{"id":1328,"date":"2019-06-10T09:12:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T17:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sdc.wastateleg.org\/keiser\/?p=1328"},"modified":"2020-09-16T17:08:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T00:08:34","slug":"if-salaried-employees-work-overtime-compensate-them-fairly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/keiserarchive\/2019\/06\/10\/if-salaried-employees-work-overtime-compensate-them-fairly\/","title":{"rendered":"If salaried employees work overtime, compensate them fairly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/author\/cap-karen-keiser\/\">Karen Keiser<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/author\/cap-mike-sells\/\">Mike Sells<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Special to The Times<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Questions about why\nwages remained flat during the 10-year economic recovery since the Great\nRecession have been asked over and over without clear answers. Well, here\u2019s one\nreason: Millions of salaried workers are not getting overtime pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the greatest\nvictories of the labor movement was the right to a 40-hour workweek, enshrined\nin the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. That right recognizes that all workers\nneed time for rest and recovery \u2014 but, if they\u2019re going to be required to work\novertime, they should be fairly compensated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today, it\u2019s too easy to\nmake employees exempt from overtime wages simply by calling them \u201cmanagers\u201d and\npaying them a few dollars more than the federal overtime threshold of $23,660 a\nyear to comply with current law. That threshold was set in 2004 and hasn\u2019t been\nraised since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although a few one-time\nadjustments have been made, the exemption thresholds were not tied to\ninflation, and protections for salaried workers have eroded over time. In the\n1970s, 63 percent of salaried workers were covered by overtime laws. Today,\nthat number is less than 7 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With efforts to make\nprogress stalled at the federal level, Washington state is now taking the lead.\nA new rule proposed by the state Department of Labor &amp; Industries would\nincrease the salary threshold and expand overtime protections to cover a\nquarter million more Washingtonians. After another three-month period of\nfeedback, L&amp;I will prepare a final rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Washington\u2019s salaried\nworkers urgently need this proposed rule because the status quo is woefully\ninadequate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During comment on this\nrule, Washingtonians came forward with stories of how the lack of overtime protections\naffects them \u2014 stories of workers being required to work 80-90 hours per week\nduring the holiday season without additional pay; of postdoctoral researchers\nwho qualify for low-income housing even while working late nights and weekends\nin their labs; of construction \u201cmanagers\u201d working 60 hours a week without\novertime pay, while doing tasks previously performed by hourly employees who\nqualified for overtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our current Washington\nstate rule is even weaker than the federal standard and would only protect\nworkers who earn less than $13,000 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, our\nstate\u2019s job-duty descriptions mean thousands of employees are exempt from\novertime protections by being misclassified as management even though they have\nno actual management authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These rules no longer\nserve the purpose for which they were made. More and more workers are working\nmore and more hours, but not getting paid for it. It\u2019s one of the hidden\nreasons why wage rates have been so stubbornly low despite our economic\nrecovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2014, the U.S.\nDepartment of Labor proposed extending overtime protections to workers earning\nup to $47,000 and adjusting for inflation. This would have guaranteed\nprotection to 4.2 million more workers across the country. But President Donald\nTrump killed that rule. A new federal proposal for a lower threshold of $35,000\nhas yet to be adopted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given the uncertainty\nand lack of adequate progress at the federal level, it is important we set\nclear, fair standards for Washingtonians at the state level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/lni.wa.gov\/News\/2019\/pr190605a.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proposed state\nrule<\/a>&nbsp;is the result of extensive data collection and public feedback.\nThe state Department of Labor &amp; Industries has clear statutory authority\nfor this rule-making, and has conducted a thorough and transparent 18-month\nprocess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In response to feedback\nfrom the business community,&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestand.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/OT-Rule-Fact-Sheet-LnI-19Jun05.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the new rule<\/a>&nbsp;provides a lengthy seven-year phase-in\nperiod for all businesses and allows small businesses to start the phase-in at\na lower threshold. Starting next summer, companies with 50 or fewer employees\nwould have to pay an exempt employee at least $35,000 per year. Larger\nemployers would have to pay about $49,000 per year. Those thresholds would\nincrease yearly based on a formula tied to the state\u2019s minimum wage, rising to\n2.5 times minimum wage by 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We know businesses are better\noff when their workers are compensated fairly, which reduces turnover. And\nlocal economies are stronger when more money goes into the pockets of workers\nwho will spend it close to home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Time is precious.\nRecognizing the value of workers\u2019 time is good for workers and their families.\nIt\u2019s also good for employers and our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Karen Keiser<\/em><\/strong><em>&nbsp;chairs the Washington State Senate Labor &amp;\nCommerce Committee. A Democrat, she represents the 33rd Legislative District\nincluding parts of Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Kent and Des Moines.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Mike Sells<\/em><\/strong><em>&nbsp;chairs the House Labor and Workplace Standards\nCommittee. A Democrat, he represents the 38th Legislative District, which\nincludes parts of Everett and Marysville.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By&nbsp;Karen Keiser&nbsp;and&nbsp;Mike Sells Special to The Times Questions about why wages remained flat during the 10-year economic recovery since the Great Recession have been asked over and over without clear answers. Well, here\u2019s one reason: Millions of salaried workers are not getting overtime pay. One of the greatest victories of the labor movement was the right to a 40-hour workweek, enshrined in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. That right recognizes that all workers need time for rest and recovery \u2014 but, if they\u2019re going to be required to work overtime, they should be fairly compensated. Today, it\u2019s too&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-op-eds"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>If salaried employees work overtime, compensate them fairly - Karen Keiser Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/senatedemocrats.wa.gov\/keiserarchive\/2019\/06\/10\/if-salaried-employees-work-overtime-compensate-them-fairly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"If salaried employees work overtime, compensate them fairly - Karen Keiser Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By&nbsp;Karen Keiser&nbsp;and&nbsp;Mike Sells Special to The Times Questions about why wages remained flat during the 10-year economic recovery since the Great Recession have been asked over and over without clear answers. Well, here\u2019s one reason: Millions of salaried workers are not getting overtime pay. One of the greatest victories of the labor movement was the right to a 40-hour workweek, enshrined in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. That right recognizes that all workers need time for rest and recovery \u2014 but, if they\u2019re going to be required to work overtime, they should be fairly compensated. 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