[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 75 (Thursday, June 11, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H4488-H4491]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1119
SALES INCENTIVE COMPENSATION ACT
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ewing). Pursuant to House Resolution 461
and rule XXIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union for further consideration of the
bill, H.R. 2888.
{time} 1120
In the Committee of the Whole
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of
the bill (H.R. 2888) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to
exempt from the minimum wage recordkeeping and overtime compensation
requirement certain specialized employees, with Mr. Wicker, Chairman
pro tempore, in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. When the Committee of the Whole rose on the
legislative day of Wednesday, June 10, 1998, a request for a recorded
vote on Amendment No. 2 by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) had
been postponed.
Pursuant to the order of the House of that day, no further debate or
amendments to the committee amendment in the nature of a substitute are
in order.
Amendment Offered by Mr. Owens
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The unfinished business is the demand for a
recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Owens), on which further proceedings were postponed and on which
the noes prevailed by a voice vote.
The Clerk will redesignate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment Offered by Mr. Owens:
Page 6, line 9, strike the period, quotation marks, and the
period following and insert a semicolon and insert after line
9 the following:
except that an employer may not require an employee who is
exempt from overtime payment under this paragraph to work any
hours in excess of 40 in any workweek or 8 in any day unless
the employee gives the employee's consent, voluntarily and
not as a condition of employment, to perform such work.''.
Recorded Vote
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. A recorded vote has been demanded.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 181,
noes 246, not voting 6, as follows:
[Roll No. 227]
AYES--181
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Baesler
Baldacci
Barcia
Barrett (WI)
Becerra
Bentsen
Berry
Bishop
Blagojevich
Blumenauer
Bonior
Borski
Boucher
Brady (PA)
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Capps
Cardin
Carson
Clay
[[Page H4489]]
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cummings
Danner
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Deutsch
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doggett
Doyle
Edwards
Engel
English
Eshoo
Evans
Fattah
Fazio
Filner
Ford
Frank (MA)
Frost
Furse
Gejdenson
Gephardt
Gordon
Green
Gutierrez
Hall (OH)
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hefner
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Holden
Hooley
Hoyer
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kleczka
Klink
Kucinich
LaFalce
Lampson
Lantos
Lee
Levin
Lipinski
Lofgren
Lowey
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manton
Markey
Martinez
Mascara
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McDermott
McGovern
McHale
McIntyre
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Minge
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Moran (VA)
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Peterson (MN)
Pomeroy
Poshard
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Schumer
Scott
Serrano
Sherman
Skaggs
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith, Adam
Snyder
Spratt
Stabenow
Stark
Stokes
Strickland
Stupak
Thompson
Thurman
Tierney
Torres
Towns
Turner
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Waters
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Wexler
Weygand
Wise
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
NOES--246
Aderholt
Andrews
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baker
Ballenger
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Bereuter
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bliley
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bono
Boswell
Brady (TX)
Bryant
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Cannon
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Coble
Coburn
Collins
Combest
Condit
Cook
Cooksey
Cox
Cramer
Crane
Crapo
Cubin
Cunningham
Davis (FL)
Davis (VA)
Deal
DeLay
Diaz-Balart
Dickey
Dooley
Doolittle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Ensign
Everett
Ewing
Fawell
Foley
Forbes
Fossella
Fowler
Fox
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Goode
Goodlatte
Goodling
Goss
Graham
Granger
Greenwood
Gutknecht
Hall (TX)
Hamilton
Hansen
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Hefley
Herger
Hill
Hilleary
Hobson
Hoekstra
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hulshof
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jenkins
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (WI)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kasich
Kelly
Kim
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kingston
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaHood
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lucas
Manzullo
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McDade
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McKeon
Metcalf
Mica
Miller (FL)
Moran (KS)
Morella
Myrick
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Oxley
Packard
Pappas
Parker
Paul
Paxon
Pease
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pickett
Pitts
Pombo
Porter
Portman
Pryce (OH)
Quinn
Radanovich
Ramstad
Redmond
Regula
Riggs
Riley
Roemer
Rogan
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Roukema
Royce
Ryun
Salmon
Sanford
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaefer, Dan
Schaffer, Bob
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Shimkus
Shuster
Sisisky
Skeen
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (OR)
Smith (TX)
Smith, Linda
Snowbarger
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Stearns
Stenholm
Stump
Sununu
Talent
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thornberry
Thune
Tiahrt
Traficant
Upton
Walsh
Wamp
Watkins
Watts (OK)
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOT VOTING--6
Berman
Boyd
Etheridge
Farr
Gonzalez
Lewis (GA)
{time} 1138
So the amendment was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore (Mr. Wicker). There will be no further
amendments.
