Dive Brief:
- Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., re-introduced the Restoring Overtime Pay Act this week, aiming to “expand or strengthen overtime protections” for workers, per a May 18 press release. Sanders and Takano’s proposal would increase the overtime threshold from $35,568 today to more than $89,000 over the next four years.
- This proposal comes shortly after President Donald Trump’s rescission of the Biden-era overtime rule, announced by the U.S. Department of Labor earlier this month. The 2024 version of the rule raised the annual threshold from $35,568 to $43,888 in 2024, and would have raised it to $58,656 in 2025 had it not been vacated in November 2024.
- Legislators have introduced a previous versions of the Restoring Overtime Pay Act, most recently in 2023.
Dive Insight:
Only 8% of full-time salaried workers are currently eligible for overtime pay, according to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
“It is beyond unacceptable that President Trump is denying overtime pay to millions of workers who desperately need it to keep up with the outrageously high cost of living,” Sanders said in a May 18 statement on the proposed overtime pay bill.
Likewise, Takano said, “Expanding the overtime threshold for salaried employees is the best way to ensure that families can survive the cost-of-living crisis caused by Donald Trump.”
Other Democrats voiced similar concerns this week.; Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., a co-sponsor of the bill, said “Congress has a responsibility to protect and more fairly pay our workforce,” while, Rep. Alma Adams, D-Ohio, called the current federal overtime law on the books “outdated.”
Several workers’ rights organizations have endorsed versions of the Restoring Overtime Pay Act, according to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, including the AFL-CIO, the National Education Association, the Service Employees International Union and the United Auto Workers.