40 Hour Workweek

Nothing better symbolizes the agony of the state's growing budget crisis than the conflict over the 40-hour workweek.For nearly 50 years, most of the state's workers have put in a 35.5 hour week instead of the traditional 40. It was considered a perk of state employment. Now, faced with dwindling tax revenue and a mandate from the voters to cut costs rather than raise taxes, the question is no longer how to avoid the pain of the economic crunch, but what course will wreak the least havoc.

There won't be a gardener in the whole conference room. Her name is mud with that set. Sixteen candidates begin their televised quest to work for Martha Stewart, as her Apprentice reality show debuts tonight at 8 on NBC. Shorn of her electronic monitoring bracelet, the convicted felon springs into primetime with a spin-off of Donald Trump's Apprentice. "Donald loves to fire people," Stewart told Time. "I find it an extremely unpleasant exercise. I have other people do it for me." Well, she'll have to find the words to let people go. The contenders will be sequentially eliminated as they scrape for the $250,000-a-year job. The Sweet Sixteen, according to the show's Web site, includes a natural foods chef, Los Angeles prosecutor, Internet company owner, TV newscaster and, perhaps, an early favorite - an interior designer named Chuck.

ADELPHI -- Deciding it is better to risk the wrath of employees than that of Gov. William Donald Schaefer, the governing board of the state university system ordered yesterday that more than 5,000 employees work up to 4 1/2 more hours a week for no extra pay.In the largest demonstration before the University of Marylan Board of Regents in years, more than 300 employees, most of them women, took annual leave from jobs on at least five campuses to stage a...

Q. I work as a sales manager for a major corporation. I average 50 to 60 hours a week, but since I am exempt I don't earn overtime. Yet, my pay stub states that I work 40 hours. Can I use this as a legal document to force my employer to abide by a 40-hour week? A. Sorry. That bit of information on your pay stub doesn't constitute a contract to limit your hours. That data is part of the employment records your company must keep. Sadly, if you truly are a manager, your company can ask you to work any number of hours without paying you for overtime.

WASHINGTON -- The 40-hour workweek has been a basic standard of the U.S. workplace for nearly 60 years, but now many in Congress want to change those rules in an age of two-worker and single-parent families.Republican leaders say one of their top priorities this year is to pass laws that give workers and employers more flexibility to schedule the workweek. President Clinton has signaled that he's also interested. But unions are opposed."What's developing is a debate over what we see as a standard workweek and a standard day," said Suzanne Smith, co-director of New Ways to Work, a San Francisco research and resource center.

Average "workweeks" in four pro sports, based on average lengths of games in regular season and shown as a portion of a 40-hour workweek.Each circle represents 40 hours.

ANNAPOLIS -- The state's highest court is expected to rule by the end of the week on a plea by two labor unions to repeal the 40-hour workweek for about 38,000 state workers, which was imposed July 10 by Gov. William Donald Schaefer.The seven-member Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case for an hour yesterday, directing skeptical questions at attorneys for both sides.J. Edward Davis, an attorney for the Maryland Classified EmployeesAssociation, which represents 22,000 of the employees, said that he expects a ruling by Friday.

For Donna Costa-Fletcher, being forced to go to a 40-hour workweek without a corresponding increase in salary means balancing a second job against visiting her 85-year-old grandmother, counseling battered women and, in the last two months, writing five letters a night to U.S. soldiers deployed in Saudi Arabia.For Kathleen Maroney, it means having fewer hours each day to study for the three evening classes she committed herself to earlier this year.For Sherri Allan, it means $3,000 more in child-care costs and transferring two of her three children to a new school that's closer to their baby sitter.

ADELPHI -- She was the only member of the University of Maryland Board of Regents to vote against mandating that 5,262 classified UM employees work a 40-hour week, but Constance Unseld doesn't want to be anybody's hero."

