(judge says) If You Can Work an Espresso Machine, You’re a Manager (no overtime@ Starbucks)

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/01/08/if-you-can-work-an-espresso-machine-you%e2%80%99re-a-manager/

If You Can Work an Espresso Machine, You’re a Manager

by James Parks, Jan 8, 2007

Since when is pouring coffee a management job? Amazingly, Judge Ewing Werlein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled Jan. 2 that even if two managers of a Starbucks spent the majority of their working time on duties like pouring coffee, they still could not be paid overtime.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) generally requires overtime pay for employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek, unless they work in a “bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity.” Starbucks claimed Kevin Keevican and Michael Terrazas were exempt from overtime pay and that such duties as pouring coffee and cleaning up were management functions because the managers were training new employees.

In 2004, at least 6 million workers lost their right to overtime pay under new Bush administration rules, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). The report was released one day after former high-ranking Labor Department officials reported that the new overtime rules would substantially erode the overtime rights of America’s workers.

The Bush administration’s changes to the FLSA regulations established new rules for employers to determine if workers are eligible for overtime pay. Under the new rules, workers who earn as little as $23,660 per year—about $5,000 above the poverty line for a family of four—could see their jobs reclassified as ineligible for overtime pay.

The EPI report says some 2 million administrative workers stood to lose their overtime rights under a rule change that makes “team leaders” ineligible for overtime pay, even when they do not supervise others on the team.

Under the Bush rules, in order to be overtime exempt, an employee must be paid a salary of at least $455 per week and must have management as his or her primary duty, regularly supervise two or more employees and exercise discretionary authority without supervision.

In testimony, Keevican and Terrazas acknowledged they exercised some managerial authority, but they estimated they spent 70 percent to 80 percent of their time waiting on customers, cleaning up and performing many of the same tasks handled by nonmanagerial employees.

[wtmusic]

1. Of course they could be paid overtime.

They weren't required to be paid overtime.

I hate it when people misrepresent shit like this.

[bigbrother05]

8. That's the point, COULD be paid,

but Starbucks(Walmart, etc.) don't HAVE to. Why do you think there are so many team leaders? If they got a real salary, most management types willing work extra hours without looking at the clock. What has happened is the corpofascists have gotten the government to legislate something they couldn't get willingly in existing contracts. Most of the folks affected weren't given a chance to negotiate their deal. Truly progressive businesses will limit their "exempt" folks to those that are true salaried managers.

[Junkdrawer]

2. And you thought promotion was hard in America...

There you go, we're all "managers" now.

Congratulations.

[ReadTomPaine]

3. Your sig banner says it all.

Organized labor is the only way to fix problems like these.

[Imagevision]

4. In 2004, at least 6 million workers lost their right to overtime pay under new Bush administration

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. Were they given the title "Manager" and were they paid more than the employees they worked next to?

If the answer to that is YES, then they don't have a leg to stand on methinks.

I don't get this place sometimes. We HATE management because managers abuse the regular workers. BUT, when a "manager" is screaming about the treatment they get, we jump on their bandwagon if we can point to * and his policies.

WTF?

If they were paid more than the regular hourly workers, and had the title "Manager", they're not entitled to anything more than the company gives them. They can go look for work elsewhere.

[Solon]

6. I say "Management" positions need to be limited to those defined by the power to hire or fire...

employees, if you can't do that, then you SHOULDN'T, legally, be considered a manager.

[Solon]

7. I worked for a convienence store once, 70% of all people working there were "Managers"...

We were called "Shift Managers", considering that we were the ONLY ones working the shift, guess how much power we had? Lofty title, piss-poor pay and no power to do anything.