The question is on the committee amendment in the nature of a
substitute, as amended.
The committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended,
was agreed to.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Chairman, this Member rises today, as a co-sponsor
in support of H.R. 2888, ``The Sales Incentive Compensation Act.'' This
bill would amend the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act by providing an
exemption from overtime and minimum wage laws for certain types of
employees. These employees are defined in this bill as those who work
within or inside an employer's establishment and are engaged in selling
to non-retail customers by using forms of electronic commerce such as
the telephone, fax, and/or the computer.
Under the current Fair Labor and Standards Act, there is a provision
which allows an exemption from the overtime and minimum wage
requirements for certain retail sales' employees. This exemption does
not currently apply to wholesale establishments.
The original intent behind this distinctive treatment between
wholesalers and retailers was due to the nature of the retail field. In
1938, when the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, retail business
consisted of employees involved in sales outside the place of business.
Employees involved in sales physically went to the consumer for a
transaction.
Since 1938, American society and the world for that matter have
undergone a technological transformation. Various forms of electronic
communication have altered the manner in which business is conducted.
Whether it is faxes, telemarketing, E-mail or other types of electronic
commerce, a bulk of sales transactions are now performed from the
office. Electronic communication has reduced the distinction of duties
between those involved in wholesale and retail sales transactions.
This Member supports H.R. 2888 because it provides consistency for
small businesses.
It is a common principle of governing that people or businesses that
are similarly situated should be treated in a similar manner. Due to
the electronic transformation that has transpired over the last forty
years, retailers and ``inside sales'' employee wholesalers are
similarly situated and as a result should be treated consistently. H.R.
2888 would grant this consistent treatment by allowing for an overtime
and minimum wage exemption for those ``inside sales'' employees whether
they are involved in retail, service, or wholesale establishments.
This Member would ask his colleagues to support H.R. 2888.
Mr. VENTO. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this act which cuts
the pay of sales jobs, H.R. 2888. This legislation is being promoted as
a modernization, by sidestepping the Fair Labor Standards Act which
requires overtime pay and establishes the 40 hour work week. The net
effect of this legislation actually shifts business risk from employers
to employees and results in decreased benefits for workers. When
workers lose benefits, workers lose choice!
The Sales Incentive Compensation Act has been justified by its
proponents on the basis that so-called outside sales persons are exempt
from overtime. Therefore, inside sales persons should be exempt as
well, in an effort to level the playing field. However, outside sales
persons exemption is justified upon time spent traveling. Certainly,
this isn't applicable to inside sales persons. Technology, some argue,
means employers have relocated the outside sales force inside, where
they are more efficient. However, workers should be able to benefit
from this increased technology. The fact that more sales persons are
able to work inside and fewer must work outside is simply not
justification for eliminating overtime or paying them less in premium
overtime compensation.
The Fair Labor Standards Act designed the 40 hour work week and the
time-and-a-half requirement to protect workers from excessively long
hours, to allow them greater freedom for personal endeavors, and to
ensure that workers who are required to work extra hours are fairly
compensated. Now, employers are fighting this federal, time-honored
workplace requirement, as they have in the past, as if it's in the
interest of employees. Let's allow workers speak for themselves; give
them the pay and let them make the choices about time off. The
flexibility that employers want already exists, they can give workers
time off whenever it suits them.
