The state Senate moves to correct a mistake on overtime pay in the new minimum wage law.
The people who wrote the law approved by voters last November did not intend to change existing overtime standards. But they did.
Senator John Loudon of Ballwin says "every public fire department (and) police department is scrambling on how to deal with it, and it’s extremely chaotic."
Loudon sponsors the bill that puts overtime standards in Missouri back the way they were before the election.
Voters who approved the new minimum wage law wiped out Missouri’s use of federal overtime exemptions for several occupations, including police and fire personnel.
Loudon says that unforseen result of the election could cost taxpayers a lot. He says local governments face more than six million dollars in overtime costs this year. Loudon says the Highway Patrol expects to pay almost nine million dollars in overtime unless the law is changed.
The reinstatement of the exemptions also applies in the private sector—to nurses, for example, and some commission employees. The Senate has put the bill into position to be sent to the House.
(The bill is SB 255, 249 and 279)
Download Bob Priddy’s story (:60 mp3)
