For over 30 years, most American workers have endured stagnant wages, despite working more productively. At the same time, corporate profits and CEO salaries have shot to new heights. Many Americans have come to doubt that the government cares enough or has the capacity to make meaningful changes to benefit them. But the new rules governing overtime pay that the Department of Labor (DOL) has proposed—which the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has been deeply involved in advocating, shaping, publicizing, and defending—will help millions of hardworking middle-class Americans get a fairer share. And because they can be implemented without any action by the divided and mostly hostile Congress, the new rules will help restore the public’s faith in the ability of the federal government to make a positive difference in their lives.
Most Americans don’t even know that the law entitles many salaried workers to overtime pay. Yet in 1975, more than 60 percent of salaried workers were automatically entitled to overtime pay on the basis of their salary level alone, and even more had overtime rights based on their job duties. Today, due to bureaucratic negligence or hostility, only 8 percent are covered by the salary threshold (the level below which all workers are guaranteed overtime pay), and the job duties tests exempt millions more than in the past. Lifting the salary threshold will significantly raise the share of salaried workers covered.
The Department of Labor’s proposed rule will raise the salary threshold under which all workers are eligible for overtime pay from the current $23,660 to $50,440 by 2016. EPI has been advocating this change for more than a decade. This higher threshold will ensure that hard work is rewarded for an estimated 13–15 million more workers, including about 3 million mothers and 3 million fathers—meaning the change will also benefit about 12 million children. It will boost stagnant wages, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and give more family time to millions of working parents. It will also provide legal clarity and make it possible for workers to know and enforce their rights.
EPI began focusing on overtime regulations in 2003, when Jared Bernstein (then an EPI economist) and EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey were the leading critics of the Bush Labor Department’s efforts to weaken overtime protections. EPI helped win several votes in Congress and forced some improvements in the proposed rule, but the Bush administration ultimately issued final regulations in 2004 that eliminated overtime rights for 6 million workers.
In 2013, EPI challenged the DOL to revise and update the overtime rules. Also in 2013, Bernstein (now at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) and Eisenbrey co-wrote a report that drew attention to the obsolete threshold, now less than a poverty-level income for a family of four. The New York Times credits this report with helping to generate momentum for raising the overtime threshold.
In January 2014, the New York Times published Eisenbrey’s op-ed pointing out that President Obama could restore coverage to millions of workers with a simple regulatory change that didn’t require Congress’s consent. Two months later, President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to propose just such a rule change. Since then, EPI has published numerous briefing papers and shorter reports detailing the economic and demographic effects of raising the threshold to various levels.
Research and Reports on Overtime
EPI researchers produced dozens of reports and articles to make the case that the overtime rules were woefully out of date. Here is a partial list of EPI’s overtime research, which is relied upon by officials at the Department of Labor as well as by journalists and Hill staff and by allied organizations:
Congressional Testimony
When the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing in July on DOL’s proposed rule, EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey was the Democrats’ sole witness. His written testimony can be found here, and a video of his oral testimony can be found here.
Driving Comments to the DOL
Once the Department issued its proposed rule, EPI joined the AFL-CIO and a small group of advocates, including Nick Hanauer, in organizing the submission of comments by the public. We called a meeting at the AFL-CIO that was attended by 30-plus groups, persuaded several large membership organizations like CREDO to get involved, and began educating the broader public about the official 60-day comment period. Altogether, through a dedicated website, EPI itself collected and submitted over 17,000 comments. With partners, the effort generated over 70,000 comments. Among the most significant letters submitted were comments from 57 law professors defending the legality of DOL’s actions, and a letter from leading economists defending the economic benefit of raising and indexing the salary threshold at the 40th percentile full-time salary.
Economists comment letter: EPI enlisted Berkeley professor and former DOL Chief Economist Jesse Rothstein to round up the signers of an earlier petition calling on the Secretary of Labor to set a $50,000 threshold.
Economists letter: Calling on the Department of Labor to Update Overtime Protections (January 2015)
Law professors’ letter/comments: Calling on the Department of Labor to Update Overtime Protections (September 2015). EPI enlisted Camille Hebert of Ohio State University’s Moritz School of Law to be the lead organizer, along with Emily Spieler of Northeastern University Law School. They collected the signatures and comments of 57 law professors in support of updating overtime protections.
EPI worked with CAP to create www.fixovertime.org/epi
EPI delivered the following comments to DOL:
- July 28, 2015
9,622 collected by EPI - August 12, 2015
42,961 collected by EPI and DFA - September 3, 2015
7,531 collected by EPI
10,885 collected by EPI and MoveOn
183 collected by EPI and DFA - September 4, 2015
1,132 collected by EPI and MoveOn
Total collected and delivered by EPI: 17,337
Grand total collected and delivered EPI and direct partners: 72,314
Media and Education
Throughout the rulemaking process—before the president issued his directive to DOL to update the rule, during the period leading up to issuance of the NPRM, and during the comment period and afterward—EPI has engaged in a wide and deep education and media campaign, including briefings for congressional staff and members of Congress, webinars for business organizations and civil rights groups, briefings for unions and other allies, and hundreds of print, radio, and TV interviews. EPI also produced its own videos, issued public statements, and organized press roundtables.
Videos/Multimedia
Media Report
New York Times/Fran Sussner Rodgers
Who Owns Your Overtime?
“In 1975, the last year the threshold was significantly raised, 60 percent of salaried workers fell within the requirement for overtime pay. Today, only 8 percent do, according to statistics compiled by the Economic Policy Institute. Under the new rule, millions of workers will be reclassified. Businesspeople oppose the change, calling it a job killer. Supporters anticipate a positive effect on job creation, income inequality and wage stagnation.”