With a victory behind him, Gov. William Donald Schaefer says the state could be forced to lay off several thousand workers if the Court of Appeals does not uphold a ruling by an Anne Arundel County judge.Circuit Court Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. ruled yesterday that the governor has the authority to order state employees to work 40 hours a week.Asked in Annapolis afterward what he would do if the higher court overturns Thieme's ruling, Schaefer replied: "Then we'll immediately look to layoffs."

Janet Gartland loves her job, but not the hours. A logistics coordinator with Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. in Orlando, Fla., she regularly puts in 11- and 12-hour days, which translate into 55- to 60-hour weeks. Working that many hours week after week, "you tend to be more irritable, more frustrated," said Gartland, who has been with Siemens for eight years. "Things that don't normally bother you, bother you. You're on the edge all the time." She's not complaining. Gartland prefers being on edge to being bored, and her "multitasking, fast-paced" job is anything but boring.

WASHINGTON -- The 40-hour workweek has been a basic standard of the U.S. workplace for nearly 60 years, but now many in Congress want to change those rules in an age of two-worker and single-parent families.Republican leaders say one of their top priorities this year is to pass laws that give workers and employers more flexibility to schedule the workweek. President Clinton has signaled that he's also interested. But unions are opposed."What's developing is a debate over what we see as a standard workweek and a standard day," said Suzanne Smith, co-director of New Ways to Work, a San Francisco research and resource center.

Average "workweeks" in four pro sports, based on average lengths of games in regular season and shown as a portion of a 40-hour workweek.Each circle represents 40 hours.

ANNAPOLIS -- The state's highest court is expected to rule by the end of the week on a plea by two labor unions to repeal the 40-hour workweek for about 38,000 state workers, which was imposed July 10 by Gov. William Donald Schaefer.The seven-member Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case for an hour yesterday, directing skeptical questions at attorneys for both sides.J. Edward Davis, an attorney for the Maryland Classified EmployeesAssociation, which represents 22,000 of the employees, said that he expects a ruling by Friday.

Protesting a state-mandated 40-hour workweek, at least 200 University of Maryland College Park classified employees missed work in a "stay away" job action that union leaders say closed some academic departments on the first day of the semester.Yesterday's activity was promoted in a flier mailed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1072, which represents 800 workers at UM's flagship campus.The employees took the day off, using personal leave or vacation days, said Craig Newman, shop steward of Local 1072.

With a victory behind him, Gov. William Donald Schaefer says the state could be forced to lay off several thousand workers if the Court of Appeals does not uphold a ruling by an Anne Arundel County judge.Circuit Court Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr. ruled yesterday that the governor has the authority to order state employees to work 40 hours a week.Asked in Annapolis afterward what he would do if the higher court overturns Thieme's ruling, Schaefer replied: "Then we'll immediately look to layoffs."

ANNAPOLIS -- Nearly 40,000 state employees will start a 40-hour workweek today, the result of yesterday's ruling by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge repudiating the arguments of two unions representing the workers.Within three hours of Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr.'s decision, the unions were in an appeals court asking another judge to prevent the new work schedule from taking effect.Although the Maryland Court of Appeals rejected that request, the state's highest court did agree to hear arguments on Tuesday.

Protesting a state-mandated 40-hour workweek, at least 200 University of Maryland College Park classified employees missed work in a "stay away" job action that union leaders say closed some academic departments on the first day of the semester.Yesterday's activity was promoted in a flier mailed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1072, which represents 800 workers at UM's flagship campus.The employees took the day off, using personal leave or vacation days, said Craig Newman, shop steward of Local 1072.

ANNAPOLIS -- Nearly 40,000 state employees will start a 40-hour workweek today, the result of yesterday's ruling by an Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judge repudiating the arguments of two unions representing the workers.Within three hours of Judge Raymond G. Thieme Jr.'s decision, the unions were in an appeals court asking another judge to prevent the new work schedule from taking effect.Although the Maryland Court of Appeals rejected that request, the state's highest court did agree to hear arguments on Tuesday.

ADELPHI -- She was the only member of the University of Maryland Board of Regents to vote against mandating that 5,262 classified UM employees work a 40-hour week, but Constance Unseld doesn't want to be anybody's hero."