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Timesizing News, July 02-15, 2002
[Commentary] ©2002 Phil Hyde, Timesizing.com, Box 622, Porter Sq, Cambridge MA 02140 USA 617-623-8080

7/14-15/2002  primitive Timesizing in the weekend news, aka glimmers of strategic hope -

• [PR exec demoes why Americans have the most working hours per year in the world -]
  7/14 This time, a layoff hits home, by former NYC PR account exec Rachel Zuckerman, NYT, 3-10.
  I knew something was wrong when the complimentary cans of soda stopped being replaced in the office fridge. Then the Wednesday free lunches disappeared. A week later, so did the CEO. It seemed pretty clear who would be next.
  I thought people were laid off only when the GM plant closed in Flint, Mich. I vaguely associated the word "recession" with the other George Bush and assumed if I showed up 15 minutes early and left a half-hour late, my job was secure.
  [There's your answer - this assumption, coupled with the fact that ubiquitous downsizing and rampant job insecurity mean that no one wants to be first to leave the office in the evening. Job insecurity and the anachronistic association of overwork and self-importance are driving the American workweek back up to levels not seen since the 19th century.]
  "Tomorrow is D-Day," remarked a co-worker that I never particularly cared for. "They're laying off 60 employees." I rode home with a mild chest pain.... The next day I sat in my cubicle with [my] picture of David Bowie on the wall, as I did every morning. When my phone rang and it said, "Purple Conference Room" on the caller ID, I knew that David would be coming home with me that night. Walking down the hallway...time was suspended in a vacuum of fear and nausea....
  One of the last corporate graces they bestowed on us was a taxi voucher to move our belongings home.... The taxi driver pulled up in front of my apartment. I took the voucher from my pocket, wrote in a tip for $20 and handed it to him. He looked at it and grinned..\..
  Being laid off from my job in public relations was like being dumped by a boyfriend I never liked....
  [Like so many people, she finally "gets it" only when it happens to her.]

• (6/16) Help line gets 224 calls about death from overwork, Kyodo News 06/15/02 09:51 EDT via AOLNews.
  TOKYO...- Special telephone help lines across Japan received 224 calls on Saturday, the day before Father's Day, from bereaved family members who have lost a father or husband to ''karoshi,'' or death from overwork, members of the help group said. Of the total, 103 callers sought help in connection with problems stemming directly from karoshi or stress-related suicides, according to the National Defense Counsel for Victims of Karoshi.
  The group, which set up karoshi hot lines in Tokyo, Hokkaido, Osaka and 25 other prefectures across the country, found the number of calls pertaining to deaths of men in their 30s particularly high, the members said. ''We often use a word 'pain' but this word does not adequately describe the situation. These are very serious deaths and the problem is widespread,'' said Hiroshi Kawahito, a lawyer who is part of the group.
  Since a set of guidelines to recognize karoshi was expanded last December, the number of calls asking about applications for the workers accident compensation insurance system and from family members concerned about relatives overworking totaled 91, the members added.
  
  

• [consciousness of the dangers of overwork and complaints thereof spread to the UK, usually all too ready to follow America's mindless workoholism -]
  British air controllers swamped, by Jane Wardell, AP 07/11/02 21:55 EDT via AOLNews.
  LONDON - The number of instances in which air traffic controllers said they were so overworked that plane safety was jeopardized doubled in the first half of this year, the National Air Traffic Service [NATS] said Thursday. There were 44 reports filed during the first 6 months of this year by controllers who believed their workload was excessive to the point of compromising safety, the agency said. That compared with 20 filed during the same period last year. [NATS] is a partnership involving the government, the airlines and staff....
  "We actively encourage all employees to report any incident which they think may have compromised safety, so we can learn from it. We wanted an open reporting system and that's what we are getting"..\..a spokesman said on condition of anonymity..\.. "We have 62 controllers under training and as soon as their training is complete the situation will ease"..\.. The January opening of a new, multimillion-dollar computerized control center and a training program for [the] new controllers ha[ve] caused increased delays....
  

