A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Biden administration is proposing a major update to overtime law. If it's finalized, more than 3.5 million more workers would become eligible for time and a half pay when they put in more than 40 hours a week. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE: In announcing the proposed rule change, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su called the 40-hour workweek a cornerstone of workers' rights. But the law requiring overtime pay for anyone who works more than that has always included a carve-out for executive, administrative and professional workers. Critics say that carve-out has been overused in recent years. Sharon Block, who runs the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School, says millions of workers in low-wage industries, such as retail and fast food, are denied overtime, even though they're hardly earning executive-level paychecks.
SHARON BLOCK: People are given a title of manager or assistant manager. They're paid on a salary basis, but the work that they do isn't really executive, administrative or professional.
HORSLEY: Under the new proposed rule, anyone making less than about $55,000 a year would automatically be eligible for overtime, regardless of their title. The Obama administration tried to impose a similar rule, but was blocked by a federal judge. Weeks before leaving office, the Trump administration then wrote its own rule, saying workers can be denied overtime even if they make as little as $36,000. Block, who was a...
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