FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT

WHEREAS, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted to protect workers against exploitation and to stimulate job growth; and

WHEREAS, justice for public sector employees was finally achieved in 1985 when the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Garcia v. San Antonio Transit Authority extended FLSA coverage to state and local government workers previously excluded from the Act's protections; and

WHEREAS, public employers are attempting to exempt public employees from the overtime protections of FLSA through legislation, and are assigning employees more than 40 hours of work in a work week and not paying them overtime. Nor are public employees granted the privileges given to "exempt" employees such as not being docked pay when finding it necessary to be away from their jobs for a few hours; and

WHEREAS, FPE/AFT is committed to organizing employees in the public sector to prevent workplace abuses, promote workplace justice, and full employment and job growth in the public sector job markets; and

WHEREAS, FPE/AFT is strident in its belief that FLSA is especially important to public sector employees that work in "right-to-work" states and cannot bargain over wages and hours:

RESOLVED, that the FPE/AFT pledge to continue to protect the integrity of FLSA by opposing unwarranted changes which diminish employees rights; and

RESOLVED, that the FPE/AFT continue to fight efforts to alter the protections offered by FLSA but which undermine FLSA protection; and

RESOLVED, that the FPE/AFT will lobby to prevent further economic incentive and/or legal cover to employers who would require public sector employees to work excessive hours to the detriment of the employee’s health, safety and family relationships, as well as deteriorating the quality of work performed; and

RESOLVED, that the FPE/AFT will lobby to prevent the simplistic legal definitions of FLSA exemptions which are not flexible and durable enough to accommodate market evolutions and promote job growth among public sector occupations. FLSA definitions must accommodate the movement of jobs from exempt to nonexempt as market conditions change and evolve.