More U.S. Workers Eligible for Overtime Pay

Under a new advisory from the Labor Department, 1.3 million U.S. workers are now eligible for overtime pay, NPR reports.

Under current law, most workers making about $23,660 a year are eligible for overtime pay. Starting Jan. 1, 2020, the minimum salary threshold to be considered salaried will rise to $35,568, according to NPR.

A previous initiative under the Obama administration aimed to raise that figure to about $47,000, which would have expanded overtime pay to roughly 3 million Americans.

The minimum salary threshold for salaried workers was last updated in 2004, NPR reports.

“For the first time in over 15 years, America’s workers will have an update to overtime regulations that will put overtime pay into the pockets of more than a million working Americans,” acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella says. “This rule brings a commonsense approach that offers consistency and certainty for employers as well as clarity and prosperity for American workers.”