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U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown
Paying Ohioans
the Overtime They’ve Earned
Too many Ohioans are still struggling in today’s economy. They work
hard, but still have trouble getting by. For many workers, it feels as
though the harder and longer they work, the less they have to show for
it.
They aren’t imagining things.
Over the past three decades, wages for American workers have stagnated,
while the number of hours workers spend on the job has gone up. The
middle class has shrunk in every state across the country, including
Ohio. A Pew Research Center study shows that the share of adults in
middle-income households has fallen from 61 percent in 1970 to 51
percent in 2013 — and in Ohio, the share of families in the middle
class has dropped below 50 percent.
We need to do more to build on-ramps to the middle class for
hardworking Ohioans, and our country took one important step in that
direction last week.
President Obama announced a new rule that will allow more Ohioans to
qualify for overtime pay, meaning more money in the pockets of Ohio
workers. The White House estimates that 160,000 Ohioans will now be
eligible to earn overtime pay.
When workers put in the extra time, it should be reflected in their
paychecks. It’s past time to give more middle-class workers the
opportunity to earn overtime pay, which is why my colleagues and I sent
a letter to the president earlier this year urging him to make this
important change.
Currently just 11 percent of salaried workers qualify for overtime
pay—down from 65 percent in 1975. This new rule will more than double
the salary threshold for earning overtime pay, from $23,660 annually to
$50,440, and will mean that 40 percent of workers are now eligible for
overtime.
This is an important step that will help families make ends meet, as
well as boost consumer spending and bolster our economy. But there is
still more we need to do to support American workers.
We need to give hourly workers a raise by raising the minimum wage.
Legislation I helped introduce, the Raise the Wage Act, would increase
the minimum wage incrementally to $12 an hour by 2020, giving a raise
to 1.4 million Ohioans. Minimum wage and tipped workers shouldn’t have
to struggle to get by. They deserve to earn a living wage to help put
food on the table and care for their families.
All Ohioans also deserve a day off when they get sick. Two million Ohio
workers currently have no paid sick leave at all, and are faced with
impossible choices: do they stay home to care for a sick child, or do
they go to work so they can put food on the table?
We know that workers are happier and more productive when they’re
healthy. Guaranteeing paid sick leave for everyone would save precious
healthcare resources, give employers safe and stable workplaces, and
give families peace of mind.
That’s why we need to pass the Healthy Families Act, which would end
the agonizing choice faced by too many families, by allowing workers to
earn up to seven days per year in paid sick time.
Overtime pay is critical — but it’s only the first of many steps that
we need to take to support hardworking Ohio families.
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