Opinion: New Overtime Pay Rule (American Legion)

Originally appeared in American Legion Magazine

October 2015

Accounting for inflation, most U.S. workers haven't had a meaningful pay raise in decades. Millions lost jobs during the most recent recession, and many who were lucky enough to find replacement jobs are being paid much less than before. U.S. overtime rules have not kept pace, foricing more Americans to work longer hours for the same pay.

Today, if you make more than $23,660 per year, you are not guaranteed overtime for any extra hours to work. Just 8 percent of full-time salaried workers currently receive overtime pay. For many salaried workers expected to work 50 or more hours a week, not receiving overtime pay means they are paid less than minimum wage.

The arguments against fair pay are well-worn. On the eve of the passing of the historic Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt cautioned the American people, "Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day (tell you) that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disasterous effect on all American industry." Today, that calamity howling is coming from representatives who are politically bought and paid for. And the pay disparity between the rich and poor is even wider.

Unpaid overtime costs the government millions in additional assistance every year, effectively giving the largest corporations a federal bailout for underpaying their workers. President Obama's proposal would raise the salary for guaranteed overtime to $50,440 a year, extending ovetime pay guarantees to nearly 5 million more workers. This puts money in the hands of people who will spend it to feed their families, pay for goods and services, send kids to college and generate the activity that drives a healthy U.S. economy.