously worked in straight time hours in contract overtime hours without additional cost. ”

“ The vast majority of our employers will be fair to their workers under any system. But as we modernize our laws to fit a changing workplace we have to uphold historic safeguards for all our employees. Giving workers the real choice of taking time off as overtime pay is good for our families. It will help all Americans balance the demands of home and work. But it's employees and their families, not employers, who should choose if, when and how they take and use comp time. ”

“ There seems to be an almost unanimous opinion against overtime, and any mention of factory legislation appears to suggest overtime at once to both employers and employed. Experience has driven it home to them that overtime is a most uneconomical method of work; [70] and as there does not appear to be any demand for women's labour at night except occasionally as overtime, the factory law in this respect is only a protection to the employée engaged by the employer who is still experimenting with this unproductive use of labour. ”

“ Even where a longshoreman worked precisely forty hours of 'straight time,' followed by a few hours of 'overtime' in the same week, payment of the appropriate wages as determined by the collectibe agreement would not satisfy the Court's test that only such extra pay as is given 'for work because of previous work for a specified number of hours in the workday or workweek' [11] can be regarded as true overtime pay. To require specification in an industry where the only thing certain is uncertainty is to command the impossible. ”

“ He will perform the allotted task, but extra pay is no inducement for him to work overtime. The only consideration that will move him to do extra work is the promise that the overtime will be credited on another day in order to give him an extra holiday. ”

“ In view of the peculiarities of this industry, therefore, the only effective way of promoting the aim of the Fair Labor Standards Act, to deter a long workweek, is that devised by the collective agreement, namely, to limit to approximately the statutory maximum of hours the total length of the periods in the week for which additional pay amounting to overtime rates need not be paid, regardless of the employer for whom the work is done. ”

“ We must also remember that the younger hands are those who take the most anti-social views of work and care least about [Pg 88] industrial conditions. But even by these few, when the idea of all night work is suggested, it is scouted with horror. On the whole, the view adopted is that when you have done your day's work, you have done enough. A worker in the stationers' trade assured us that overtime means a doctor's bill, so you don't really make anything by it. The experience of two women who had tried nightwork illegally was also instructive. ”

“ Besides the purely technical impediments that are removable by technical means, the irregular habits of the workpeople themselves obstruct the regulation of the hours of labour. This is especially the case where piece wage predominates, and where loss of time in one part of the day or week can be made good by subsequent overtime, or by night work, a process which brutalises the adult workman, and ruins his wife and children. ”

“ It was a little hard to break the "orders" habit; the men at first were afraid to take responsibility. But as we went on, they seemed to like the plan more and more and now no man limits his duties. A man is paid for a day's work of eight hours and he is expected to work during those eight hours. If he is an engineer and finishes a run in four hours then he works at whatever else may be in demand for the next four hours. If a man works more than eight hours he is not paid for overtime--he deducts his overtime from the next working day or saves it up and gets a whole day off with pay. ”

“ The card should state that the workman has satisfactorily performed his task, "except the following items," which should be enumerated in detail.
When men are working on task work by the day they should be made to start to work at the regular starting hour. They should, however, have no regular time for leaving. As soon as the task is finished they should be allowed to go home; and, on the other hand, they should be made to stay at work until their task is done, even if it lasts into the night, no deduction being made for shorter hours nor extra pay allowed for overtime. ”

“ He is not an itinerant wandering from place to place looking for work and hired for a day or a week, to be again sent adrift, nor is he permitted to work overtime to the detriment of his health and the exclusion of another wage-earner from his share. ”

“ Overtime may be permitted by inspectors on twenty-eight days a year, but overtime pay must be not less than 6d. an hour extra. The factory-owners who send work out have to make complete returns thereof. ”

“ It sought to forbid indirect reduction of wages by the provision that a work week should consist of forty hours and that overtime, at one and one-half the regular hourly pay, should be paid for any hours worked beyond that weekly limit. ”

“ Vaughan, the Factory Inspector for North London, in the Factories and Workshops Report for 1899 says: "I find in some trades, e.g., Christmas cards, great dissatisfaction at the curtailment of overtime from five to three nights a week, when the busy season lasts only for a month or so; the allowance of thirty nights a year is not required, but an allowance of more nights during these few weeks would be an enormous assistance. The temptation in such cases to work more nights a week than are allowed is universally great." ”

“ The employment contract calls for an overtime premium for work beyond thirty-six hours. Such extra pay should not be included as weekly wages in any computation of the regular rate at which a man works. [24] (2) A contract provides for payment of time and a half for work in excess of eight hours in a single workday. An employee who works five ten-hour days would have no claim for statutory excess compensation if paid the amount due by the contract. ”

“ And so the union has sought and achieved an addition to the basic-the regular-rate sufficiently high to deter employers from assigning work outside of defined periods, except in emergencies. Since 1916, when the International Longshoremens Association made its first collective agreement with waterfront employers in New York, a 50% premium on night and weekend work has generally prevailed. In the industry, this has been colloquially called 'overtime' pay.
Longshoremen do not usually work continuously for one employer, but shift from one to another, wherever employment can be found. ”

“ It is interesting to note that one employer reported that the addition of two hours' overtime to a 9-hour day for three days a week caused excessive fatigue after a few months, so that the overtime was stopped, but after a month the pressure of work was so great that they had to return to it, and now they find that this excessive fatigue is avoided, or, rather, fatigue so extreme as to diminish output is avoided by working every fourth week without overtime. ”

“ It calls for 150% of the regular, not the minimum, wage. By this requirement, although overtime was not flatly prohibited, financial pressure was applied to spread employment to avoid the extra wage and workers were assured additional pay to compensate them for the burden of a workweek beyond the hours fixed in the act. In a period of widespread unemployment and small profits, the economy inherent in avoiding extra pay was expected to have an appreciable effect in the distribution of available work. ”

“ Above all, strong comp time legislation preserves the protection of our 40-hour week, which has been the law now for most of this century. Today the law says if you are an hourly worker and you work longer than 40 hours, you get paid time and a half for overtime. Our plan would give you the choice of taking an hour and a half off for every hour you work instead. But under the congressional majority's plan, some employees who work and extra hour would get only an hour off—less overtime than they would be eligible for today. ”

“ It supplemented the efforts of the Health of Munition Workers Committee by ordering the “investigating officers,” of the labor regulation section of its labor department, who had charge of all labor matters except dilution and the supply of labor, to report cases of excessive overtime and unnecessary Sunday work in controlled establishments, with a view to having an order issued prohibiting it. An official circular of March 17, 1916, urged that more use be made of “week end volunteers,” so that all workers might have a Sunday rest, “both in the interest of the work people and of production.” ”

“ The legislative history of the various acts makes clear the intention of Congress to allow extra compensation only when there are overtime services in the sense of work hours in addition to the regular daily tour of duty without regard to the period within the twenty-four hours when the regular daily tour is performed. ”