In recent years, opponents of a minimum wage increase at the federal level have attached or threatened to attach various “poison pill” legislative provisions that would weaken wage and hour protections for workers to any bill that would increase the minimum wage.

In March 2005, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) offered an amendment to raise the minimum wage by $2.10. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) responded by proposing an alternative $1.10 increase coupled with several provisions that would weaken Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protections for workers.

• The 80-Hour Work Period. The Santorum Amendment would allow employers to reduce overtime pay for workers by replacing the 40-hour workweek with an 80-hour, two-week work period. Under this provision, a worker with median income could lose $3,000 in overtime pay every year.

• Eliminating Wage and Hour Protections for More Than 7 Million Workers. The Santorum Amendment would eliminate FLSA protections for workers employed by firms with annual revenues of less than $1 million. In 1997, 6.8 million workers were employed by firms with annual revenues between $500,000 and $1 million. So the Santorum Amendment would harm far more workers than it would help: while eliminating FLSA protections for more than 7 million workers, its paltry $1.10 hourly increase would directly benefit only 1.8 million workers.

• Barring State Wage Protections for Tipped Employees. The Santorum Amendment would lower wages for millions of tipped workers—by as much as $5.50 an hour in the state of Washington. Under the FLSA, employers can credit $3.02 per hour in tips toward meeting their minimum wage requirement for tipped workers. But 29 states and the District of Columbia guarantee a higher minimum cash wage for tipped workers by limiting the amount of tips that employers can credit toward meeting their minimum wage requirement. Under the Santorum Amendment, however, states could not “enforce” any state law that “prohibits any portion of the tipped employee’s tips” from counting toward the state minimum wage. So the Santorum Amendment would not only prohibit states from passing new wage guarantees for tipped workers but would also bar 29 states and the District of Columbia from enforcing their existing wage guarantees for tipped workers.

Other “poison pill” legislative provisions that minimum wage raise opponents have threatened to attach include:

• Replacing Overtime Pay with Comp Time. “Comp time” legislation would eliminate employers’ FLSA obligation to pay a time-and-a-half cash premium for overtime work. Employers could pay workers nothing at the time overtime work is performed, so long as they promise workers time off in the future. “Comp time” legislation would reduce worker pay and make mandatory overtime cheaper for employers, resulting in longer hours and more unpredictable work schedules. Employers would still control when workers could take time off, and “comp time” legislation would provide no new work schedule flexibility.

• Excluding Bonuses From Overtime Calculation. Under the FLSA, overtime is calculated based on the “regular rate” of pay, which includes performance-based compensation such as bonuses and commissions. Excluding non-discretionary bonuses from the calculation of overtime would reduce pay for millions of workers and encourage employers to circumvent the FLSA by converting more worker compensation into bonuses.

The minimum wage should be raised and automatically increased on an annual basis. Relying on haphazard periodic legislative adjustments results in the continuous erosion of the real value of the minimum wage and also invites amendments to roll back wage and hour protections for workers.