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Washington, D.C.—Following a vote in the House yesterday in which U.S. Representatives joined their Senate colleagues in approving language to block Department of Labor (DOL) implementation of rules changes that could deny overtime pay to millions of workers, the leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal workers today called on the administration to withdraw its proposal.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said the bipartisan House vote “is clear evidence of the national sentiment that the DOL proposal is unfair and unwise,” particularly in view of earlier Senate action.

Last month, the Senate approved language in its version of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill that would block DOL’s use of funds to implement the changes. The House yesterday instructed its members who will sit on a conference committee with members of the Senate to work out final details of the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill to accept the Senate provision regarding the DOL proposal.

Earlier this summer, NTEU joined others in sharply criticizing the DOL proposal. At that time, President Kelley said changes in overtime rules sought by the administration

“demonstrably fail to achieve the purported goal” which DOL has sought to describe as striking a balance between the desire of employers for clear and unambiguous regulatory standards and the desire of employees for fair and equitable treatment in the workplace.

Instead of achieving that end, she said, virtually every aspect of the DOL proposal “tips the scale in favor of management,” with the result that millions of workers who now receive overtime could be reclassified as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime provisions.

By DOL’s own conservative estimate, between 2.1 million and 3.3 million additional workers would be adversely impacted. More realistic estimates have been much higher—with one institute’s study demonstrating that over eight million workers would lose their eligibility for overtime pay.

NTEU actively pursues FLSA cases on behalf of federal employees, both in court and in the contractual grievance and arbitration procedure. The DOL proposals, if adopted, would have a serious impact on NTEU-represented employees.

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 29 agencies and departments.