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

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 8 March 2019

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.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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