Senator predicts disputed overtime rule will go into effect

With only 8 percent of salaried workers currently covered by overtime rules, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., says it’s time for the federal government to intervene.

After becoming the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in January, Murray is among the leading backers of a White House plan to expand overtime pay for nearly 5 million Americans.

Under federal law, hourly employees are guaranteed overtime pay for working more than 40 hours per week, receiving at least 11/2 times their regular rate of pay. But the rules limit overtime pay for salaried workers to those who earn less than $23,660 per year. Under the White House plan announced earlier this month by President Barack Obama, that threshold would more than double, to $50,440.

Murray said she’s confident that the new rule will take effect after the Department of Labor seeks comment on the proposal. She said the only way it can be blocked is if Congress intervenes. Even then, she said, Obama could use his veto power to prevail.

Making her case on the Senate floor Tuesday, Murray cited Paul Ebien-Pesa, 46, a Massachusetts man who told the Boston Globe that he worked at least 70 hours a week managing a discount store for his $850 salary.

“On one particular stretch, he worked for 40 days in a row, without a single day off,” Murray said. “But his employer didn’t pay him one dime extra for the work he did beyond 40 hours a week. There are so many workers just like Paul in states across the country.”

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade association, called the plan an attempt to “build the middle class by government mandate.”

Jamie Richardson, White Castle’s vice president of government and shareholder relations, told a House subcommittee, “Rather than providing more opportunities for individuals to earn overtime pay, it appears that the new regulations will only result in a more complicated law, requiring outside legal advice for small businesses, and more litigation.”