Lucye Millerand, president of the Union of Rutgers Administrators, hopes the rule will ease the ongoing battle at Rutgers University, where the school frequently refuses to pay overtime despite a contract that demands it. URA members have had to file grievances just to get their already-earned wages, says Millerand; so far, they’ve won a total of $225,000 in back pay. (She is shown above, at right.)
“In the end, it wasn’t about the money,” says URA Secretary Theresa O’Neill, a career management specialist who was owed nearly 200 hours of overtime. “They were saying ‘your work doesn’t matter.'”
Millerand says part of the problem is a disconnect between white-collar work and overtime pay. “Facilities understands that if there’s a big snowstorm and people need to work a 60-hour week, there is a cost to that,” she says. Not so when it comes to office or lab work.
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