New York Times/Noam Scheiber
Obama Overtime Rule Scratches the Surface in Helping the Middle Class
“To overcome this disparity, labor advocates and other experts say, there are two main approaches that promise to increase middle-class wages considerably. The first would be to improve the bargaining power of workers, so that they could claim more of the wealth generated by productivity gains, which the affluent are keeping primarily to themselves. ‘I do believe the single biggest factor contributing to middle-class wage stagnation is the erosion of unions and collective bargaining rights,’ said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, who has studied the effect of the decline.”
Associated Press/Christopher S. Rugaber & Josh Lederman
More Overtime On The Way? Obama Proposes Broader Coverage
“A threshold of $984 a week would cover 15 million people, according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute. In 1975, overtime rules covered 65 percent of salaried workers. Today, it’s just 12 percent.”
The Washington Post/Jared Bernstein & Ross Eisenbrey
The misguided and muddled attack on the president’s new overtime rule
“Since President Obama announced a bold update to the rules determining who gets overtime pay, a variety of critiques have surfaced. While some of these critiques raise germane concerns — those of us who favor the policy raised them ourselves — others reflect a poor understanding of overtime rules, unrealistic predictions regarding employer reactions, and muddled logic. Below, we try to provide a more balanced set of expectations as to how the new rule might play out in the job market. The new rule significantly increases the salary threshold below which most workers must be covered by overtime pay, from about $24,000 to about $50,000. Since the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, covered workers must be paid 1.5 times their hourly wage for time worked beyond 40 hours per week. We should also note that the updated threshold simply restores its inflation-adjusted value to its 1975 level.”
The Washington Post/Lydia DePillis
How to make sense of Obama’s big changes to overtime policy
“Monday night, President Obama announced that he wants to double that threshold, to $50,400 per year. The move would expand the number of people eligible for overtime from about 8 percent of the salaried workforce to about 40 percent, according to a recent analysis by the left-leaning, labor-friendly Economic Policy Institute.”
Washington Post/Lydia DePillis
Obama Seeks to Tighten OT Rules
“Over the past few months, progressives feared that he wouldn’t raise the threshold high enough to make a real difference, and they pushed back. In December, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) … reported a ‘rumored’ benchmark of $42,000 a year, and it put together a letter from economists arguing for something no less than $50,000. Polling found that a larger majority of Americans favored allowing more people to earn overtime. Advocacy groups supported a stronger rule, and The New York Times editorialized to the same effect.”
The Washington Post/Lydia DePillis
Inside the battle to overhaul overtime—and what it says about how lobbying has changed
“The group first started by laying a foundation of economic analysis to support the idea of raising the overtime salary threshold. They started with a built-in advantage: The chief economist at the Department of Labor came from the main think tank that has been leading that research, the Economic Policy Institute, and others in high positions also have backgrounds in worker advocacy. Nevertheless, outside pressure became necessary towards the end of last year, as the process of developing the rule dragged on, and advocates worried it wouldn’t end up as strong as they wanted. ‘We heard that they were coming in with a threshold that was much lower,’ says Ross Eisenbrey, a vice president at EPI who has played a key role in the overtime push. ‘And when we raised a ruckus, they rethought it, and came in with a higher number and had to redo their economic analysis.’”
Wall Street Journal/Eric Morath
Overtime Rules Seen Boosting Low-Wage Hiring
“The federation in a report this year found retailers alone would hire 117,500 part-time workers as a result of raising the threshold to $984 a week, a slightly higher level than the administration ultimately proposed. ‘The more important result of the rule will be job creation,’ said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. His organization has strongly advocated for the threshold to be raised for the first time in more than a decade. ‘“Hours will be shifted from currently uncompensated salary workers to newly compensated hourly people.’”
Wall Street Journal/Josh Zumbrun
Inflation’s Steady Tick Poses Headaches in Congress
“The policy was established with the understanding that officials ‘will raise the threshold to accommodate changes in the economy, or inflation, or whatever,’ said Ross Eisenbrey, a vice president at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank that supports boosting the minimum wage and overtime threshold. ‘And they’ve just stopped doing that.’”
USA Today/Melanie Eversley
Obama to propose expanding overtime for millions
“The increased salary ceiling would bring overtime benefits to about 15 million more workers, Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, told Bloomberg Business.”
Wall Street Journal/Melanie Trottman & Eric Morath
Overtime Pay Push Sets White House, Businesses at Odds
“The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimates that between five million and 10 million workers could become newly eligible for overtime pay, depending upon the threshold increase and other rule changes. EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey forecast that the new rule would also create ‘several hundreds of thousands of jobs’ in the year after it is implemented due to employers hiring new workers rather than paying overtime to existing employees.”
Reuters/Eric Walsh
White House to make more workers eligible for overtime
“The increase in the salary limit would make overtime available to 15 million more workers, Bloomberg said, citing an estimate by Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research body partly funded by unions. ‘It would provide a better work-family balance for millions of workers, giving some higher pay for working overtime and others reduced hours without any reduction in pay,’ Eisenbrey told Reuters earlier this month.”
Reuters/Daniel Weissner
U.S. lawmakers set hearing for foes of Obama overtime pay plan
“Ross Eisenbrey, vice president at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute who pitched the changes to the White House in 2013, said updating the rules was necessary to reflect changes in the workforce. ‘It would provide a better work-family balance for millions of workers, giving some higher pay for working overtime and others reduced hours without any reduction in pay,’ he said.”
