Overdue for Overtime

By John Weber, AFL-CIO

When President Donald Trump abandoned the Department of Labor’s new overtime protections, he cost working people over $1 billion in annual wages. Now we’re standing up for a fair return on our work and fighting for the Restoring Overtime Pay Act, which would extend overtime pay protection to millions of working people.

Overtime protections have eroded for over four decades, steadily covering fewer and fewer workers. This means that millions of working people are putting in more than 40 hours per week without being fairly compensated.

When Trump abandoned new overtime protections last year, he blocked a major attempt to right this wrong. Now we’re fighting back.

Our allies on Capitol Hill have introduced the Restoring Overtime Pay Act, dramatically raising the overtime salary threshold—the annual salary level under which salaried workers are automatically eligible for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours per week.

The bill would more than double the threshold from $23,660 to $47,476, extending critical overtime protection to more than 4 million working people.

As corporations and CEOs continue to enjoy a $1.5 trillion tax giveaway, working families are demanding that we receive the wages we’ve rightfully earned.

Originally posted here.