Obama to seek expansion of overtime pay

Another battle is brewing between President Obama and big business.

Obama is expected to issue an executive order Thursday designed to force businesses to pay more overtime to workers who have been exempted in the past.

The order to the Labor Department would restrict the ability of businesses to declare certain employees as "executive, administrative, or professional" in order to avoid paying them for overtime hours.

The changes are likely to trigger criticism from businesses interests, which have criticized Obama on items ranging from a minimum wage hike to new Wall Street regulations.

From The New York Times:

"Mr. Obama's action is certain to anger the business lobby in Washington, which has long fought for maximum flexibility for companies in paying overtime. ...

"The proposed new regulations would increase the number of people who qualify for overtime and continue Mr. Obama's fight against what he says is a crisis of economic inequality in the country. Changes to the regulations will be subject to public comment before final approval by the Labor Department, and it is possible that strong opposition could cause Mr. Obama to scale back his proposal."