NPR/Danielle Kurtzleben
Here’s How Inflation Has Eroded American Workers’ Overtime Eligibility
“Indeed, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, as of 2013, only 11 percent of full-time workers were guaranteed overtime. Bumping the threshold up to around $50,000, for example — roughly where it was in 1975, adjusted for inflation — would bring 47 percent of workers under the threshold, making around 6 million more workers eligible, by one estimate.
“And as in the minimum-wage debate, advocates of higher overtime thresholds say lawmakers should simply index the level to inflation — not only would it save lawmakers from periodic fights over how much to change the law, but it would also help lower-paid hourly workers by making sure they’re all paid fairly by keeping wage policies consistent with where prices go. ‘The original notion was that the people who don’t control their own hours, who need the protection of the law, get paid overtime,’ says Ross Eisenbrey, vice president at EPI. ‘Where the law set the threshold in 1975, that’s really supposed to demarcate the people about whom there’s no question — they are not the most powerful people.'”
Bloomberg/Christine Pulfrey & Michael Trimarchi
Labor Department Proposes Higher Overtime Threshold, More Than Doubling Salary Levels
“’Updating the statute’s executive, administrative and professional exemptions is the Labor Secretary’s responsibility or duty, and it was exercised from time to time in 1938, 1940, 1950, 1959 and on and on,’ Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, said June 30 during a teleconference sponsored by four advocacy and economic groups. The regulations were last revised in 2004, when the administration of President George W. Bush raised the minimum qualifying salary level to $455 a week from $155 a week and changed some of the requisite job duties.
‘In historical terms, [the rule] is correcting a loss of labor standards and restoring pretty much the kind of coverage back in the 1970s, but not completely,’ Eisenbrey said, noting that in the 1970s ‘more than 60 percent of salaried workers were protected and guaranteed overtime pay.’
“The Obama administration ‘decided 40 percent of salaried workers is the appropriate threshold’ and to adjust that threshold going forward ‘so that we never go through this enormous erosion of coverage that we have had,’ Eisenbrey said.”
Bloomberg/Mike Dorning
Obama to Expand Overtime Eligibility for Millions of Workers
“The overtime cutoff covered 8 percent of salaried workers last year, compared with 65 percent in 1975, according to an analysis by Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a research group partly funded by labor unions. The definition of a manager is ambiguous enough under current regulations that restaurant or retail workers who spend most of their time doing manual labor or serving customers can be deemed ‘executives’ exempt from overtime, Eisenbrey said.”
Bloomberg
Business Blasts Obama’s Overtime Plan
“An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute showed large increases in the percentage of workers that would be eligible for overtime if the threshold were raised to a level similar to Obama’s proposal. Among retail supervisors, about 56 percent would be covered, up from 8 percent. The group calculated comparable jumps for restaurant managers, insurance clerks and customer-service representatives.”
Bloomberg/Christine Pulfrey
House Hearing Examines Proposal on Overtime Exemptions
“The proposed rule’s intent to automatically update the salary level for inflation, and the questions it posed about changes needed to the duties tests, which under the department’s 2004 rules governs the activities certain workers may engage in to qualify as exempt, figured prominently in the oral and written testimony of Tammy McCutchen, a labor and employment lawyer at Littler Mendelson P.C. who served as administrator at the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division from 2001 to 2004, and Ross Eisenbrey, vice president at the Economic Policy Institute.
“Eisenbrey, in written testimony, said: ‘There is no cogent economic reason not to adjust this salary cap for wage growth or inflation.’
“Employment and policy experts differ on whether to retain, repeal or revise the 2004 changes to the duties tests. ‘The salary threshold must be indexed so it increases without political intervention, and indexing is well within the department’s authority,’ Eisenbrey said. ‘What seems like a big increase in the threshold is simply employers who got used to a loophole for far too long,’ he said.”
Politico/Marianne Levine
Obama raising 5 million workers’ pay? Not so fast.
“The overtime rule will increase wages in three ways, says Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute: Some workers will get time-and-a-half for working nights or weekends, where previously they did not. Others will have their salaries raised above the $50,440 threshold so that their employers don’t have to pay them overtime. And still others — part-time workers — will get full-time work, or close to it, to absorb duties that, if assigned to another worker, would require that worker to be paid the overtime rate. ‘Figuring out what the balance is, is a hard thing to estimate,’ Eisenbrey said.”
Politico/Edward Isaac-Dovere & Marianne Levine
President Obama overtime rule could raise wages for 5 million
“The overtime threshold has been updated only once since 1975 and now covers a mere 8 percent of salaried workers, according to a recent analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Raising the threshold to $50,440 would bring it roughly in line with the 1975 threshold, after inflation. Back then, that covered 62 percent of salaried workers. But because of subsequent changes in the economy’s structure, the Obama administration’s proposed rule would cover a smaller percentage — about 40 percent.”
Politico/Seung Min Kim
Some congressional workers may be cut out of overtime rule
“Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, said that although congressional approval would be needed before the overtime regulation formally applies to Hill staff, the legislative branch is more or less supposed to conform to federal rules imposed on the private sector.”
Politico/Marianne LeVine
Barack Obama poised to hike wages for millions
“The Obama administration’s interest in updating overtime rules can be traced to November 2013, when Bernstein, by then a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, presented a paper on the subject to the Labor Department. The following March President Obama issued a memorandum noting that overtime regulations ‘have not kept up with our modern economy’ and instructing the Labor department to draft revisions. Both Eisenbrey and Bernstein voiced optimism that the administration will have time to review public comments on the proposed rule and issue a final rule before the president leaves office.”
