Get paid for all the work you do
Overtime pay. Many of us have earned it. Far too few of us are actually paid it.
That蘑菇视频 why I鈥檓 encouraging you to write to the U.S. Labor Department in support of a proposal that for the first time in 40 years would expand overtime eligibility to keep pace with inflation. You can make your voice heard by following this link.
Regular working people have demanded fair rules on overtime pay, and we applaud President Obama for taking long overdue action.
Before the new rule can go into effect, the public must have a chance to comment on it. The comment period is open until September 4 of this year.
Right now, if you make more than $23,660 a year, you are not eligible to be paid overtime. A movie ticket in 1975 cost about $2, yet the above mentioned overtime threshold has not changed in the four decades since.
That means workers like Lora McCrary, a manager for a national auto supply chain, gets no overtime pay despite putting in 70 hours a week. The current overtime threshold is actually below the federal poverty level for a family of four. We must do better.
As a salaried employee, Lora is ineligible to earn overtime pay. The long hours, weeks spent on the road and living out of hotels has taken a toll on her emotionally and physically.
鈥淚鈥檓 just so beat down,鈥� McCrary, 50, said from a job site in South Florida. 鈥淚鈥檓 100 pounds heavier than I was when I started the job.鈥�
The new rules proposed by President Obama would allow Lora and about 5 million other workers earning up to $50,440 a year to get paid for the actual time they work.
Lora蘑菇视频 annual pay could jump by as much as $15,000.
The overtime update is one of the best steps President Obama can take on his own to address the long-term problem of employers failing to pay a fair wage, which has been holding working families back for a generation.
When workers like Lora make more money, the entire economy improves. Businesses have more customers and more incentive to hire and invest.
As it stands, workers who earn a salary below $23,660 a year are guaranteed overtime protections. But those who make above that threshold can be denied overtime pay by their employers, depending on the responsibilities they have at work.
The proposed rule would mean more workers are guaranteed the standard 1.5 times rate of pay for any hours worked over 40.
This is a step in the right direction for our nation, but there is still more work to do. It蘑菇视频 important for us to remember the White House acted on this because of public pressure. We must keep that pressure up during the comment period.
All over the country, working people have begun to demand raising wages, and it蘑菇视频 starting to pay off.
Employers have held down wages for far too long. In fact, between 1997 and 2012, the income of those in the bottom 90 percent fell by $2,868, even as our productivity rose 鈥� in part because of all those people working more than 40 hours a week without getting paid for it.
This doesn鈥檛 have to be our reality for the next decade. By raising our voices together, we can start to bridge the gap between the rich and the rest of us.
That蘑菇视频 why it蘑菇视频 so important for regular people to speak out for what we need. Please follow this link to explain why you support updating the overtime threshold.
(Richard Trumka is president of the AFL-CIO, the nation蘑菇视频 largest federation of unions. He comes from a small coal town in southwestern Pennsylvania.)