Fair overtime pay is needed in Washington

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By Gov. Jay Inslee

By almost any metric, Americans are working harder and longer than ever before. But even though a worker’s productivity is much higher than someone in a similar position in the 1970s, he or she is likely earning less than that worker did 50 years ago.

Millions of workers today work more than 40 hours every week but don’t earn a penny of overtime. That’s why the Obama Administration’s Department of Labor enacted a rule in 2016 increasing what is known as the “overtime threshold” guaranteeing overtime protections for workers who earned less than $47,476.

Unfortunately, that rule has since been blocked, and federal rules today only protect those who earn less than $23,660. Obama’s rule would effectively give over 4 million Americans a raise, amounting to roughly a billion dollars more in earnings a year, and create or strengthen jobs for nearly 9 million more.

Clearly, it is time to bring modernity to these rules.

The Trump administration has shown no sign that it will pursue anything nearly as protective for workers. So yet again, it is up to the states to step up where the federal government has failed.

That is why I’ve directed my state Department of Labor and Industries to update Washington’s decades-old rule. They initiated a rule-making process in March and are gathering public comment on their draft proposal now.

Read more here: https://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/article220997855.html?fbclid=IwAR1jWe31h0AuVgsQnur8NE7Z6WVe6Ci6WkmiRFGa1jNY5mbT8PHv2nTbFqs#storylink=cpy

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1. In 1975, 62% of employees were salary-eligible for overtime; now it's 7%

From the DOL's summary of its overtime rule that was supposed to raise the salary to $47,476 at the end of 2016. Of course, the GOP blocked it.

https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/overtime-overview.pdf

"The white collar exemption was originally meant for highly-paid workers who had better benefits, job security and opportunities for advancement. Unfortunately, when left unchanged, the salary threshold is eroded by inflation every year. It has only been updated once since the 1970s—in 2004, when it was set too low. As a result, the threshold fails to help employers identify workers who are entitled to overtime pay, and it has left millions without overtime protections to which they should be entitled. This outdated salary threshold provides overtime protections to just 7 percent of full-time salaried workers today based on their pay, compared with 62 percent in 1975."

In California the salary limit is $45,760. Below that, you get overtime.

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2. That's just shy of Trump-level hyperbole

Americans are in no sense "working harder and longer than ever before"

He should look into the history of the 40-hour work week and the weekend.