Politico Morning Shift/Brian Mahoney & Marianne Levine
Get Ready For The Overtime Rule
“That will likely rise to somewhere between $45,000 and $52,000. The threshold is not indexed to inflation and has been lifted only once since 1975, when a 65 percent majority of all salaried workers fell beneath it; today, a mere 11 percent of all salaried workers fall beneath it, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.”
Politico Morning Shift
Game on for overtime
“At 10 a.m. the House Education and Workforce committee gavels its hearing, “Examining the Costs and Consequences of the Administration’s Overtime Proposal.” (The GOP majority presumes an absence of benefits.) Witnesses? Team Anti will be Elizabeth Hays, director of human resources at MHY Family Services in Mars, Pa.; Tammy McCutchen of Littler Mendelson in Washington, D.C.; and Eric Williams, CEO of CKE Restaurant Holdings in Carpenteria, Calif. Team Pro will be Ross Eisenbrey, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute who co-authored a paper that helped get the overtime proposal in motion.”
Boston Globe/Katie Johnston
Salaried workers could get overtime pay
“In 1975, about 62 percent of the salaried workforce were eligible for overtime pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that advocates for low-income workers. Today, because of inflation, 8 percent are covered.”
Marketplace/Scott Tong
Working Hard for the Money/Will Overtime Help?
“The change affects nearly five million workers, according to the Labor Department. The affected workers include those in many sectors, such as law, public relations, professional services, retail and manufacturing, says Ross Eisenbrey of the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.”
NPR—On Point with Tom Ashbrook
Redefining American Overtime
Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute and former policy director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Huffington Post/Dave Jamieson
Obama To Unveil Plan To Bring Overtime Pay To 5 Million More Workers
“Since the threshold hasn’t risen alongside American salaries, overtime pay has become something of a foreign concept for most Americans — something that could now change. According to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute, just 11 percent of salaried workers in the U.S. are covered by overtime law under the current rules. That share would be closer to half of salaried workers under the new proposal, by EPI’s estimates.”
Fortune/Claire Groden
Obama to make millions more Americans eligible for overtime pay
“The proposed rule is designed to combat income inequality, in part stemming from wage stagnation even as Americans work longer, more productive hours. With the threshold as low as it is, even some Americans who are below the poverty line are not guaranteed overtime pay for extra hours worked, according to the Economic Policy Institute.”
CBS News
Obama to expand overtime pay for millions of workers
“Although the Labor Department’s estimates suggest the proposal would raise wages for 5 million people, other estimates are far higher. The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, recently estimated that a threshold of $984 a week would cover 15 million people. ‘This is by definition middle-class people. This reverses decades of neglect,’ said EPI President Larry Mishel, adding that the proposal would also likely create jobs for hourly workers.”
The American Prospect/Sam Ross-Brown & Amanda Teuscher
Why the DOL’s New Overtime Rule is Such a Big Deal
“The current salary threshold for overtime is badly out of date, says Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute. The last time the overtime threshold was significantly raised, in 1975, $23,660 covered a full 61 percent of salaried employees.”
Think Progress/Bryce Covert
Nearly 5 Million Workers Will Now Be Eligible For Extra Overtime Pay
“The change will mean an estimated 5 million Americans would be covered by overtime requirements. The Economic Policy Institute has previously estimated that a slightly higher threshold, $51,168, would cover 6.1 million workers, 47 percent of whom would be salaried. That would have brought it in line with the rise in inflation since 1975. A $58,344 threshold would have covered the same share of salaried workers as in 1975, adjusted for inflation.”
The Guardian/Steven Greenhouse
Jeb Bush ‘should be embarrassed’ by his overtime pay claims, economists say
“Ross Eisenbrey, a vice-president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-of-center research group, said: ‘Bush should be embarrassed about how misinformed he was.’ Eisenbrey said the proposed rules do nothing whatsoever to bar employers from paying bonuses. ‘All of that is exactly wrong – and pretty much nonsense,’ he said. Eisenbrey and Bernstein wrote a seminal article that helped persuade the Obama administration to change overtime rules.”
Al Jazeera America
Obama acts to extend overtime pay for millions
“Although the Labor Department’s estimates suggest the proposal would raise wages for 5 million people, other estimates are far higher. The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, recently estimated that a threshold of $984 a week would cover 15 million people. Under the current threshold, only about 8 percent of salaried workers are eligible for time-and-a-half pay when they work overtime. The EPI estimates that doubling the salary level would make up to 40 percent of salaried workers eligible.”
Huffington Post/Emily Peck
This Could Be The Biggest Boost For Work-Life Balance Since …
“Raising the pay threshold would make at least 5 million people newly eligible for time and a half, according to the Obama administration. It would also make overtime pay available to as many as 8.5 million other workers who were likely misclassified as not eligible under the current rules, according to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute. The new rule could push employers to create 117,000 new jobs, the institute estimates. Though its impact wouldn’t be as broad as, say, raising the minimum wage, it would be a very big deal for the middle class, said Ross Eisenbrey, a vice president at the Economic Policy Institute who’s been studying the issue for years (he co-authored that paper with Bernstein). ‘The government can do something to make their [middle-class] lives better. To give them back the time they need to spend with their families. Not to make them sick at work,’ Eisenbrey said.”
Ross Eisenbrey op-ed
Tribune News Service
Millions of Americans unjustly work overtime without pay
Excerpt: “Since 1938, we’ve had laws to protect workers from being forced to work overtime without getting paid for it. It’s a simple principle: Pay people for the all work they do. The problem we face now is that the people who these laws were designed to protect are no longer being protected – millions of Americans are working overtime and not getting paid for it. Hourly workers in most service and blue-collar jobs are guaranteed the right to overtime pay. If they work more than 40 hours in a week, their employers are required by law to pay them time and a half for the additional hours. For salaried workers, the story is more complicated. Whether they are eligible for overtime pay is determined by their salary and the nature of their work. Federal overtime rules are meant to exclude from overtime protections only workers who, because of their high pay and responsibilities, have enough authority and bargaining power within their workplace that they don’t need these protections.”