• (6/13)   Only an 80-hour workweek for young US doctors, by Maggie Fox, Reuters 06/12/02 17:14 ET.
  WASHINGTON...- Trainee doctors, who often work 120 hours a week and more, will get a huge cut in their workweek under new standards for the U.S. hospitals that train them, an accreditation body said on Wednesday. The trainees, known as residents, are doing too much work that should be done by nurses and other healthcare workers instead of concentrating on their medical education, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education [ACGME] said.... "Medical residents are, after all, primarily students and not employees," Dr. David Leach, exec. dir. of the ACGME, told reporters in a telephone briefing..\..
  The new standards call for residents to work no more than 80 hours a week, with at least 10 hours between shifts, plus one full day off a week.... The nonprofit ACGME, which accredits 7,800 medical residency training programs across the country that account for 100,000 residents, says it can enforce the new standards with the backing of the U.S. government. "We will be very aggressive about this," Leach said.... "Wiithdrawal of (our) accreditation would compromise funding. A large academic health center may get $100,000 a year from Medicare to support graduate education programs."
  "Today is a banner day for the reforom of resident work hours," Dr. Ruth Ptee, President of the Committee of Interns and Residents, which represents 12,000 residents, said in a statement. "Too many mistakes can happen when we're working 36-hour shifts and 120-hour weeks. But enforcement will remain a problem without strong federal legislation to back this up," she added.
  Democratic Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey introduced a bill on Wednesday that would mandate shorter hours for residents, which matches one introduced in the House last year by Michigan Democrat John Conyers....

• Long working hours increase heart attack risk: study, Kyodo News 07/09/02 20:04 EDT via AOLNews.
  Working more than 60 hours a week and constant sleep deprivation may double the risk of having a heart attack...compared with those who worked 40 hours or less each week..\..according to a survey conducted by researchers at Japan's National Cancer Center.
  The study, published in the British medical journal "Occupation[al] and Environmental Medicine," looked at 260 Japanese men aged between 40 and 79 who had survived a first-time heart attack, comparing them with another group of 445 men with no history of heart attack.... The authors, led by Ying Liu of the National Cancer Center in Tokyo, said: "Overtime work is know to increase blood pressure and heart rate, and induce cardiac or psychological symptoms such as chest pain, depression and fatigue." The study...ran from 1996 to 1998....

1. Shorter work week disguises fact that Belgium, France, Norway and Netherlands all more productive than U.S. - Leisure often responsible for GDP gaps, by Bruce Little, Toronto Globe and Mail, July 8 2002, B8 via Joe Polito via SWT e-list.
   Productivity growth, as any economist on the left or right will tell you, is the foundation for a rising standard of living.
   [Even though productivity without marketability is meaningless....]
   So it follows that productivity differences between countries should largely explain their differences in income.
   But hard numbers produce some glaring anomalies that - on the surface - seem to make nonsense of such assertions. In fact, they don't, but there's a huge missing ingredient that's often overlooked: Some people take their productivity bonus as leisure, rather than cash.
   Norway is a [prime] example. Last year, it was about 10% more productive than the United States, but its GDP per person was about 17% lower. Belgium, France and the Netherlands were all more productive than the United States as well, but wound up with levels of GDP per head that were 25-30% lower. The big reason for the gap is that people in those countries worked less, so their total output per head was lower than the Americans, even though they were more productive when on the job.
   Take the gap step by step. Norway's productivity - its output for every hour worked - was 9.7% higher than that of the United States. But its working-age population (those 15-64) as a [fraction] of its total population was a bit smaller than that of the United States, so relatively fewer people were available to work. That [cost in terms of output], and shaved 1.6 percentage points off Norway's lead. But a greater proportion of those working-age Norwegians actually worked last year, enough to add 4.1 points to Norway's lead over the United States, bringing it to a total of 12.2%.
   Now we come to the big missing ingredient. Norwegians worked 28.9% fewer hours than did Americans, a truly staggering difference.
   Because they worked less, the Norwegians produced fewer goods and services, so their total GDP per person was lower. [Ignore] the huge difference in hours worked per employee and Norway's 12.2% lead suddenly [looks like] a 16.7% lag. That's why Norway's GDP per capita [which does ignore the hours difference] was only 83.3% that of the United States' [GDP per capita] last year.
   Had Norwegians worked longer hours, they could have produced more output and wound up with a higher GDP per head. But they chose, in effect, to take the fruits of their productivity in the form of more leisure rather than more money.
   [And they would not necessarily have gotten more money, because they would probably have overwhelmed the job market and depressed their own wages with their surplus of labor hours on offer. Plus, they may well have failed to produce more output in the additional hours because they'd be less rested and prioritized.]
   The same pattern is found in a number of Western European countries, where annual vacations typically run to six weeks rather than the two weeks that is common in the United States. The average worker in the European Union puts in 12% fewer hours a year than his American counterpart.
   These comparisons come from Bart Van Ark, a Dutch academic at the University of Groningen, whose Growth and Development Centre has been working with the Conference Board in the United States to analyze these intercountry differences. His full analysis will be included in a report next month from the Centre for the Study of Living Standards in Ottawa and the Institute for Research on Public Policy in Montreal.
   How does Canada measure up? Canada's GDP per person, by Mr. Van Ark's count, was 77.3% that of the United States in 2001, or 22.7% lower. We had a slight 1.5-percentage-point edge over the United States in demographics, but we were behind on the labour market factors by 3.3 points, partly because a smaller proportion of our working-age population was in the labour force and partly because our unemployment rate was higher. We worked fewer hours than the Americans did, but the gap was only 3.5%.
   Mr. Sharpe [who he?? we'll guess Canadian Labour Minister] figures Canadian workers are more likely to get three weeks annual vacation rather than the Americans' standard two weeks, which accounts for part of that gap.
   The biggest difference, however, was productivity; Canada's output per hour worked was 17.4% lower than that of the United States. It's that gap Canadians must close if they want a higher standard of living - whether they want it in cash or leisure.
   [That's an easy gap to close - with technology, but closing it does not necessarily deliver a higher standard of living, because again, productivity only weighs when it's marketable, and during a recession, that cannot be taken for granted. In fact, recession can be induced, as the USA is doing, by downsizing in response to technology rather than timesizing, because downsizing your workforce also downsizes your consumer base and your effective demand, while timesizing your workforce (cutting worktime, not workforce) keeps your productivity and consumption in balance.]

