Multimedia | Overtime

Why overtime is broken (and how to fix it)

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 work they do. The problem we have now is that the people these laws were designed to protect are no longer being protected–there are millions of Americans who regularly work overtime and don’t get paid a cent for it. But this problem has a very straightforward solution: raise the overtime salary threshold and index it to inflation. If we want overtime protection to work like it’s supposed to, the Labor Department has to update the law.


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