4 ms·

This would probably hit the childcare industry very hard. Overtime-exempt employees would still need 5 days of childcare per week, but the employees of childcar

by EPWN3D 3y ago

This would probably hit the childcare industry very hard. Overtime-exempt employees would still need 5 days of childcare per week, but the employees of childcare facilities are much more likely to be non-exempt. So those childcare centers will have to send their prices even further into the stratosphere to either staff up, shell out for overtime, or convert their staff into salaried. This would make life a lot worse for salaried parents.

pcthrowaway 3y ago
The overall need for childcare would decrease by about 10-20%, so I don't believe this will be a problem. Companies may stagger their 'day off' over the workweek, so people are just as likely to have tuesday, wednesday, or thursday off, though probably fridays and mondays would be more popular Yes, some employees will be working 5-days a week and need childcare for those 5 days still, but I don't see why a company providing it can't stagger their employees' off days also to be able to meet their needs. Also, a lot of those overtime-exempt employees realistically will have a partner who now has 1 more day off per week, so they may only need 4 days of childcare after all. I really doubt this change, were it to go into effect, would have a positive effect on the wages of childcare workers, though they may now have more time off, so hopefully good for them overall.
- throwway120385 3y ago
  Where are you getting your information? Are you just assuming everyone salaried is married to someone who is hourly or something? Because the bill does not do anything for salaried, overtime-exempt employees. A more straightforward approach would be to completely eliminate the pay gap for tipped employees and raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn't seen an increase since the 1990's.
  - pcthrowaway 3y ago
    I assumed this bill changes the definition of 'full-time' such that full-time employees will typically be working 32-hours per week. Not sure what the laws are in the U.S., but it's nearly unheard of for people to sign an employment contract which mandates they work 50, 60, hours/week, etc. I assumed overtime-exempt generally referred to people in fields like nursing or medicine, essential workers so to speak.
    - throwway120385 3y ago
      No, overtime-exempt means that you work in specific exempt fields such as "management" or "software development" that are exempt from the overtime requirement. This applies whether you're salaried or hourly. We don't customarily sign "employment contracts" that stipulate the number of hours worked in these fields as in the US there is an expectation that a professional works as little or as much as needed to get the job done. The way this works in practice is that the company will keep adding tasks to your list until you stop getting things done as quickly. So if you work 80 hours a week they will gladly work you like that forever. So this law does absolutely nothing for salaried employees but may slightly improve the working conditions of wait staff and others provided their employer doesn't totally ignore the law, which happens a lot anyway WRT tips. I know this law sounds good in principle but like a lot of benefits it greatly helps hourly employees at the expense of hurting salaried employees in the middle class, and the upper class is as-usual totally unaffected by it because they can just afford whatever.
toomuchtodo 3y ago
~1000 US school districts have adopted a 4 day week because they can’t retain teachers otherwise. The future is already here for these parents, and this will only grow as the teacher shortage persists. The fact that the US refuses to subsidize childcare is unfortunate for sure, but a distinct issue from a 4 day work week. https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1211632901/schools-across-the-u-s-are-trying-a-4-day-week-why-to-retain-teachers https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1211632901/schools-across-the...

by EPWN3D 3y ago

pcthrowaway 3y ago

The overall need for childcare would decrease by about 10-20%, so I don't believe this will be a problem. Companies may stagger their 'day off' over the workweek, so people are just as likely to have tuesday, wednesday, or thursday off, though probably fridays and mondays would be more popular Yes, some employees will be working 5-days a week and need childcare for those 5 days still, but I don't see why a company providing it can't stagger their employees' off days also to be able to meet their needs. Also, a lot of those overtime-exempt employees realistically will have a partner who now has 1 more day off per week, so they may only need 4 days of childcare after all. I really doubt this change, were it to go into effect, would have a positive effect on the wages of childcare workers, though they may now have more time off, so hopefully good for them overall.

throwway120385 3y ago
Where are you getting your information? Are you just assuming everyone salaried is married to someone who is hourly or something? Because the bill does not do anything for salaried, overtime-exempt employees. A more straightforward approach would be to completely eliminate the pay gap for tipped employees and raise the federal minimum wage, which hasn't seen an increase since the 1990's.
- pcthrowaway 3y ago
  I assumed this bill changes the definition of 'full-time' such that full-time employees will typically be working 32-hours per week. Not sure what the laws are in the U.S., but it's nearly unheard of for people to sign an employment contract which mandates they work 50, 60, hours/week, etc. I assumed overtime-exempt generally referred to people in fields like nursing or medicine, essential workers so to speak.
  - throwway120385 3y ago
    No, overtime-exempt means that you work in specific exempt fields such as "management" or "software development" that are exempt from the overtime requirement. This applies whether you're salaried or hourly. We don't customarily sign "employment contracts" that stipulate the number of hours worked in these fields as in the US there is an expectation that a professional works as little or as much as needed to get the job done. The way this works in practice is that the company will keep adding tasks to your list until you stop getting things done as quickly. So if you work 80 hours a week they will gladly work you like that forever. So this law does absolutely nothing for salaried employees but may slightly improve the working conditions of wait staff and others provided their employer doesn't totally ignore the law, which happens a lot anyway WRT tips. I know this law sounds good in principle but like a lot of benefits it greatly helps hourly employees at the expense of hurting salaried employees in the middle class, and the upper class is as-usual totally unaffected by it because they can just afford whatever.

toomuchtodo 3y ago

~1000 US school districts have adopted a 4 day week because they can’t retain teachers otherwise. The future is already here for these parents, and this will only grow as the teacher shortage persists. The fact that the US refuses to subsidize childcare is unfortunate for sure, but a distinct issue from a 4 day work week. https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1211632901/schools-across-the-u-s-are-trying-a-4-day-week-why-to-retain-teachers https://www.npr.org/2023/11/08/1211632901/schools-across-the...