2. Business lobby gives thumbs up to French government, Reuters 07/08/02 10:43 ET via AOLNews.
   PARIS...- The head of France's main business federation on Monday welcomed the new centre-right government's pledge to both respect the deficit limit of the EU Stability Pact and cut income tax this year by 5%. Ernest-Antoine Seilliere, who clashed constantly with the former left-wing government as president of the Medef business federation, also commended the new administration's decision to limit annual rises in France's compulsory minimum wage to the level needed to keep up with inflation.
   Seilliere also said he planned to seek another term as head of the Medef federation. The new government took over after a landslide parliamentary election victory on June 16 which ousted the left after five years in office where the imposition of the 35-hour workweek was just one of many issues that angered the Medef federation.
   [Clearly Medef doesn't get the connection between employment and consumption dba markets. They seem a bit dumber than Nikkeiren, the Japanese Federation of Employers (see story 5/23/2002). Guess they're just not whole-systems thinkers. For Medef, it's just "another shitty day in paradise."]

• (6/14) Women physicians seek improved career and family balance; MomMD.com re-launches website to handle demand, Business Wire's HealthWire 06/13/2002 19:10 Eastern via AOLNews.
  LOS ANGELES...- *MomMD, LLC today launched a new version of its online community for women physicians, medical students and premedical students. The website provides professional and personal resources for the growing number of women in mediciine, especially those seeking a better balance between career and family responsibilities....
  ...Said Sethina Edwards, president and founder of MomMD, LLC..."MomMD is providing services and support for thousands of women doctors and medical students.... Services include, job opportunities, medical exam study guides, admissions advice, career development strategies, job sharing information and a regular newsletter..\.. MomMD has over 2000 members and provides online services to over 20,000 visitors each month....

• Tennessee: Government shutdown ends, AP via NYT, A9.
  Thousands of state employees returned to work after a three-day partial government shutdown. Gov. Don Sundquist had furloughed more than half the state's 42,000 workers after lawmakers failed to pass a balanced budget by the July 1 start of the fiscal year. ...The compromise bill includes a provision for employees to be paid for the time off.

