The Obama administration could announce as early as Tuesday that it plans to expand overtime eligibility for millions of Americans by 2016.
The 1938 law that established the federal 40-hour workweek exempts professional, administrative, and executive employees from overtime pay requirements. Under the draft rules, a person classified as a manager or professional who earns $970 a week or less and works more than 40 hours would have to earn overtime pay, an administration official told Bloomberg. Retail workers and restaurant employees are the most likely to be affected. "You would be hard pressed to find a rule change or an executive order that would reach more middle class workers than this one," says Jared Bernstein, former economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
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