Tennessee Injury Lawyer Blog
If you are working over forty hours a week and are not currently eligible for overtime pay or wages, you may be in luck. The Department of Labor and the Obama administration are on the verge of changing an overtime pay rule that would raise the current overtime threshold of $23,660 per year to $50,440 per year. This would extend overtime pay to millions of American employees. If you feel that you have wrongly denied overtime pay, you should speak to a Tennessee overtime pay and employment lawyer with the Higgins Firm. We will fight for you to help you get the compensation that is rightfully yours.
Currently, the law states that any salaried worker who earns below the threshold must receive overtime. The current threshold of $23,660, or $455 per week, lies below the poverty line for a family of four. The new rule would raise that to $50,440 or $970 per week, which would be closer to the median household income. This rule change would mean that more American workers would qualify for overtime pay. The current overtime threshold is not indexed for inflation and only been updated once since 1975. It only covers twelve percent of salaried employees. If the threshold is raised it would bring it back in line with the 1975 threshold, after inflation.
The current rules for overtime pay exclude white collar workers with titles such as “executive, administrative and professional” from receiving overtime pay. This means that an office worker or secretary might be exempt from overtime pay. Many businesses and companies get around paying their employees overtime pay by giving them nominal supervisory responsibilities. Although the Department of Labor had stated the new rule would make changes to this definition allowing more workers to qualify for overtime pay benefits, the proposed regulation did not include this change.
President Obama recently opined in an op-ed article, “Right now, too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve. That’s partly because we’ve failed to update overtime regulations for years.”
Those opposed to this new rule state that it will kill jobs and force employers to cut hours for employees who receive a salary. Many companies such as McDonald’s have computers in place to alert them when an employee has worked forty hours so they can send them home and avoid paying them overtime benefits.
Opponents of this new proposed rule feel that this will happen in many more businesses if the overtime threshold is expanded. If employees’ hours are cut to avoid overtime pay requirements, this could also make them ineligible for other benefits. Aloysius Hogan, a senior fellow at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, said it will have a “job killing effect.” Hogan said businesses will be incentivized to lay off higher-paid executives and replace them with lower-paid workers.
Many hard-working Americans are struggling to make ends meet to support their families and their loved ones and if you are denied your overtime pay benefits, this can make things even more difficult. If you or someone you care about has been denied overtime pay for hours you have worked over forty in a week, then you should contact an experienced overtime pay and employment attorney at the Higgins Firm. We will review your case, answer any questions you may have and work with you to make sure you receive the compensation you deserve for the hard work that you do every single day.
Please contact us today online or by calling 800.705.2121 to discuss your legal options.
