WASHINGTON, D.C. – At the urging of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Trump Administration announced today that it will move forward with a Department of Labor rule from the Obama Administration to secure overtime pay for American workers. Brown called Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to personally pressure the Secretary to defend the rule and put more money in the pockets of hard-working Ohioans.  

At the same time the Labor Department announced it will move forward with defending the rule, the Administration also signaled it may only apply the rule to a smaller number of workers. The original rule, announced in May 2016 by Brown and Vice President Biden in Columbus, would ensure overtime for all workers earning less than $47,476 a year – which would benefit 130,000 Ohioans.

Brown says the Administration must enforce the rule for all workers who’ve been promised a long-overdue raise. Brown introduced a resolution this week with U.S. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) urging the President to defend the rule and to maintain the $47,476 salary threshold.

“It’s simple – if you work 50 or 60 hours a week, your paycheck should reflect those extra hours,” said Brown. “President Trump made big promises to Ohio workers on the campaign trail and it’s up to him to deliver. 130,000 Ohio workers were promised a long-overdue raise when this rule was announced and the President needs to keep that promise for all 130,000 Ohio workers.”

When the rule was announced in May 2016, 130,000 Ohioans and 4.2 million Americans were promised a raise beginning January of 2017. But in November 2016 a lawsuit prevented the overtime rule from being implemented. The Obama Administration appealed the ruling, but it was left to the Trump Administration to decide whether or not to continue defending the rule in court. The Department of Labor filed paperwork today to move forward with the appeal. As part of that paperwork, the Administration asked the court not to rule on the specific salary threshold of $47,476 that was set by the 2016 rule – indicating they may lower the threshold and therefore deliver overtime protection for a much smaller number of American workers.

The $47,476 threshold was set after months of public comment and compromise with employers to address their concerns. Some employers, including Kroger and PNC Financial in Ohio, have moved forward with implementing the rule for their employees even though it was tied up in courts.

At a press conference with Brown in January, Kroger said, “Kroger is not only in the food business, we’re also in the people business. In the highly-competitive retail industry, our great people are our biggest competitive advantage. That’s why moving forward with pay increases and overtime eligibility changes for nearly 4,500 associates, despite the court-ordered injunction on the new overtime rules, was important. We knew the right thing to do was to honor our commitment to our associates and to our company values.”

Prior to the rule’s announcement in May 2016, the threshold applied only to people earning less than $23,660 annually and had not been updated to account for inflation.

Brown’s work to update federal overtime policies is part of his broader efforts to restore the value of work so Ohioans’ work will pay off once again. His plan would restore the value of work by:

  1. Raising workers’ wages and benefits
  2. Giving workers more power in the workplace
  3. Making it possible for more workers to save for retirement
  4. Encouraging more companies to invest in their workforces

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