In his State of the Union next Tuesday, the President should announce hell expand overtime eligibility. Over the last 40 years, the number of workers eligible for overtime pay has dropped dramatically. In 1975, more than 65% of salaried workers earned overtime pay. Today, only 11% do. Now, workers who earn more than $23,660 a year can be made to work overtime hours for no additional pay at all. To restore overtime eligibility to the same percentage of workers as in 1975, the Department of Labor should raise the overtime threshold to $69,000. So if you earn $69,000 or less, the law would require that you be paid time-and-a-half for every hour worked over 40 hours a week. If this were the rule,10.4 million middle-class Americans would get a raise. If corporate America didnt want to pay time and a half, it would have to hire hundreds of thousands of additional workers to pick up the slack -- slashing the unemployment rate and forcing up wages. President Obama can do this by executive action, but needs some prodding. Please call the White House today: Ask President Obama to announce in Tuesday’s State of the Union speech that he is taking executive action to expand overtime to as many workers as possible. Call 202-456-1111.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 23:27:15 +0000
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