FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 17, 2003

Contact: Ceela McElveny, 800-444-2778, Ext. 1239

The American Society of Radiologic Technologists has asked the federal government to evaluate the impact that a proposed change to overtime laws will have on health care workers.

As part of a plan to revise the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the U.S. Department of Labor has proposed expanding the classification of “professional” workers who are exempt from receiving overtime pay. Under the Labor Department proposal, workers who gain “knowledge and skill through a combination of job experience, military training, attending a technical school or attending a community college” would be considered “learned professionals” who do not qualify for overtime. Analysts say the change could affect as many as 8 million American workers, possibly including radiologic technologists.

“The proposed changes moved through quickly, and there is still uncertainty over who will ultimately be affected by them,” said ASRT Chief Executive Officer Lynn May. “However, it appears that radiologic technologists might fall under the ‘learned professionals’ classification, making them exempt from overtime. As a result, the ASRT has taken a number of actions in an attempt to ensure that compensation remains fair for radiologic technologists.”

The ASRT wrote to Congressional leaders expressing support for any effort to block the Department of Labor proposal. It also wrote to Labor Department Secretary Elaine Chao, asking for a further evaluation of the impact that the proposed FLSA change will have on the health care work force and the delivery of patient care.

“The ASRT is concerned that the possible loss of overtime pay could hinder efforts to recruit and retain employees, thus exacerbating the personnel shortage and endangering the quality of patient care,” ASRT President Eileen Maloney, M.Ed., R.T.(R)(M), FASRT, wrote in the letter. “For these reasons, the ASRT requests that the Department of Labor evaluate the impact that the proposed FLSA changes will have on the entire allied health care work force, particularly on radiologic technologists. Their ability to deliver patient care in a timely, efficient manner should not be compromised.”

Ms. Maloney said that the ASRT welcomes the classification of radiologic technologists as professional-level employees. “We believe their education, credentialing and skills warrant professional status,” she said in the letter to the Labor Secretary. “But we also believe that radiologic technologists should be fairly compensated.”

The ASRT also sent a letter to the American Hospital Association expressing its concern about the impact on “morale, job satisfaction, recruitment and retention” if employers stop paying overtime to radiologic technologists. In the letter, ASRT asked the AHA to issue a statement to its members regarding compensation for radiologic technologists.

“We ask that the AHA recommend that hospitals maintain fair compensation levels for R.T.s by continuing to pay them an hourly wage plus overtime — as the majority of hospitals currently do for registered nurses — or by adjusting annual salary levels so that R.T.s do not incur any loss in overall income,” Ms. Maloney wrote. Registered nurses have been considered professional-level employees since the 1940s and are exempt from overtime regulations. However, the majority of hospitals continue to pay overtime to nurses because of market conditions and competition for workers.

Unless Congress is successful in blocking the Labor Department proposal, the changes in overtime rules could take effect as early as the end of this year.

“It is likely that market forces won’t allow employers to drop overtime pay for radiologic technologists,” said Mr. May. “Most hospitals are working hard to recruit and retain R.T.s, and part of that includes paying them fairly. To keep morale high, we hope that most employers will voluntarily continue to pay overtime, even if the government says they don’t have to.”

More information is available on the ASRT Web site, www.asrt.org, and will be published in the August and September issues of ASRT Scanner.