Department of Labor Issues New Rule to Expand Overtime Protections

Last week the Obama administration finalized new rules expanding the number of salaried workers that must be fairly compensated for overtime hours worked.

Under the new regulation to be issued by the Labor Department on Wednesday, most salaried workers earning up to $47,476 a year must receive time-and-a-half overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours during a week. The previous cutoff for overtime pay, set in 2004, was $23,660...

The Labor Department calculates that 4.2 million workers will become newly eligible for overtime.

The White House estimates this new rule will raise wages in the US by a total of $1.2 billion annually over the next 10 years.

You can learn more about the rule from the White House fact sheet here.

Links:

White House Increases Overtime Eligibility by Millions (The New York Times, May 17, 2016)

FACT SHEET: Growing Middle Class Paychecks and Helping Working Families Get Ahead By Expanding Overtime Pay (Whitehouse.gov, May 17, 2016)