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Other Voices

The Toledo Blade — Oct. 5

A new U.S. Department of Labor rule reasonably raises the bar for the salary level of workers who must earn overtime pay, but it should provide for future adjustments for inflation.

The rule, which will take effect Jan. 1, requires employers to pay overtime to salaried workers making less than $35,568 a year, up from $23,660 set in 2004. That change will mean an additional 1.3 million workers are eligible for 1.5 times the pay for each hour worked beyond 40 hours a week. In Ohio, 150,000 more workers are eligible. The action by the Trump Administration has been criticized because the pay level is considerably lower than a $49,920 figure set during the Obama administration. That figure would have covered about 4 million more workers than the 2004 threshold.

However, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups sued, calling the new threshold onerous. A federal judge struck down the rule in 2017, saying that the salary level was so high that it could include management workers who are supposed to be exempt from overtime. Instead of fighting the court ruling, President Trump’s Labor Department devised its own rule. It is just the second update to the salary threshold since 1975.

The chamber calls the Trump rule “a really good compromise.” That seems to be supported by adjusting the 2004 salary for inflation, which brings it to $32,134, or $3,400 less than the new rule.

Workers affected by the new rule include those in restaurant, retail stores, home health care, and nonprofit sectors.

Critics, however, contend that millions of Americans making lower wages should not be required to work extra hours without additional pay. They cite that in 1975, the overtime threshold covered 60 percent of salaried employees while the current standard covers just 7 percent. The new rule will cover 15 percent, whereas the Obama rule would have covered 33 percent. Those points are well taken, and clearly the new threshold was set to the liking of businesses, not to the common worker. But setting the level is a judgment call and a higher rate could have prompted another court fight from business. This rule seems to be fair. Hopefully another 15 years won’t pass before the salary level is updated again. Instead, the rule should be modified for automatic updates, based on inflation. Or if that’s not legally possible, the Labor Department should establish its own guidelines to review the threshold every two or three years to boost the salary level. Online: https://bit.ly/2ItncUg

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