Proponents of this bill argue that salespersons should be allowed to
work longer hours to perform their jobs more efficiently, in order to
make more money. However, the time-and-a-half requirement of the Fair
Labor Standards Act was not intended as a means to reward or enrich
workers; rather it was regarded as a penalty of required premium
payment by imposed upon employers who insisted on subjecting their
employees to work
[[Page H4490]]
weeks in excess of the 40 hour standard. H.R. 2888 exempts employees
from overtime pay protection if they earn $16,078 a year in either
hourly wages or as a salary, and an additional $6,431 annually in
commissions.
Under this legislation, an employee who earns these threshold amounts
would not be entitled to overtime pay, or even additional wages for
hours worked. This bill provides Congressional endorsement of employers
action which would demand more hours from employees by taking away the
benefit of premium overtime pay currently required by law. In what way
is this benefitting workers? The simple answer is, it does not.
The Sales Incentive Compensation Act is simply a thinly veiled scheme
for employers to boost their profits by increasing sales while
simultaneously decreasing benefits to their employees, who are actually
working to generate profits. The overall effect of this legislation
would be to shift business risk form employers to employees. Employees
who work long hours but are unable to make significant sales to boost
their own commissions will receive little or no additional pay for the
extra hours they work.
H.R. 2888 just doesn't make good sense, because it upsets the balance
and worker benefits which have been in place for more than sixty years.
At a time in our economic history when managers are receiving
exorbitant compensation and the wage earner is receiving a reduction in
power and reward, this legislation is a step backwards. The disparity
in wages and compensation is growing. H.R. 2888 increases the wage gap,
with wage workers as the losers. I strongly urge my colleagues to join
me in opposing the Sales Incentive Compensation Act.
Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Chairman, I would like to voice my support for H.R.
2888, The Sales Incentive Compensation Act. This bill is a bipartisan,
narrowly targeted approach to helping people in a career that makes up
less than one percent of the total workforce. It provides relief for
inside sales employees who currently are restricted from reaching their
full earning potential by a forty year old provision of the Fair Labor
Standards Act.
The benefits proposed in this bill are already afforded to
traditional outside sales employees. In the past, you had to drive
around your sales territory to personally check on your customers, see
if they needed additional product, and offer technical assistance.
Today, thanks to advancements in communications technology, a sales
employee can remain in the office and be in continual contact with all
of his or her customers. This is particularly evident in the burgeoning
computer and technology sectors, where sales and technical support are
frequently combined into one customer service position. These highly
trained people have a group of regular clients to whom they both sell
product, and provide technical support and assistance.
This bill would allow them to put in the extra time to earn
additional commissions that traditional sales employees are already
allowed to do. It explicitly details their need to have a regular
clientele, not initiate sales contacts, and have extensive knowledge of
the products they sell. Fees that this legislation could effect
telemarketers or route sales drivers have already been addressed in
Committee, and provisions are in place that categorically exempt these
jobs from the provisions of the bill.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to give their full support to this
intelligent, bipartisan bill that has all the necessary protections,
and allows a small group of professionals to make more money than the
law currently allows. Thank you for you support for the Sales Incentive
Compensation Act.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Under the rule, the Committee rises.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr.
Bereuter) having assumed the chair, Mr. Wicker, Chairman pro tempore of
the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, reported
that that Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R.
2888) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exempt from the
minimum wage recordkeeping and overtime compensation requirements
certain specialized employees, pursuant to House Resolution 461, he
reported the bill back to the House with an amendment adopted by the
Committee of the Whole.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the rule, the previous question is
ordered.