Appeared in 10+ papers
Ross Eisenbrey piece in The American Prospect
Will the New Federal Overtime Protections Apply to You?
Excerpt: “The overtime rules the Department of Labor announced yesterday are hugely important. They would restore in one action most of the overtime protections that have been lost over the past four decades through neglect and hostile regulatory changes, and prevent them from ever eroding again. Altogether, 15 million salaried workers would gain the right to time-and-a-half overtime pay or have their existing rights strengthened. Since the New Deal, the law has protected workers from being forced to work overtime without getting paid for it. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set 40 hours as the standard workweek and made employers pay 150 percent of the regular pay rate for longer hours. That’s why most Americans enjoy a two-day weekend today.”
U.S. News & World Report/Ross Eisenbrey
More Time, More Money
Excerpt: “On this Fourth of July, we gather with friends and family around barbeques and picnic tables across the country to celebrate the American patriots who built this country. But as many of us enjoy a well-deserved day off, millions of low- and middle-income workers are being required to work on a federal holiday without any sort of overtime compensation. This is the result of outdated overtime rules that cover fewer and fewer salaried workers each year. Most people don’t know that many salaried workers, not just employees paid by the hour, are entitled to overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The rules are complicated if you earn more than $23,660 a year, but below that threshold, it’s simple: You’re entitled to time-and-a-half pay for every hour past 40 in a week.”
Think Progress/Patrick Smith
This Is How Many Workers in Your State Will Soon be Getting Overtime Pay
“The share of workers who receive overtime pay has seen big drops over the years. Currently, only workers making below $23,660 per year are eligible for overtime pay. According to the Economic Policy Institute, that is below the poverty threshold for a family of four. This threshold has not been updated since 1975, meaning 4 decades of inflation have caused the share of workers eligible for overtime to gradually decrease.”
Miami Herald/Cindy Krischer Goodman
Proposed new overtime rules may disrupt work patterns
“Until now, there have been claims — even lawsuits — contending that employers easily avoid paying overtime currently by giving employees manager titles and paying them just above the $23,660 annual threshold, even though those exempt workers are supposed to perform mostly administrative, executive or professional duties. That will change. ‘Now, no matter what your boss calls you — store manager, shift supervisor, assistant to the regional manager — if your salary is below the threshold, you have to be paid for your extra hours,’ Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute explains in policy memos. ‘This is a simple and important protection.'”
Chicago Tribune/Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz & Alejandra Cancino
If you make less than $50,440, proposal could increase overtime pay
“While just 8 percent of salaried workers fall below the current threshold, the new rules would increase the share to 44 percent, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which published an influential report last year recommending raising the salary threshold to $50,440. That level is indexed to inflation based on the 1975 salary threshold for overtime pay, when 62 percent of workers were covered by overtime protections.”
The Nation/Michelle Chen
The New Overtime Rules Are a Big Deal. Here’s Why.
“Although industry groups argue that this will impose undue burdens on employers and could drive down base wages, advocates say that overall, the rule would discourage the exploitation of lower-level managers and would benefit workers. According to Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, ‘Salaried people who are currently working overtime will work fewer hours. Their hours will be shifted to hourly workers, paid less, who need the work. It’s a win win for the workforce.’”
Texas Public Radio—The Source
Labor Department Proposes Expanding White-Collar Overtime Eligibility
Time/Maya Rhodan
Will New Overtime Rule Create—or Cost—Jobs?
“Ross Eisenbrey, the vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, says when the rule was adjusted in 1975 more than 60% of salaried employees were eligible for overtime. According to his most recent calculation, he says, less than 10% of workers are currently eligible. The institute previously found only about 11% of workers were eligible in 2013. ‘Today, about 50% of children are raised in a family where both parents are working,’ Eisenbrey says. ‘Having them work overtime is a particular strain on children and families with children. We need this rule more than ever.’”
MSNBC/Steve Benen
Bush ‘woefully misinformed’ on overtime policy
“The Economic Policy Institute’s Ross Eisenbrey added that Bush ‘should be embarrassed about how misinformed he was.’ Noting that the Republican presidential candidate also said Obama’s policy would also prohibit many bonuses, Eisenbrey added, ‘All of that is exactly wrong – and pretty much nonsense.’”
National Review/Reihan Salam
Obama wants to expand overtime pay, but workers may lose more than they gain.
“So what might this new overtime rule mean? It is difficult to say exactly how many workers will be affected, but the labor-aligned Economic Policy Institute estimates that a revision of the FLSA along these lines would likely impact between 5 and 10 million workers. For an optimistic interpretation of a more stringent overtime rule, I recommend reading EPI’s report on overtime from last spring, by Jared Diamond and Ross Eisenbrey.”
Philly.com/Janice Fine
OT work deserves OT pay
“If the Department of Labor updated its regulations to ensure that everyone who makes $50,000 or less had the right to overtime, more than six million workers would benefit, according to the Economic Policy Institute.”
Dallas Morning News/Michael A. Lindenberger
EPI estimates 4 out of 10 salaried Texans would be covered by new overtime rules
“The new overtime rules that the Department of Labor is polishing up will mean that more than 4 out of every 10 salaried workers in Texas would be eligible for overtime pay for hours worked past 40. That’s the estimate by the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that has long called for changes like the ones rolled out by the Obama Administration earlier this summer.”
