State legislators have signed off on HB 201, a measure that restores the rules governing overtime pay.
The rules were changed this spring when the Legislature passed HB 4283, a bill raising the state minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour to $8 on Jan. 1 and then to $8.75 in 2016.
HB 4283 also would have prevented 80 percent of West Virginia employers from using federal overtime exemptions–a change that will prove costly to many small businesses. NFIB/West Virginia opposed the bill.
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed the minimum-wage bill into law on April 1 but promised to call a special session to restore the original overtime rules. NFIB/West Virginia urged members to call their local legislators and ask them to vote “yes” on legislation restoring the rules.
“Our members let their legislators know that these new overtime rules would make it even harder for small businesses to grow and create jobs, especially when combined with an increase in the cost of labor,” said Gil White, state director of NFIB/West Virginia.
“I want to thank our members for stepping up and making sure the Legislature heard the voice of small business, and I want to thank Governor Tomblin and legislators for listening and for striking down these onerous new rules.”
PHOTO: Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress
