By Leigh Strope
The Associated Press

NOT VALID HERE

In addition to Kentucky, here are the states that will not automatically conform to the new federal overtime regulations that take effect in August: • Alaska • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Hawaii • Illinois • Maryland • Minnesota • Montana • New Jersey • North Dakota • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin Sources: State officials, state laws, labor lawyers and Fair Labor Standards Act experts.

WASHINGTON - New federal overtime regulations will not take effect automatically in 18 states, including Kentucky, provoking widespread confusion among state officials, employers and workers, and sparking political battles over how to respond.

Those states have their own overtime requirements, some of which mirror the old federal rules being replaced in August. Legislative action is required in some states to make changes, complicating an already complex and politically turbulent issue.

"It's absolute craziness," said Camille Olson, a labor lawyer with the firm Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago.

The Labor Department regulations issued last month will go into place automatically in 32 states and the District of Columbia, according to a Seyfarth Shaw analysis. Elsewhere, it is not so simple.

"The reason that the new federal changes don't automatically go into effect in Kentucky is because we have to change our administrative regulations to reflect any changes in the federal program," said Mark York, spokesman for the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet, which includes the state's Labor Department. "Typically, the length of time it would take to amend our administrative regulations is four to five months."

York said proposed regulations must be drafted, offered for public review and presented for final approval by a standing committee of the Kentucky General Assembly. If the regulation isn't completed by the time the federal rules take effect Aug. 23, he said an emergency regulation can be approved to ensure that employers have only one set of rules to worry about.

The federal rule is a minimum standard. States can have their own requirements, but they cannot be less generous with overtime eligibility.

The rule rewrites definitions of white-collar workers exempt from overtime pay under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.

Labor Department officials say the changes were needed for clarification and to reduce the number of workers' lawsuits against employers. The rule will exempt about 100,000 workers now eligible for overtime pay, officials said. Democrats and labor unions say the number will be much higher.

Department officials said they are working with states, employers and workers to answer questions and ease the confusion.

Staff writer James McNair contributed.