Dallas Morning News/Mitchell Schnurman
Who can rest, even on a holiday?
“The average length of working days is growing, too, and the traditional 40-hour workweek is no longer the standard for many. In a Gallup poll last year, half of salaried employees said they worked at least 50 hours a week. And millions of U.S. workers don’t get overtime pay for the extra effort, often because they believe they’re exempt. ‘In an economy like ours, where people feel insecure about employment, they don’t feel they can rest,’ said Ross Eisenbrey, a labor lawyer and vice president of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington.”
Dallas Morning News/Mitchell Schnurman
Salaried squeeze: Long hours, no extra pay
“It’s one reason that Americans’ paychecks are not keeping up with their gains in productivity, said Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. He said employers are gaming the system by classifying cooks as managers and others as team leaders so they can avoid extra pay.”
New Haven Register/Madeline Stocker
U.S. Labor Department may expand overtime pay that could affect over 20,000 Connecticut citizens
“The Obama administration, likely in response to Congress’s refusal to raise the national minimum wage, wants to raise that threshold to between $45,000 and $52,000. According to a report released by the Economic Policy Institute last March, this would extend the overtime benefits to between five and 10 million Americans.”
Media Matters/Craig Harrington
On Fox, Expansion Of Overtime Protections Is “Left-Wing Economic Engineering”
“Raising the threshold to $52,000 would expand overtime protections to at least 6.1 million additional American workers, and bring the policy roughly in line with federal standards last witnessed in 1975, according to the Economic Policy Institute.”
Kansas City Star/Diane Stafford
Wage law changes would make more managers eligible for overtime pay
“The Economic Policy Institute and the National Employment Law Project want the changes as a way to dramatically increase overtime eligibility. The top end of the revisions might make 47 percent of American workers eligible for time-and-a-half pay if they work more than 40 hours a week, regardless of their salaried position or managerial title. Currently, only about 12 percent of salaried workers are overtime eligible.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune/Adam Belz
Obama’s overtime proposal becomes new flashpoint in America’s slow wage comeback
“The Economic Policy Institute, a think tank backed partly by organized labor, argues that the change is long overdue because overtime rules have not kept up with inflation. In 1975, federal overtime protections covered 62 percent of salaried workers, the organization says. Today only 8 percent are covered.”
Buffalo News/Samantha Christmann
OT plan raises doubts on trade-offs
“An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute showed large increases in the percentage of workers that would be eligible for overtime pay if the threshold were raised to a level similar to Obama’s proposal. Among retail supervisors, about 56 percent would be covered, up from 8 percent.”
Policy.Mic/Zeeshan Aleem
Obama Is Taking One of the Boldest Economic Steps of His Presidency
“That threshold used to be much higher. In 1975, 62% of salaried workers were eligible for overtime pay under federal law, but today, about 8 are, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The rule has only been updated once since 1975, and it’s not tied to inflation. The current salary threshold of $23,660 per year is less than the poverty threshold for a family of four.”
Policy.Mic/Zeeshan Aleem
President Obama Is About to Quietly Give Millions of Americans a Raise
“The Economic Policy Institute put together some data in 2014 to capture the possible impact that raising the threshold to different levels would have. At the time, $42,000 was the main number being floated by the Department of Labor, which would increase the share of salaried workers covered from 11% under current policy to 35%. If the threshold is increased to $52,000 — Politico reports that the range being debated is between $45,000 and $52,000 — that would cover nearly half the salaried workers in the workforce.”
Business Insider/Rachel Gillett
Experts weigh in on how Obama’s overtime rule change could benefit millions of workers and employers
“But in the more than 70 years since the policy was became law, the parameters have rarely been updated to account for inflation. Several US influencers are hoping that changes. ‘The problem we have now is that the people these laws were designed to protect are no longer being protected,’ said Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President of Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank, in a recent video about overtime protection. Currently workers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 must be paid at least time-and-a-half for each hour they work beyond 40 hours a week. ‘No matter what your boss calls you — store manager, shift supervisor, assistant to the regional manager — if your salary is below the threshold, you have to be paid for your extra hours,’ Eisenbrey said. ‘This is a simple and important protection.'”
Business Insider/Shana Lebowitz
Obama’s proposal would make millions of workers eligible for overtime pay — here’s who could be affected
“Certain employees are more likely to be affected by the policy change. We consulted Daniel Hamermesh, Ph.D., a professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a report from the Economic Policy Institute, to find out who those employees are. The Economic Policy Institute defines ‘strongly affected occupations’ as supervisory/managerial/professional occupations in which at least half of full-time, salaried workers would be automatically covered if the cutoff for overtime wages were raised.”
Wall St. Cheat Sheet/Megan Elliott
New Overtime Rules Could Mean a Bigger Paycheck for You
“President Obama wants to give you a raise. If the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed changes to how overtime eligibility is determined become a reality, as many as 13.5 million American workers could see an increase in their paychecks, according to estimates from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) — more modest estimates from the Pew Research Center and the DOL itself say about 5 million workers might benefit.”
Deseret News/JJ Feinauer
The president wants to extend overtime benefits to more people. Here’s what that means
“According to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, the workers who will benefit most from the overtime changes are women. ‘For many women–domestic workers as well as office workers–coming under the overtime provisions will mean that they will actually have more time for their families and other pursuits,’ the EPI’s Caroline Fredrickson wrote. ‘But if they are indeed forced to work long hours, at least they will be paid for it.’
“According to the EPI, women are more likely to work in “executive, administrative or professional” positions that are labeled otherwise to avoid pay raises or overtime benefits. ‘The new regulation, which will also make it harder for employers to manipulate employees’ job titles to avoid paying overtime, will have an enormous positive impact on women’s wages,’ Fredrickson wrote.”