• Tenn. legislature passes sales tax, by Karin Miller, AP 07/04/02 06:05 EDT via AOLNews.
  NASHVILLE...- After four years of intense debate over taxes and three days into the new fiscal year, the Legislature approved a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax and a variety of other tax increases to end a partial government shutdown. ...Gov. Don Sundquist...was forced to put half the state's 42,000 workers on furlough and keep only essential services operating, such as prisons, public safety and mental health hospitals. Those employees will return to work Friday, Sundquist said....
  [So, now we can log those 42000/2= 21000, modified by more specific story below (7/04 #2) = 22,000 jobs saved by cutting worktime, not workforce, that is, timesizing, not downsizing.]

1. Cincinnati nurses ratify contract, PRNewswire 07/03/2002 11:26 EDT via AOLNews.
   RNs at University Hospital overwhelmingly voted to approve a new 3-year contract Tuesday night with provisions to address mandatory overtime, staffing and workplace safety. "We feel that this agreement marks a turning point in dealing with the underlying causes of the nursing shortage," said Mary Murphy RN, Co-Chair of the Registered Nurses Assoc....

2. Tenn. grapples with gov't shutdown, by Karin Miller, AP 07/03/02 12:43 EDT via AOLNews.
   NASHVILLE - ...The fiscal year began Monday, and the lack of a budget led to a partial shutdown that put 22,000 workers on unpaid furlough and left only essential services operating, such as prisons and mental health institutions....
   [At least their jobs are still there.]

3. Raffarin sets France on swerve to right, by Mark John, Reuters 07/03/02 15:00 via AOLNews.
   PARIS...- French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin unveiled plans to allow partial privatisation of state firms, cut taxes and loosen labour laws on Wed. in a swerve rightwards risking confrontation with trade unions.... The speech drew fierce and immediate condemnation from trade unionist[s] who began preparations to launch protests involving tens of thousands of workers after summer holidays....
   Setting his sights on some of the most prized legislation of former Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, Raffarin also pledged amendments of laws aimed at limiting mass redundancies [= layoffs] and [amendments] of Jospin's flagship 35-hour working week law.... Raffarin detailed plans to boost crimefighting with up to 24,000 new police and justice sector jobs....
   [Back to strained and inefficient government job creation instead of easy work sharing.]

4. French June services PMI up seventh month in row, by Joelle Diderich, Reuters 07/03/02 03:51 ET via AOLNews.
   PARIS...- The French services economy grew in June for the seventh month in a row as firms struggled to satisfy new business amid confidence about prospects for the next 12 months, according to a CDAF/Reuters index, [which] scor[ed] 55.4 versus 54.9 in May. The survey was good news for the euro zone's 2nd largest economy, which is only tentatively emerging from a global economic slowdown in the wake of 9/11....
   [It may be tentative but it's probably stronger than #1, Germany. The shorter workweek is working to hire more people and push up spending.]
   Higher demand for staff pushed up average costs in June...
   [But it also pushed up wages and spending and effective demand.]
   ...the rate of inflation was the slowest in six months.
   [Good. If wages are going up but not prices, then money is getting centrifuged out of CEO pay to cover the increases instead of passing the increases on to consumers.]
   The input price index, which measures companies' costs, recorded 56.4 in June, down from 58.6 in May.
   [Reining in executive compensation?]
   The higher wage costs came on top of charges linked to the changeover to euro notes and coins and increased costs associated with the 35-hour working week, prompting firms to increase again the fees they charged to clients.
   [But that statement is belied by the following -]
   The prices charged index stood at 54.3 in June, slipping from 54.5 the previous month.
   ...There was continued pressure on company [profit] margins as [prices] charge[d] rose at a slower rate than costs. "Strong competition continued to limit the extent to which firms could raise their rates," NTC [Research] said.

1. U.S. accounting scandals weighing on labor market, by Joanne Morrison, Reuters 07/02/02 16:30 ET via AOLNews.
   WASHINGTON...- A string of US accounting scandals has left businesses jittery about hiring, setting the stage for mediocre labor market performance over the next several months as the economy [tries to] recover..., economists warn....
   The average work week [in June] is expected to be unchanged [from May] at 34.2 hours....
   [That's probably a good target toward which to adjust our definition of "full time."]

