The Facts
On Wednesday, the US Department of Labor released a proposed rule that would offer mandatory overtime pay to 3.6M salaried workers who make a minimum of approximately $55K per year.
Currently, the minimum salary threshold is $35.5K, which was set during the Trump administration in 2020.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
The middle class needs to be rebuilt after it deteriorated under Trump, and this rule is a step toward raising wages for workers across numerous sectors nationwide. Millions of the nation’s most vulnerable workers — including women, people of color, and workers without college degrees — stand to benefit in the immediate future, and when the rule is updated for inflation every three years.
Republican narrative
The Biden admin. is so desperate to pander to voters that it’s willing to recycle a failed Obama policy despite courts previously ruling the Department of Labor lacks the authority to implement it. Business leaders warn it will weaken an economy that’s in the doldrums. This jives with Biden’s past attempts at executive overreach and lackluster economic policy. Luckily the courts can protect the American people from this ill-advised idea.