Media Matters/Craig Harrington
“Greece On Steroids”: Fox’s Cavuto Attacks New Overtime Rules That Will Help Millions Of Workers
“According to the Economic Policy Institute, the majority of the workers who will directly benefit from the overtime change are women, and nearly 30 percent of affected workers are minorities.”
Progress Illinois
Obama Administration Proposes Changes To Overtime Regulations
“According to the Economic Policy Institute, workers who would benefit the most from an updated overtime threshold include those in lower-paid, white-collar jobs who tend to have fewer benefits, including customer service representatives, social workers, retail worker supervisors, food service managers and others.”
MomsRising/Elyssa Koidin Schmier
Support family economic security & the Department of Labor’s proposal to protect overtime pay!
“The Department of Labor estimates that almost 5 million workers will benefit from increasing the overtime threshold to $50,440, including 2.6 million women. Earlier studies from the Economic Policy Institute estimated that raising the salary threshold to a level just above what the Department of Labor is proposing would boost pay for as many as 3.1 million moms.”
South Bend Tribune (Indiana)/Lincoln Wright
Would Obama’s overtime rule hurt or help business?
“In 1975, about 62 percent of the salaried workforce was eligible for overtime pay, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think-tank that advocates for low-income workers. Today, about 8 percent are covered.”
The Rick Smith Show
EPI Economist Explains the Importance of President Obama’s Overtime Rules and How They Can Benefit You
“Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute joins Rick to talk about President Obama’s recent directive to the Department of Labor to fix the abusive management loophole and give workers back their overtime protection.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch—Editorial
The laborer is worthy of his hire. And his overtime
“A study by the progressive Economic Policy Institute estimates that currently, only about 8 percent of salaried workers qualify for overtime. When the law was written in 1975, it covered about half of salaried workers.”
Center for Effective Government/Michell McIntyre
Working 9 to 5: Upgraded Overtime Rule Could Help Restore 40-Hour Work Week for Millions of Americans
“According to economists at the Economic Policy Institute, almost two-thirds of salaried workers were eligible for overtime in the mid-’70s, but today, only eight percent of salaried workers were guaranteed overtime pay. The Department of Labor hasn’t adjusted the pay threshold for overtime work to account for the rising cost of living since 1975. So inflation has eroded overtime protections for millions of workers. About half these salaried workers are women; many have children.”
The Chronicle-Times (Frankfort, IN)/Scott Cousins
Overtime rule change proposed: Will affect business, government
“A threshold of $984 a week would cover 15 million people, according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute. In 1975, overtime rules covered 65 percent of salaried workers. Today, it’s just 12 percent.”
Roll Call/Rebecca Gale
Congress’ Overtime Rules Are From 1970s
“‘Congress appears to have been in violation of the CAA for the past 11 years because of its failure to apply the higher salary tests for exemption set by the Department of Labor in 2004,’ said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute and a former Hill staffer. ‘Any covered employee earning a salary less than $23,660 a year should have been paid for her overtime.’ Eisenbrey cites congressional compliance with the same rules that govern the private sector as a core pledge in the Republican Contract with America in 1994, as well as subsequent changes to the law. ‘It would be hypocritical — and a violation of the law — for Congress not to follow the new rule if it is made final,’ Eisenbrey said.”
Roll Call/Rebecca Gale
Experts: Congress Under Pressure on Overtime Rules
“The reason is that the Congressional Accountability Act, the legislation that governs Congress’ own workplace, was designed to keep pace with private sector employment laws, says Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute and a former Hill staffer. ‘The general rule in the CAA is that they will follow the rule of the private sector,’ says Eisenbrey. ‘If Department of Labor sets [the overtime threshold] at $50,440, I expect that Congress will follow and do the same.’”
Roll Call/Rebecca Gale
Boehner and Pelosi Agree: Overtime for Their Aides
“The fact that both the speaker and the minority leader have agreed to make the overtime changes bodes well for congressional staff, particularly the 5,617 staffers who make an annual salary under the new $50,440 threshold. ‘I expect every other office will follow the speaker’s lead,’ said Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute and a former Hill staffer. ‘Eventually, I anticipate that Congress will vote to impose DOL’s rules changes on themselves as an enforceable legal obligation.”
Cincinnati Enquirer/Fatima Hussein
Will 5M workers gain OT? Debate rages
“This is by definition middle-class people. This reverses decades of neglect,” said Economic Policy Institute President Larry Mishel, adding that the proposal would also likely create jobs for hourly workers. Under the current threshold, only about 8 percent of salaried workers are eligible for 1½ times their regular pay when they work overtime. The EPI estimates that doubling the salary level would make up to 40 percent of salaried workers eligible.”
CAP Action Fund/Anna Chu & Kristen Ellingboe
How Overtime Rules Would Benefit the Latino Community
“According to the Economic Policy Institute, Latinos make up 11.6 percent of all salaried workers and 15.5 percent of workers who would benefit directly from the new rule.”
OurFuture.org/Isaiah J. Poole
Business Lobby Is Denied Overtime To Kill Overtime Rule
“Also fighting to extend the time businesses could mobilize against the regulation were the Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee, who said that ‘evaluating the implications of these proposed changes will take some time for many small businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other enterprises’ – even though there is no evidence that opponents of the rule have had any difficulty flooding the Labor Department with detailed arguments. Then there are comments like those of Caleb Sneeringer, a former Walgreens employee who recently told her story to the Economic Policy Institute.”
