This new Labor Department rule would give 1.1 million more people overtime pay

This is what you may have missed while waiting for Paul Manafort's sentencing.

On Thursday, the Labor Department unveiled a big change to the overtime pay system, raising the current threshold of salaried workers who must receive time-and-a-half to $35,308. That's a big jump from the current cutoff, but far lower than what former President Barack Obama's administration wanted, Politico notes.

Right now, workers making less than $23,660 per year must be paid time-and-a-half if they work over 40 hours in a week. The new proposal from the Trump administration would extend that guarantee to an additional 1.1 million Americans, but has yet to take effect, Politico says. It could face legal challenges from labor advocates who say it does too little or from employers who say it goes too far, writes HuffPost. The plan aligns with Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta's promise to overhaul the overtime level last set in 2004 — something he highlighted in a statement on Friday.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The DOL under Obama introduced a loftier measure in 2016, which raised the overtime threshold to $47,476 and set up a system where that number would rise with inflation. A judge in a Texas federal court struck down the change in December 2016.