"I don't have a clue as to why they're doing this," said Donnetta Miller-Kyle, a nurse at University Medical Center and past president of the Southern Nevada Black Nurses Association.

"As far as our profession goes, that's just a bad idea," Kyle-Miller added.

She said because hospitals need nurses to work overtime, it would not be in the hospitals' best interest to stop paying overtime even if legally they're allowed to under the new overtime regulations.

"The hospitals are hurting already, if it comes down to not paying overtime that's going to put a pretty big damper on the situation as it is already. Nurses frequently volunteer to work overtime, they're not going to volunteer for straight time," Kyle-Miller said.

Kyle-Miller, said her overtime pay is protected because she is represented by the Service Employees International Union.

Leaders of the AFL-CIO have said the changes could hurt overtime pay for as many as 6 million workers, while the U.S. Labor Department has said the changes will help 1.3 million low-salaried workers. Federal labor officials say the regulations will hurt only an estimated 107,000 workers' overtime pay.

Labor Department officials say the changes will help 1.3 million workers by guaranteeing overtime pay for any worker who earns $23,660 or less a year. The previous salary threshold guaranteed only that workers who made up to $8,060 a year were eligible for overtime. Officials say the changes will update the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was passed in 1938.

However, Baldwin Robertson, an attorney for Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, said Labor Department officials are glossing over some of the more detrimental portions of the new rules. Robertson said the new regulations continue to use a three-part test to determine eligibility for overtime pay. They include the salary threshold test, the salary basis test and the job duties test.

"The new regulations represent a boost in the salary threshold test, but the new regulations are a detriment in the duties and basis tests," Robertson said at a news conference to promote Working America's new "Ask a Lawyer" Web site located at www.workingamerica.org. Robertson will be the featured lawyer on the Web site, which will offer people general advice on their chances of losing overtime pay.

There have been several unsuccessful efforts in Congress to block the regulations, and labor groups have rallied against the regulations.

Critics of the new regulations say they will help businesses, and many business leaders agree.

"By taking a look at those regulations, that will save businesses a lot of money in litigation costs," Christina Dugan, director of government affairs at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, said. "Certainly there will be a period of adaptation, but I think in the long run it will prevent litigation for businesses and employees because they'll be on the same page."

However, Jonathan Driggs, an attorney for human resource outsource company Workforce Solutions, said small- and medium-sized businesses may not be helped by the changes as much as labor officials claim they will. He said overtime regulations are tough for any small-business leader to understand.

Salt Lake City-based Workforce Solutions has an office in Las Vegas. The company offers human resource functions for small and medium-sized businesses.

"I don't think a whole lot is changing in these regulations. The greatest advantage of these regulations is they're a good opportunity to review the classifications of your exempt employees. Most small- to medium-sized companies will have some workers who are misclassified," Driggs said.

Alana Roberts covers courts and labor relations for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.