For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 16, 2012
Contact: Phoebe Silag or Karen Conner, news@epi.org 202-775-8810

Hagan’s CPU Act would cut tech workers’ wages

In a new commentary, Misguided CPU Act would cut tech workers’ wages, EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey explains that the Computer Professionals Update (CPU) Act would expand the definition of workers who do not qualify for overtime pay to include lower-skilled workers.  Currently, under an exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers can deny overtime pay to tech workers who earn a salary of at least $455 a week or at least $27.63 an hour.  However, since this exemption was enacted 22 years ago, inflation has reduced the purchasing power of the exemption threshold wage by almost 50 percent.  In other words, labor law covering IT pay does need to be updated, but it should be done so in a way that increases workers’ pay.