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September 5, 2000 9:00 AM, EDT

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ichigan lawmakers voted Wednesday to close a loophole in the state’s new minimum wage legislation, eliminating overtime pay for truck drivers and other workers, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.

The new deal, which will go into effect Oct. 1, will raise the state’s minimum wage to $6.95 an hour from $5.15 an hour while keeping 12 types of workers, including truck drivers, ineligible for overtime pay, the Free Press said.

Michigan law usually requires nonmanagement employees who work more than 40 hours a week to receive overtime, the newspaper reported.

Proponents of the legislation say the revision will prevent employers from having to make job or pay cuts in order to cope with additional overtime obligations, according to the Free Press.