The Labor Department recently forced Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) to disburse back pay for overtime work to about two dozen employees, as a result of a complaint made last August by students hired for the summer to compile HSA's profitable "Let's Go" travel guides.

A group of "Let's Go" assistant editors filed with the Wage Hour Division of a local Labor Department office for a review of their flat-rate salaries, which often represented less than minimum-wage compensation because these students were working more than 40 hours per week.

"Some editors were working upwards of 60 hours per week and making very little," one summer employee of the student-run corporation, who asked not to be identified, said this week.

Former Assistant Editor Margaret E. Usdansky '86 said that about four students were involved in initiating the Labor Department proceedings.

Nonprofessionals Get Overtime

Officials a Labor Department probe concluded that by government definition these assistant editors were employed in a nonprofessional capacity and thus should have been paid by the hour rather than on a first rate basis, said HSA General Manager Hope B. Spruance.

Spruance added that several other students, who had been employed by more than one HSA agency last summer, had accumulated enough work hours to be entitled to overtime pay as well.

She refused to reveal the exact amount that HSA was obligated to pay these workers last month, but said some of the student claims approached $1000.

Under Department of Labor guidelines, salaried professional employees may not devote more than 49 percent of their work time to manual labor and must supervise other workers, he said.

According to Spruance, assistant editors of the popular low-budget travel guides spend most of their time typing and do not oversee any other HSA publishing employees. Thus, they do not qualify as professional employees.

"Let's Go" Managing Editor Robert Brennan said that in the future HSA will hire more assistant editors so that none of them are overworked.

HSA's lawyer Harold Rosenwald '27, who helped found the corporation in 1957, insisted that HSA's failure to pay overtime was "pure oversight, not a willful violation."

He added that the only other incident requiring a government probe involved a misguided student who wrongly believed he was entitled to unemployment compensation after he graduated.

Spruance said she regrets that the "Let's Go" assistant editors did not inform her that HSA was violating a Labor Department code until after they had filed the complaint.

"They obviously knew they could take the issue to the labor office," she said, adding that HSA would have corrected the problem on its own and paid the students on the appropriate wage-scale.

"They should have come to us first instead of complaining to the labor authorities," Rosenwald said.

From now on, Spruance said, all HSA managers must keep time cards for all their employees so that the corporation will not be forced to pay the time-and-a-half wages for overtime work.

She added that this new use of time-cards runs counter to the traditional HSA experience.

"Historically, HAS has not been a job but a training ground for management," she said adding that students are afforded "a real sense autonomy," over this projects are agencies.

Barak S. Goodman '85 has special tow summers in Europe traveling are researching for "Let's Go." Though he admits he "never took the job the money, he said he has not5 been 100 percent satisfied with HAS employee compensation.

He added that for his first assignment he received a base salaries for expenses plus bonuses and more for proofreading, but that the total still amounted to about $100 short of what he expected.

"And they always pay late. I did not get my last two checks until this middle of the next school year said.

"It's a great job," Goodman added. "It's just that HSA is run by students and it shows."

Sales of the "Let's Go" series and the publication, the Unofficial to Life at Harvard-plus sales a advertising in each publication--account for a of the total HSA budget of million, but reflect the efforts of about 60 of the corporation employees, Spruance said.

Bouncing Rock

HSA finished in the red last years Spruance said, but the year all agencies seem to be pulling weight and may attempt to expand the near future.

The corporation recently right to claim non-profit exempting HSA and its employ from paying close to $60,000 in security taxes, she added.

Since January, 1984 organizations formally affiliated hospitals and educational institute have been granted social security exemptions by the federal government Spruance said. She added because HSA is incorporated it state of Massachusetts, it had argue that it supports Harvard providing jobs for so many studen