Grothman Grills Acting Labor Sec. Julie Su On Overtime Rule: It Will Result In ‘Irregular Paychecks’

4 months ago

On Wednesday, Glenn Grothman (R-WI) questioned Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su on proposed rules relating to overtime payment during a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Ms. Bonamici. Mr. Grossman, you're recognized for five minutes.

00:04The Department of Labor refers to registered apprenticeships as the gold standard of work-based

00:09learning. As you know, there are currently 3,500 apprenticeship models registered under

00:15the competency-based model. Do you believe these competency-based registered apprenticeships

00:20are good programs? I'm sorry, Congressman, you were saying are

00:27programs good programs? We're talking about registered apprenticeships.

00:32Okay. Do you believe competency-based registered

00:36apprenticeships are good programs? So, thank you, Congressman, especially because

00:42your state has been such a leader when it comes to registered apprenticeships. And we

00:47have a million-dollar state apprenticeship expansion grant in Wisconsin to help build

00:52the infrastructure to make sure that registered apprenticeships can thrive and employers can

00:58get what they need and working people in your state can get opportunity. I believe that

01:03registered apprenticeship programs are the gold standard. They provide for earn while

01:07you learn so that people who can't afford to just stop earning in order to train can

01:14actually get into training programs. They provide for a good job at the end. They provide

01:20for wage progression and other protections for skill standards. And we are seeing across

01:28the country right now, again, especially because of the historic investments that are being

01:32made in construction, in infrastructure, in clean energy, in manufacturing, that there's

01:37a need for good, reliable, tested job training programs and registered apprenticeships are

01:44one of the best examples we have of that. Okay. Your department, and I'm going to ask

01:48you, what was the basis for your department issuing a proposed rule that eliminates the

01:54successful competency-based model for registered apprenticeships, a model that's been referred

02:00to the bread and butter of apprenticeship expansion, and will constitute more than one-third

02:06of the overall growth in the apprenticeships in the next decade, according to Labor Zone

02:11projections? Again, Congressman, just in this administration,

02:18the Department of Labor has invested over $445 million in apprenticeship programs across

02:26the country, and another $200 million that is out now that will be announced in June.

02:32We believe in programs that are tested, that have support so that workers are actually

02:39going to end up in the job that they're training for, and that have real standards, in part

02:44because the standards in registered apprenticeships also give working people a chance to work

02:51in a model that they're tested over time and really have been a pathway into the middle

03:02class for many, many American workers. Okay. Wisconsin's a big manufacturing state.

03:08We're actually, percentage-wise, the biggest manufacturing state in the country, 20 percent

03:13of our workforces are manufacturing. When I meet with industry leaders, they cite workforce

03:18issues such as attracting and retaining skilled employees as their biggest challenge.

03:24The Biden administration's Department of Labor has proposed increasing the overtime salary

03:29threshold by about 70 percent, which would subject millions of currently salaried workers

03:35to overtime laws. So instead of increasing pay, the proposed rule would cause employers

03:42to shift millions of salaried workers to hourly workers, eliminating the remote and

03:47flexible work options, and potentially resulting in fewer work hours, irregular paychecks,

03:54and lower overall compensation. Would you comment on the negative consequences of the

04:02big increase in the overtime salary threshold, how you believe that's going to affect the

04:06American industry? So, Congressman, there's nothing about the

04:10rule that would require that outcome. The reason why we did an overtime rule was because

04:16it's really important for working people to get a fair day's pay for a hard day's work.

04:21And our overtime rule helps to ensure that working people who work on a salary basis

04:28have more money in their pockets. A couple decades ago, the overtime threshold covered

04:37over 60 percent of working people. In the last administration, the threshold was set

04:44to a point where it was less than 10 percent. And so the overtime protections have been

04:49eroded over time because of that threshold, and that is why we undertook a rulemaking

04:55process to make sure that the threshold combined with the duties test that is the heart of

05:03protecting salaried employees when it comes to overtime remained real.

05:09Thank you.

Grothman Grills Acting Labor Sec. Julie Su On Overtime Rule: It Will Result In ‘Irregular Paychecks’

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