This week in the war on workers: How many more Americans could get overtime pay?

by Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor

Daily Kos Staff

Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 Saturday, Dec. 27, 2014 at 10:55:05am PST

Infographic on proposals to raise the overtime eligibility threshold, from raising it to $42,000 salary, which would cover 3.5 million more workers for a 35% share of all salaried workers, to $69,000, which would cover 10.4 million more workers, 65% of all salaried workers, the same percentage as in 1975.

President Obama has told the Department of Labor to look at raising the overtime eligibility level for salaried workers. Currently, salaried workers making more than $455 per week are excluded from overtime protection, a ridiculously low level that's eroded dramatically over time. In 1975, 65 percent of salaried workers were required to get overtime under federal law; today, it's just 11 percent. Clearly, the threshold needs to be updated, but by how much? The infographic above shows some of the key proposals, and Ross Eisenbrey writes:

The lowest proposal, for a threshold of $807 per week or $42,000 a year, is rumored to be under consideration at the Department of Labor (DOL). Jared Bernstein and I recommended a simple inflation adjustment of the 1975 threshold: $984 per week or $51,168 a year. In a paper for EPI, Heidi Shierholz suggested that $1,122 per week, or $58,344 a year, was appropriate because it would guarantee that the same share of salaried workers receive overtime protection as were protected in 1975—after adjusting for the different educational composition of the workforce today. The highest figure, proposed by Nick Hanauer, is $1,327 per week, or $69,004 a year. It represents the salary level that would cover the same share of salaried workers as in 1975, but without adjustments for changed demographics.

Join Daily Kos in asking President Obama to provide the same fair overtime protections for today’s middle class that were once enjoyed by our parents.

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