Brown and company pen letter to allow overtime pay protections for Americans

WASHINGTON D.C. — In 2016, lawmakers unveiled legislation that updated an overtime pay rule.

The new rule would have allowed workers earning $47,476 annually to be eligible for overtime pay. The salary threshold would then be automatically revised every three years to ensure workers receive the pay they earned.

In 2017, a Texas federal district court invalidated the rule and instead $35,568 was implemented as the salary level, with no automatic increases.

“Right now, workers earning more than $35,000 per year are not eligible to earn any overtime pay at all,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Cleveland) said during a conference call on Wednesday. “That means people making $38,000 or $40,000 a year — people like middle managers at banks, restaurants and grocery stores can be forced to work 50 hours, 60 hours and even 70 hours a week and then not get a cent in overtime.”

Brown and other members of Congress penned a letter to the Department of Labor to revise the overtime rule.

“We’re updating the overtime rule to give more than 100,000 Ohioans the opportunity to earn overtime pay. It’s simple. If you work extra hours, you should get extra pay,” said Brown.

Brown recalled four and a half years ago when he traveled to Columbus with then-Vice President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Tom Perez to an

nounced the new pay threshold, with Brown calling it one of his most exciting moments of his career.

“It meant tens and tens of thousands of Ohioans would get paid for work they were doing if they were not compensated for, meaning the overtime pay they had earned, the companies would now be required to pay,” said Brown. “The Obama rule would have meant more than 130,000 Ohioans were getting a raise. Unfortunately, those workers never got that raise. Politicians around the country sued to stop it.”

Brown was joined by Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) in sending the letter to Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.

“As our economy recovers, it is imperative that we prioritize policies that boost pay and encourage hiring,” the letter states. “Extending overtime protections by raising the overtime salary threshold will boost wages for millions of lower- and middle-income salaried employees. It will also help prevent these employees from working excessive hours and instead incentivize employers to hire additional employees or shift hours to the underemployed, part-time workers who need them.”

“If middle and lower income people do well, you’re going to see the economy grow and the kind of long-term economic growth that I want, where most Americans want, is economic growth that’s shared by the overwhelming majority of people, not just tax cuts for rich people or trade policy that encourages jobs to move overseas,” said Brown.

Brown said he was hopeful that the legislation will pass, calling it the “fair thing to do.”

“For workers who already put in long hours, it will mean more money in their pockets to put food on the table, to pay down student loan debt and to save for the future,” said Brown. “For others, it will mean more nights at home that they aren’t forced to work extra hours without pay so they can spend that time sitting around the dinner table with family. It comes down to dignity at work. If you put in the hours, hard work should pay off. That’s what the updated overtime rule would do.”

In other news, Brown shared his thoughts on the Ohio Senate race, where both parties will be vying for the seat that’s soon to be vacant after Sen. Rob Portman’s term is up.

“It’s clearly wide open,” said Brown. “

He said he knows of three Democrats that hold various positions in Ohio that are looking at the seat as well as various Republicans.

Brown said he hoped that the candidates will focus on the issues and not turn the race into a popularity contest.