2. Class action against BNSF and Metrolink alleges lax railroad safety costs lives, says attorney Pfiester - L.A. lawyer files class action in midst of mounting calls for railroads to strengthen safety measures, PRNewswire 07/02/2002 12:43 EDT via AOLNews.
   LOS ANGELES - ...Ten surviving victims of the catastrophic head-on collision of a BNSF [Burlington Northern Santa Fe] freight train and a Metrolink commuter train on April 23rd in Placentia, Calif., filed a class action lawsuit against the two railroad companies today alleging that the crash could have been avoided if BNSF and Metrolink had invested in advanced technology and made sure that their employees had adequate time off to rest. The lawsuit comes on the heels of a $2.125m jury award for a single plaintiff against BNSF last month in San Francisco and only a few days after National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Marion Blakey told the US House RR Subcommittee that an automatic railroad braking system would have prevented the deadly wreck.
   ...Los Angeles attorney R. Edward Pfiester Jr. of the Pfiester Law Corp. of L.A...represents the plaintiffs in both the San Francisco case and the class action filed [yester]day.... "Federal investigators are focusing on human error caused by engineer fatigue as a factor in the BNSF-Metrolink crash, and the highest-ranking transportation safety official in the nation has testified that railroads should install automatic braking systems as safeguards for tired engineeers and conductors...."
   Filed in LA County Superior Court, Harbauer et al vs BNSF et alleges that both BNSF and Metrolink bear responsibility for the crash because they failed to take adequate steps to protect employees and passengers.... "There are a number of actions that the carriers could have taken to avoid this horrific crash, had they given as much consideration to safety as they did to costs," said Pfeister. "BNSF's locomotive engineers, in effect, are being directed to crash into other trains - in the case determined by a jury lsat month, it was a 'cut' of stationary railcars; in this case, unfortunately, it was a commuter train. It is very unlikely that this crash would have occurred if the railroads had proven, long-available technology and if their employees had adequate rest."
   The lawsuit alleges claims against both BNSF and Metrolink in a number of areas. ...BNSF's "availability policy" allegedly forces engineers and conductors to work extremely long hours with erratic schedules that prevent regular sleep cycles and adequate rest.... For years, Pfeister said, BNSF locomotive engineers and employees in train service - conductors and those operating switches - have complained that the railroad's corporate policy effectively prevfents their having regular rest days and consistent full nights of sleep. In fact, some BNSF employees have said that management requires them to take off only one weekend per month and be available to work at least 75% of the time, day and night - they must meet both criteria or be cited for discipline. By contrast, the average American, with a 40-hour workweek ["Would it were true!" - ed.], is available for work 22% of each month.
   Under federal work-hour rules, a railroad can force employees to return to work after they have been off duty for 8 hours. The result is that many employees work two 8-hour shifts in one 24-hour period, a cycle that often is repeated for many weeks.... Although a commercial airline pilot is permitted to fly only 100 hours per month and a truck driver may be on duty no more than 260 hours per month, railroad operating crews [may] and do operate trains up to 432 hours per month..."notwithstanding that these employees are required to operate moving equipment that weighs millions of pounds," said Pfeister..\.. Pfeister said that forcing employees to work such shifts allows railroads to save huge amounts of money on health, welfare and vision plans, as well as on retirement benefits....
   "This type of shift work interferes with the natural circadian rhythm and causes a type of 'rolling fatigue...," said Pfeister. In recent years, BNSF employees' family members have picketed the railroad over the long hours in several places in Southern California, including Los Angeles and Bakersfield, out of concern for their loved ones' safety. In response, BNSF conducted its own 'study' and concluded that its workers are not affected by lack of sleep. They merely were giving lip service to this problem, which is pervasive in the industry and patently dangerous."
   The Pfeister Law Corp...has more than 25 years experience representing injured railroad employees and the public successfully in lawsuits against railroad corporations.... Edward Pfeister...is the only Calif. lawyer listed as a "Railroad Law Specialist" in Best Lawyers of America.
   More information... Pfeister Law Corp. at (323) 662-6400 or... *pfeisterlaw.com.

