Robert Reich, Former Secretary of Labor, in partnership with Democracy for America, sent the call to action which I have included below the fold.
I hate to admitt it, but I have never considered the many ramifications that the issue of overtime pay for salaried employees raises. I should have. We all should have. It is one of the main factors that has eroded the middle class.
When I worked with KFC, I was required to work seven shifts a week. In order to take a day off, I had to work a double. The number of hours I worked was never less than 70 a week. I made 11,500$ per year, with no overtime pay. The more hours I worked, the less money per hour I earned.
The work week at McDonalds, while I worked in management there, was always over 80 hours. I made the awesome salary of 13,000$, and received nothing for my overtime work.
Managing a Convenience Store paid me 8$ per hour for 40 hours per week. I normally worked 60 hours, without receiving a penny more. If one of my clerks called in sick, I covered the shift, and earned nothing for it. They always dangled a carrot called a bonus at us, but in reality only 10% of the stores ever paid a bonus. The standards a store had to meet were almost impossible to achieve.
The last position I held, before I became disabled, demanded long hours. I normally worked at least 70 hours a week, and for the first year, I never took a day off. I was classified as exempt salaried, and received nothing for the extra work. During an exceptionally busy month, my supervisor promised that I could take a week of comp time if I worked all the hours he needed me to. Then there was a reorganization within the company. My new supervisior refused to allow me to take the time off that I had been promised. I complained to the Labor Board. I discoveed that any salaried employee who participates in making decisions, is always classified as exempt salaried. Though the Labor Board ruled that I was exempt, the investigator decided that my husband (we both worked in the IT Department of the same major Fortune 500 Company) was not exempt, because he never participated in decisions. He earned three times what I did (at least), and the company was forced to pay his overtime for the past year, and for all overtime going forward. That was a heafty chunk of change. The supervisior who made me angry enough to complain, was never given a manigerial position in that company again. My husband was rarely required to work any overtime after the ruling. It worked out well, because he didn't want to work overtime.
Because of the way I was exploited during my entire working life, this issue is important to me. I hope to see workers paid a fair wage and overtime before I exit this life.
President Obama is giving his State of the Union address next week -- on Tuesday, January 20.
He should use that opportunity to take a bold step to help the middle class. The president should announce in his speech that he will go big on expanding overtime eligibility, giving as many as 10 million workers the chance to earn more money for the work they do each day.
So far, over 70,000 DFA members have signed the petition to President Obama asking him to raise wages and create jobs by directing the Department of Labor to expand the number of workers who can receive overtime pay.
Sources indicate that the president is seriously considering expanding overtime -- but that there is also disagreement within the White House as to how many workers to include.
That's where you come in. We need to step up pressure on the White House and encourage them to go big on overtime expansion -- and announce it at the State of the Union speech next Tuesday. That's why I'm teaming up with Democracy for America and my friend Nick Hanauer to encourage the president to stand strong on overtime rules.
Please call the White House today: Ask President Obama to announce in Tuesday's State of the Union speech that he is taking executive action to expand overtime to as many workers as possible.
Here's why this is so important. Over the last 40 years, the number of workers eligible for overtime pay has dropped dramatically. In 1975, more than 65 percent of salaried workers earned overtime pay. Today, only 11 percent do. Workers who earn more than $23,660 a year can be made to work overtime hours for no additional pay at all.
To restore overtime eligibility to the same percentage of workers as in 1975, the Department of Labor would simply have to raise the overtime threshold to $69,000. In other words, if you earn $69,000 or less, the law would require that you be paid time-and-a-half for every hour worked over 40 hours a week.
That would mean as many as 10.4 million middle-class Americans would get more money in their pockets, or more time to spend with friends and family. If corporate America doesn't want to pay time and a half, they would have to hire hundreds of thousands of additional workers to pick up the slack -- slashing the unemployment rate and forcing up wages.
President Obama has shown he is willing to use executive action to go around the Republican Congress to help working Americans. He needs your encouragement to act on overtime -- and to go as big as possible.
With President Obama's State of the Union speech right around the corner, we need you to call the White House and let them know that you support expanding overtime to as many workers as possible.
Thank you for calling the president. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of millions of people.