The National Partnership for Women and Families is fighting to ensure that US workers who put in overtime hours on the job get paid for them. The group, in the midst of a nationwide effort called “Women and Overtime Week of Action.”
Partnership President Debra Ness explains the importance of the action:
Right now, only hourly workers and salaried workers making $23,660 per year or less — below the poverty line for a family of four — qualify for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week.
It’s morally wrong and terribly harmful to workers, families and our economy.
Raising the salary threshold to $50,440 per year and establishing a mechanism to automatically update that number going forward (so that it will keep up with inflation and not fall behind again) is not only the right thing to do … it’s also a really big deal.
When the proposed rule takes effect, millions of women and mothers — who are not currently eligible for overtime pay — will receive fair compensation for all of the time they work.
These are women who cannot put food on the table, mothers who cannot buy shoes for their children, and grandmothers who cannot buy gas for their cars even though they work long hours.
And this is especially important because, as both breadwinners and caregivers, women’s wages and time are critical for their families’ economic security and well-being.
It’s a crucial progressive issue. Forget politics, it’s a fairness issue. Get busy: Tell President Obama and Labor Secretary Thomas Perez that you strongly support giving everyone who works overtime the raise they deserve.