Minimum Wage Legislation: The Gift That Keeps on Giving!
Earlier this year, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed into law, a bill that would raise the minimum wage some 44 percent over then next 15 months or so. Aside from the obvious – that minimum wage laws affect practically nobody, this is of course, economic suicide for a state that’s already in a death-spiral.
But as an unintended (or deceitfully hidden) consequence, many professions that were previously exempt from the overtime statute have lost their exemption. Which means that employers will be forced to pay overtime to nannies, used-car salesmen, and truck-drivers.
Having to pay overtime to car salespeople could mean a net pay cut for some, said Terry Burns, director of the Michigan Association of Automobile Dealers. He said salespeople sometimes set their own hours — often more than 40 hours a week — to maximize commissions.“[Car] Dealerships will set more firm hours to avoid paying overtime, he said.
Car salesman T.J. Mendiola, 23, of Royal Oak couldn’t see how getting paid overtime would help much. He said he makes $300 a week in base pay, plus commission at Hodges Subaru in Ferndale.
Mendiola said that if employers are forced to pay overtime, that could force dealerships to limit work hours and reduce his commissions.
Independent truck drivers at Truck City in Dearborn on Wednesday afternoon said they feared a higher minimum wage plus overtime pay would cause trucking companies to lay off drivers.
“We’re making less money now than we did 30 years ago,” said Ken Henderson, 43, of Covert. “If they have to pay more, they’re going to have to cut back somewhere else…They would have to absorb that, go out of business or pass on the cost to their customers,” he said.
I can’t even begin to imagine the sort of tortured logic required to accept this sort of legislation – linking certain sectors’ overtime pay with a federal/state minimum wage disparity. Now come the people who are supposed to benefit from this law, via higher wages – these people are surely not politicians or lawyers, most of them have probably never taken a single course in economics, let alone have any more than a rudimentary understanding thereof…
And even they recognize that it simply isn’t going to work to anyone’s advantage.
Ever.
Possibly related posts:
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Comments