On Wednesday, May 11, Economic Policy Institute Vice President Ross Eisenbrey testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, in support of the Department of Labor’s effort to restore the overtime salary threshold.

In his testimony, Eisenbrey argued that updating the overtime salary threshold will raise wages and restore work-life balance for many working people. Eisenbrey also explained why the myriad arguments against increasing the overtime threshold “don’t hold water”:

Many businesses are unhappy that the Labor Department is proposing to restore overtime coverage almost to where it stood in the Nixon and Ford administrations. Businesses have become accustomed to working low-level salaried employees long hours for no extra compensation, but the pendulum has swung too far, and it’s time to restore some balance. The arguments they make against the rule are uniformly without merit.

Eisenbrey’s full testimony is online at epi.org. He can be reached for comment by emailing news@epi.org.