“Undertime” will solve many of our economic woes

This is my proposed amendment to The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA; also referred to as the Wages and Hours Bill), a federal statute of the United States:

In addition to the payment of overtime wages at 1.5 times the normal rate for workers, who exceed eight hours per day or 40 hours a week, the Federal Government shall require employers, who schedule any employee less than 30 hours per week or six hours per day, to pay all such employees at 1.25 times the prevailing rate for the same occupation of said employee, who works more than 30 hours per week. That requirement will extend to all hours worked at an undertime schedule.

This regulation is designed to recognize that such “undertime” employees are burdened with travel to and from their place of employment, often for minimal hours which are not equivalent to the proportional burden on full time employees.

In addition this regulation recognizes that employees who work less than 30 hours per week are generally not entitled by employers to various benefits, such as vacations, sick time or profit-sharing. It would be inequitable to pay them the same wages as full time employees if they receive far fewer benefits of employment.

Finally, this change in the FLSA recognizes that the American way of life depends on adequate employment and compensation of its citizens and that undertime employment creates a deficit in earnings for millions of workers.

Let it be resolved that this amendment be instituted no later than January 1, 2016. The co-sponsors are:

The goal is to get sponsors and public recognition that working 25 hours a week is not okay in America. If employers have to pay more per hour for part-time, they will hire more full-time (less expensive) workers instead. If companies want to juggle hours and shorten the week, they can do it – but they will be the ones to pay for it, not the employees.