By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – Some local business owners aired their concerns about the U.S. Department of Labor’s new overtime rules with their representatives in Washington on Tuesday.

U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis and Darin LaHood hosted a McLean County Chamber of Commerce forum at the DoubleTree by Hilton Bloomington.

Kyle Myers, sales manager for the Hampton Inn in Normal and representative of the Bloomington-Normal Hotel Lodging Association, said the new rule penalizes those who want to climb the corporate ladder by likely forcing them to work no more than 40 hours per week so their employers won’t have to pay overtime.

“Those people are either not going to be able to do that many hours or they are going to have to pay them more money to work that many hours,”

Davis, R-Taylorville, recalled the story of his father moving up in the restaurant business to own McDonald’s restaurants in Central Illinois. He wondered what would have happened if his father’s job was capped at 40 hours a week.

“What incentive would he have had to achieve his dream,” Davis asked.

Heartland Community College President Rob Widmer said the school is crunching the numbers to figure out how much it might cost.

“I don’t think it will lead to any employee reductions,” Widmer said. “I think it’s more a matter of how we structure positions.”

Twenty-two states have asked a Texas judge to issue an injunction to prevent the labor rule from being implemented before Dec. 1 so lawmakers can come up with other options.

LaHood, R-Peoria, said the Labor Department’s rule goes too far.

“Why don’t we have this as a tiered approach, a graduated approach instead of jumping from $23,000 up to $48,000, let’s do it in a more measured approach,” LaHood said.

Obamacare

The Affordable Care Act was another target for the two GOP lawmakers.

LaHood said fewer choices and higher premiums aren’t what we were promised.

“I think it’s going to collapse under it’s own weight,” LaHood said, “That’s the trajectory it’s on when you look at what’s happening,” LaHood said.

Davis said one way he’s helped limit the impact the Affordable Care Act has had on small businesses is by excluding veterans from counting toward that employer cap, what’s called ‘Hiring for Heroes.’

“The bill is now law,” Davis said. “So to answer your question, what can we do to help those small businesses Congressman LaHood and I have taken that advice and already put in to place law that allow you to grow businesses.”

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].