Opportunity Lives/Israel Ortega
How Obama’s Proposed Overtime Rule Change Could Hurt Latinos
“Among those Americans that will likely see those $50,000 a year jobs out of reach will include Latinos. Because as even the liberal leaning Economic Policy Institute points out, forty four percent of Latinos earn less than $50,000 a year.”
Biz Journals/Kent Hoover
Cost of overtime: New rule limits ability for workers to advance like he did, restaurant exec tells Congress
“The House committee also heard from a witness who favors the overtime proposal, Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute. He said the rule is necessary because employers have ‘gotten a free ride for too long’ by being able to fore workers to work long hours without paying for this extra work. The current salary threshold for determining whether someone is automatically eligible for overtime is less than the poverty level for a family of four, he noted. Plus, Eisenbrey contends the new rule would lead to new jobs, because employers will hire people to work the hours of people now working overtime. It could also lead to raises for managers like those at Hardee’s — employers would have an incentive to raise their salaries above the new $50,440 threshold so they wouldn’t be eligible for overtime, he said.”
The Oklahoman/Paul Burkes
Business Q&A with Danielle Ezell
“According to the Economic Policy Institute, Oklahoma is fourth (behind Arkansas, Hawaii and North Carolina) for states with the largest number of workers who would benefit from the change. Nearly one in three Oklahomans could be impacted. EPI estimated that 168,000 salaried workers in Oklahoma would be re-classified to hourly under the proposed changes.”
Las Vegas Review-Journal
30 ways to increase your take-home income
“Many workers are currently not paid overtime but are working more than 40 hours a week. The Economic Policy Institute states that ‘Americans’ paychecks have not kept pace with their productivity in part because millions of lower-middle-class and even middle-class workers are working overtime but not getting paid for it.’ If you are working more than 40 hours a week, see if you are entitled to overtime pay and take advantage of it.”
Lebanon Democrat/Stephanie Carson
Proposal would qualify more Tennesseans for OT pay
“According to the Economic Policy Institute, 30 percent of Tennessee workers would directly benefit from raising the threshold. Overtime pay equals time and a half of an employee’s hourly rate. The Department of Labor is accepting public comment on the issue until Sept. 4, before it makes a final decision. Some employers argue they will be unable to afford the additional pay, and it will make it difficult for small businesses to succeed.”
Las Cruces Sun-News—Editorial
New OT plan more fair to managers
“A study by the progressive Economic Policy Institute estimates that currently, only about 8 percent of salaried workers qualify for overtime. When the law was written in 1975, it covered about half of salaried workers.”
Knoxville News Sentinel/Ed Marcum
Knox businesses wait for shoe to drop on overtime pay
“The new rules are to help salaried workers who are not paid much over the $23,660 a year threshold but whose employers classify them as exempt from overtime pay. An example used in a study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) was a fast-food assistant manager making $24,000 annually, mostly tasked with cooking fries, taking orders and sweeping up, but made to work 60 or 70 hours a week without overtime pay.”
SHRM/Stephen Miller
Overtime Rule Change Bad for Business?
“Ross Eisenbrey, vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal policy think tank, testified in support of the DOL’s proposed rule, arguing that ‘the erosion of overtime rights over the last 40 years is emblematic of the erosion of the living standards of America’s middle class over the same time period.’ Echoing the views of others who contend it is not in the self-interest of employers to pay fair wages unless they face severe penalties for failing to do so, Eisenbrey said that ‘The loss of overtime protection for so many workers is just one of many changes in the rules governing our economy that have helped the elite and powerful at the expense of average working people.’ He added, ‘Workers who are exempt do not have to be paid a dime for the extra hours they work, whether it’s two hours or 20. In fact, they don’t even have to be paid the minimum wage, and some so-called managers have found themselves working so many hours that their effective hourly rate actually falls below the minimum wage.’”
Next City/Malcolm Burnley
New Overtime Rules Could Be Big Boost for Minority Workers
“Last week, the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, released its own study gauging the magnitude of the DOL proposal, which would lower the salary. It estimated that nearly double the amount of workers would benefit, and crucially, identified who they were.”
Public News Service
Proposal Would Qualify More Tennesseans for Overtime Pay
“According to the Economic Policy Institute, 30 percent of Tennessee workers would directly benefit from raising the threshold. Overtime pay equals time and a half of an employee’s hourly rate. The Department of Labor is accepting public comment on the issue until Sept. 4, before it makes a final decision. Some employers argue they will be unable to afford the additional pay and it will make it difficult for small businesses to succeed.”
Urban Milwaukee/Tamarine Cornelius
Stricter Overtime Rules Would Help Workers
“Current overtime pay rules protect most hourly workers, but leave out many low-paid salaried workers. The Economic Policy Institute explains: ‘Salaried workers who earn below $455 per week, or $23,660 per year, are automatically eligible for overtime pay, regardless of the nature of their job or the duties they perform.”
Social Media
In addition to media, EPI used social media platforms to amplify the need for the overtime pay rules to be updated:
230 tweets from @EconomicPolicy about overtime
8,564 link clicks generated
1,817 retweets
11,277,390 total potential reach
46 Facebook posts from /EconomicPolicy about overtime
3,643 shares of our posts
12,162 likes of our posts
780 comments on our posts
19,575 clicks on photos or links
33,998 people interacted with our posts
619,663 total reach
Blog Posts
In addition to conducting extensive research and writing substantive comments and on top of serving as experts to the coalition supporting overtime, EPI researchers wrote dozens of blog posts and articles to either push back at what the opponents of the proposed rule were saying, or to amplify important points that needed attention in the public debate. Here are a few of those blog posts and articles.