Economy
4.2 Million More American Workers Are Now Guaranteed Overtime Pay
The Department of Labor just finalized a new rule extending income-based overtime protections for the first time since 2004.
On May 18th, the U.S. Department of Labor finalized a rule to extend overtime protections to 4.2 million salaried workers not covered under the current policy.
The new rule will come into effect on December 1, 2016, and will double the qualifying salary threshold for overtime protections from $23,660 to $47,476. The policy also requires that this level be automatically updated every three years in an effort to rectify the stagnation that has characterized the past 40 years of compensation rates. While workers’ productivity has risen 72 percent since 1975, hourly pay for a typical worker rose just 9 percent.