Stock Value Calculating stock options into a worker's base pay is creating debate.
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Negotiations are underway between small-business groups and theLabor Department about including stock options in the calculationof base pay to figure out the overtime pay of hourly workers.
The Labor Department's Wage and Hour division (WHD) shook upthe business community after it found out about an"opinion" letter from the division to an unnamed company,which told the company it couldn't exclude profits made fromthe sale of stock options from an hourly employee's base pay(or "regular rate" in Labor Department parlance).
But business groups don't consider stock options part of anemployee's regular rate-and therefore excluded them from thetime-and-a-half calculation. T. Michael Kerr, administrator of theWHD, says the letter "didn't make a general statement onwhether all stock option programs do or should affect the regularrate, nor was it intended to do so."
However, Michael Bartlett, manager of labor law policy for theU.S. Chamber of Commerce, insists the letter, by implication,affects nearly all companies.
The Chamber and other business groups are now talking with Kerrabout sculpting legislation to satisfy both sides and clarify theissue once and for all.
Stephen Barlas is a freelance business reporter who coversthe Washington beat for 15 magazines.
Contact Source
- United States Chamber of Commerce (Mike Bartlett), (202)463-3411, mbartlet@uschamber.com