3. Corporate crises cloud Chirac's new economic start, by Paul Taylor, Reuters 07/02/02 08:58 ET via AOLNews.
   PARIS...- Just when Pres. Jacques Chirac thought he was finally free to launch a new wave of privatisations and unchain the French economy, twin crises in flagship corporations have revived old reflexes. ...The share prices of France Telecom and Vivendi Universal [are] down around their ankles [and] the long arm of the state looks to be at work once again, seeking "French solutions" to prevent crown jewels falling into foreign hands. [The] debt-driven share collapse \at\ Vivendi...ousted..\..Vivendi chief Jean-Marie Messier, who [had] turned [the] profitable but boring water and sewage utility into the world's #2 media empire in just two years....
   Once the darling of the political class who [hoped he would] personify French ambitions to rival Hollywood and become a global economic player, Messier had to go, partly to keep French households' plumbing out of "Anglo-Saxon" hands. Debt-laden Vivendi's stock had fallen so low that it had become a break-up target, raising the prospect that [its] municipal water supplies [component] could be bought out by foreign investors. [Though] it was the market...that made Messier's position untenable, he [also] had the wrong political connections. A former aide to finance minister Edouard Balladur, Chirac's conservative presidential rival in 1995, Messier had endorsed the 35-hour work week introduced by Chirac's Socialist challenger, ex-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin....
   [Oh nooo, he endorsed the 35-hr workweek - now apparently a political albatross! How horrible!]
   Messier's ejection reflects...the depth to which he had alienated the Paris establishment by attacking sacred cows such as the French "cultural exception"...the system of cultural protectionism that guarantees quotas for French film and TV output. ...Messier...comment[ed] last year that the exception was dead,... mov[ed] to New York and ma[de] English the company language....
   [So the guy they hoped would carry the French flag to greater heights betrayed them by getting besotted with Anglo-Saxon glitz, and all the while, their precious "cultural exception" was right in front of their noses - the absolutely unique, world-leading 35-hour workweek. Quel aveuglement!]

4. Chirac pledges to consult on French reforms, Reuters 07/02/02 12:16 ET via AOLNews.
   French Pres. Jacques Chirac appealed on Tuesday for backing for his reform plans and promised to try to avoid social strife by consulting trade unions and employers on any controversial changes.... Chirac, who saw off a surprise challenge by far-rightist Jean-Marie Le Pen to win re-election in May, has pledged $30B worth of taxcuts in a move many fear will mean spending on health and other sensitive areas will be reined in. He is also proposing to amend legislation by the former Socialist-led government introducing a 35-hour working week, a measure which has proved more problematic to implement than expected, but which still has strong trade union support....
   [Sure it was more problematic to implement than expected, because the government didn't lead the implementation, it lagged. And they didn't straighten out the implementation of overtime first, à la Timesizing Phase Two and Phase Three. They just jumped the workweek down four hours at a throw, not even adjusting it gradually. Yet even with this kludgy implementation, their unemployment rate came down one percent for each of the four hours they cut the workweek. So even their clueless implementation couldn't spoil the success of the approach.]

5. WRAP 1 - S. Korea's main carmakers hit by World Cup, strikes, by Kim Myong-hwan, Reuters 07/02/02 03:27 ET via AOLNews.
   SEOUL...- South Korea's top-ranked [among what others by whom?] Hyundai Motor said on Tuesday strike action over wages badly dented car sales in June, while soccer fever also kept customers out of showrooms and glued to World Cup matches. SUV maker Ssangyong Motor was an exception and gained ground as four-wheel drive vehicles found favour wiith consumers in a growing economy as more firms introduced a five-day working week....
   [They may be back at the 40-hour level relative to France's 35-hour workweek, but the South Koreans seem to be benefitting from their ongoing transition from 44 to 40 even as we in the smart-assed Anglo-Saxon economies deteriorate back to 50 and 60 hour weeks, all the while sneering at the simple-mindedness of the work-sharers despite our feet of clay.]

1. Longer hours lead to lawsuits over pay, by Fay Hansen, Christian Science Monitor July 01 2002 via Ken Ellis via SWT e-list.
   [This article on overtime (OT) indicates that time consciousness is rising in America, and the design and implementation of the workweek cap and the OT disincentives is a higher priority than designing and implementing workweek reduction = the actual lowering (or occasional emergency raising) of the cap.]
   ...As the US workweek grows longer, OT-pay issues are heating up.... The federal law governing OT pay, the Fair Labor Standards Act [FLSA], is enforced by the US Dept of Labor, and any employee can touch off a federal investigation with one call. A growing number of white-collar workers are picking up the phone..\..
   
   • With its name still fresh on Fortune magazine's "best places to work in 2002" list, Starbucks Coffee Co. announced in April that it will pay up to $18m to settle a lawsuit filed by more than 1,000 angry managers of its California stores. The managers claimed that they were forced to spend long hours doing nonmanagerial tasks but were denied OT pay....
     
   • Retail giant Wal-Mart finds itself embroiled in a legal battle involving allegations of unpaid OT by hourly workers [see 6/25/2002].
   • In May, the Labor Dept. filed a lawsuit against Tyson Foods Inc. to recover back wages for workers who were not paid for time spent putting on and taking off work clothing and protective gear.
   ...OT has become an issue at [two] levels..\..
   1. Other high-visibiility companies are now spending millions of dollars to settle cases brought under federal and state laws that require OT pay for such "nonexempt" employees [ie: non-exempt from OT regulations]....
   2. Managers, professionals, and office and sales workers are challenging employers who classify them as "exempt" employees beyond the reach of federal and state OT-pay provisions [ie: exempt from OT regulations]....
   "Misclassification of employees under the FLSA is rampant," says Charles Huddleston, a partner in the law firm Arnall Golden Gregory LLP in Atlanta. The price employers pay "for misclassifying employees can be up to two years of unpaid OT, doubled by statute, plus attorneys' fees."
   Who qualifies as 'exempt'
   There are four white-collar exemptions to the minimum-wage and OT requirements of the FLSA:
   1. executives (managers)
   2. administrators
   3. professionals
   4. outside sales representatives
   "To be exempt [from OT], an employee must fall under one of these categories and be paid on a [non-hourly] salary basis," says Rob Ghio, partner and head of the employment-law group at the firm Arter & Hadden in Dallas. The exemption...hinge[s] on the actual duties performed, however, not on the job title or [the] method of payment.
   