Is a separate vote demanded on any amendment to the committee
amendment in the nature of a substitute adopted by the Committee of the
Whole? If not, the question is on the amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Recorded Vote
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 261,
noes 165, not voting 7, as follows:
[Roll No. 228]
AYES--261
Aderholt
Andrews
Archer
Armey
Bachus
Baker
Ballenger
Barr
Barrett (NE)
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Bateman
Bentsen
Bereuter
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Bishop
Bliley
Blunt
Boehner
Bonilla
Boswell
Brady (TX)
Bryant
Bunning
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Campbell
Canady
Cannon
Capps
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Chenoweth
Christensen
Clement
Coble
Coburn
Collins
Combest
Condit
Cook
Cooksey
Cox
Cramer
Crane
Crapo
Cubin
Cunningham
Danner
Davis (FL)
Davis (VA)
Deal
DeLay
Dickey
Doggett
Dooley
Doolittle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Ensign
Everett
Ewing
Fawell
Foley
Forbes
Fossella
Fowler
Fox
Franks (NJ)
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Goode
Goodlatte
Goodling
Gordon
Goss
Graham
Granger
Greenwood
Gutknecht
Hall (TX)
Hansen
Harman
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Hayworth
Hefley
Herger
Hill
Hilleary
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holden
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hulshof
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inglis
Istook
Jenkins
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (WI)
Johnson, Sam
Jones
Kasich
Kelly
Kim
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kingston
Klug
Knollenberg
Kolbe
LaHood
Largent
Latham
LaTourette
Lazio
Leach
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
Livingston
LoBiondo
Lucas
Luther
Manzullo
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McHugh
McInnis
McIntosh
McIntyre
McKeon
Metcalf
Mica
Miller (FL)
Minge
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Morella
Myrick
Nethercutt
Neumann
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Oxley
Packard
Pappas
Parker
Paul
Paxon
Pease
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Pickering
Pickett
Pitts
Pombo
Porter
Portman
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Quinn
Radanovich
Ramstad
Redmond
Regula
Riggs
Riley
Rivers
Roemer
Rogan
Rogers
Rohrabacher
Roukema
Royce
Ryun
Salmon
Sanford
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaefer, Dan
Schaffer, Bob
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuster
Sisisky
Skeen
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (OR)
Smith (TX)
Smith, Linda
Snowbarger
Solomon
Souder
Spence
Spratt
Stabenow
Stearns
Stenholm
Stump
Sununu
Talent
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (NC)
Thomas
Thornberry
Thune
Thurman
Tiahrt
Traficant
Turner
Upton
Walsh
Wamp
Watkins
Watts (OK)
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
White
Whitfield
Wicker
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NOES--165
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Allen
Baesler
Baldacci
Barcia
Barrett (WI)
Becerra
Berry
Blagojevich
Blumenauer
Boehlert
Bonior
Bono
Borski
Boucher
Brady (PA)
Brown (CA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Cardin
Carson
Clay
Clayton
Clyburn
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cummings
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dicks
Dingell
Dixon
Doyle
Edwards
Engel
English
Eshoo
Evans
Fattah
Fazio
Filner
Ford
Frank (MA)
Frost
Furse
Gejdenson
Gephardt
Gilman
Green
Gutierrez
Hall (OH)
Hamilton
Hastings (FL)
Hefner
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hooley
Hoyer
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (MA)
Kennedy (RI)
Kennelly
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kleczka
Klink
Kucinich
LaFalce
Lampson
Lantos
Lee
Levin
Lofgren
Lowey
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manton
Markey
Martinez
Mascara
Matsui
McDade
McDermott
McGovern
McHale
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller (CA)
Mink
Moakley
Mollohan
Murtha
Nadler
Neal
Oberstar
[[Page H4491]]
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Pomeroy
Poshard
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rodriguez
Ros-Lehtinen
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Schumer
Scott
Serrano
Skaggs
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith, Adam
Snyder
Stark
Stokes
Strickland
Stupak
Taylor (MS)
Thompson
Tierney
Torres
Towns
Velazquez
Vento
Visclosky
Waters
Watt (NC)
Waxman
Wexler
Weygand
Wise
Woolsey
Wynn
Yates
NOT VOTING--7
Berman
Boyd
Etheridge
Farr
Gonzalez
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
{time} 1202
Mr. HINOJOSA and Mr. SPRATT changed their vote from ``no'' to
``aye.''
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________