A new bill has been proposed by high-tech companies that would revise labor laws to limit overtime benefits for employees. The bill, S. 1747: Computer Professionals Update Act, would expand the list of tech positions that are ineligible for overtime to include securing, configuring, debugging and integrating computer systems.

Two of the companies involved in the campaign, IBM and Intel, say that they could prevent jobs from going overseas where labor laws are not as strictly enforced. Employees disagree with the law, which they believe would allow companies to exploit workers, getting them to work longer hours without proper compensation.

The law has been proposed following an increase in lawsuits that have been brought against large companies in the past 10 years. Employees have brought suits against the tech giants for overtime back pay and missed breaks.

Oracle, a California-based company, paid $35 million for denying overtime pay, while IBM paid $65 million in 2006 to 10,000 workers, and Bank of America paid $4.1 million to workers who said they were misclassified as managers to avoid extra pay. Companies can use payroll services and employee tracking to accurately calculate wages for positions that work flexible hours and avoid lawsuits.

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