   • "Exempt workers manage, think, direct, supervise, and establish," says Neil Martin, a partner in the labor and employment section of Houston law firm Gardere Wynne Sewell.
   • "The more mundane the assignment, the more manual the work, the less likely that the workers are exempt."
   More than 60% of the job growth over the past decade was among employees classified as managers and professionals, jobs in which long workweeks are considered typical.
   [Here again shortsighted, unsustainable and exploitative practices are rampant because technology's inrush puts a premium on working smart, not hard and because the postwar discipline of management has been destroyed by the superstitious retention of the long 1940-level workweek and the resulting global surplus of overall labor hours. Notice also the contradiction between the unprofessionalism of unaccountable hours and the supposed "professionals" who are subject to them. The salary concept is functioning as a blank check on their lives, a highway to slavery. Contrast the professional time accountability of consultants with their concept of "billable time."]
   Nearly 30% of managers and professionals work 49 hours a week or more, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers often toss these employees, along with administrative and sales workers, into the exempt classification, regardless of the actual tasks they perform.
   What you do vs. what you are
   The most common OT pay complaint today rests with the white-collar classifications, and employers are losing more of these cases.... Employers may forget that "the law looks beyond form to substance," notes Linda Usoz, an employment attorney in the San Jose office of Coudert Bros. "Calling an employee a 'senior advisory engineer,' or some other title that connotes management, does not make the position exempt"..\.. Last year,
   • Last year, Rite Aid Corp. paid $25m to 3,000 managers and assistants.
   • Bank of America Corp. settled with some 6,000 personal assistants for $22m.
   • ...Pacific Bell paid $35m to settle a suit by 1,500 engineers who alleged they worked 50 hours a week but were paid for only 40....
   • A jury found against the Farmers Insurance Group in a $90m verdict...for failing to pay OT to 2,400 claims adjusters who argued that they are not exempt "administrators," but more like production workers..\..
   "One red flag is if an employee works alone and does not exercise independent judgement. Such employees may very well be hourly employees and entitled to OT pay," says Robert Skousen, head of L.A. law firm Skousen & Skousen....
   OT-pay cases are multiplying because more workers are employed in positions that employers commonly claim are exempt, and because the workweek is steadily growing longer. Average OT for manufacturing workers has inched up from 2.8 hours a week in 1980 to the current 4.4 hours a week.
   [What a disgrace, considering the number of layoffs as manufacturing is robotized.]
   It's far more difficult, however, to gauge the workweek for white-collar workers, whose employers are not subject to the same record-keeping [requirements].
   One way to establish an accurate picture of the number of hours logged by managers and professionals is to dig...into industry studies. A survey of workers in the fast-growing medical-device industry, for example, found that employees average 50 hours a week [that's the 1920s level of the workweek - ed.]. Professionals in that industry average 50-59 hours a week, with an additional 8% putting in 60 hours a week or more [those are 1900 levels - ed.].
   Mr. Martin believes "many employers play...classification game[s] to skirt the OT issue," but notes that the law is often unclear. Mr. Ghio agrees, noting that "sorting out the white-collar exemptions is difficult, because the statute and regulations really haven't kept up with the changing workforce, so often you are trying to force square pegs into round holes."
   The concept of the exempt white-collar worker was developed by the Dept. of Labor more than 50 years ago, according to Charles Tharp, professor of human-resource management at Rutgers University. "It was based upon a world of work that was much different from the world we live in today," he says. "Reform in this area is long overdue."
   Does your boss owe you money?
   Workers who are classified as exempt but feel they are being asked to work an excessive amount of OT should consider taking action, says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., an outplacement firm.
   [For human beings to achieve any meaningful progress, ANY amount of OT must be considered excessive and a warning light to management to start cross-training or training and hiring. That's the whole meaning of OVERtime.]
   "Talking with the boss or human resources might be a start," he says. "If there seems to be no viable recourse, and there is little...redeeming about the job, then it would make sense to start looking for a better place to work."
   [Yeah sure, John, but the whole thrust of the national and global surplus of labor hours is that the alternative-job option is fading for everyone and has faded completely for more and more people. That's why management is so spoiled and undisciplined in the first place. They have all the options. The "better to switch than fight" alternative is no longer there for employees.]
   The work you actually do - not your job title - determines whether you are an exempt employee under the law. Employees with questions about their status under the FLSA can visit the US Dept. of Labor's website at *dol.gov or call its toll-free helpline at 866-487-9243 for referral to their local Labor Dept. office. Labor Dept. investigators can protect the anonymity of employees who report possible FLSA violations.
   Donna Goldstein, a labor and employment attorney and partner in Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles, notes that white-collar employees should be aware that state law may differ from federal law. "For example...the outdated federal salary requirement..\..for...exempt [status] is only $250 a week, or $13,000 a year..\.. In California [however], the salary requirement...is two times the monthly minimum wage or $28,800 per year."... Where state law sets higher standards, it prevails over the federal statute....

2. [shorter workweek in Boston]
   FleetBoston Financial and Mayor Menino kick off Summer Jobs program; 150 Boston teens start work today; Begin 8 weeks of MCAS tutoring, Business Wire 07/01/2002 11:01 Eastern via AOLNews.
   ...Fleet is one of 35 of the top Boston-based businesses that have hired Boston teens as part of the Summer Jobs program. The students will work a 35-hour week and be paid $8 per hour.... The goal is to provide a job for every qualified young person who wants one, with an aim of employing 11,000 teens this summer....

3. [shorter workyear in Tennessee]
   Tennessee: State government shuts down, AP via NYT, A15.
   As the Legislature tries to resolve the state's budget, the state endured the first day of a partial shutdown.... About half of the state's 42,000 workers were put on unpaid leave..\..
   [So that's 21,000 jobs saved by cutting worktime instead of doing layoffs.]
   For weeks, lawmakers have haggled over proposed taxes to resolve an $800m deficit. As those talks continued, lawmakers missed a deadline, and Gov. Don Sundquist, a Republican, was allowed to finance only essential services through Friday....
   [Compare the less clear timesizing case 2 stories below this one in the NYT National Briefing column -]
   Maine: Town offices close, by Katherine Zezima, NYT, A15.
   Government offices in Lebanon are closed until at least Aug. 13, when a new vote is set on the town's budget. The shutdown, which went into effect yesterday after voters rejected a proposed budget of $110,000 last month, is the second time in 10 years that the town of 5,083 in southwest Maine has shut its offices....
   [Followup]
   Maine: Town's offices reopen, by Katharine Zezima, 8/15/2002 NYT, A20.