If it feels like you’re working longer hours for less money than your parents or grandparents did, it’s because you probably are. 

A few decades ago, most salaried Americans could count on time-and-a-half pay for every hour over 40 they worked in a week. That’s because we had strong overtime protections, which were first introduced in 1938, that covered more than 6 in 10 workers. It meant that when your parents’ generation put in extra hours in the evening or on the weekends, they got paid extra for it. Alternatively, they just went home at the end of the day and had more time with their family and friends.

But today, that’s all changed. I wrote an article in Time explaining that under current law, barely over 1 in 7 salaried workers are covered by overtime protections, which has left American workers overworked and underpaid.

The erosion of overtime hasn’t just been bad news for America’s middle class, it’s also been terrible for the economy. If, as your employer, I can convert 2,000 40-hour-per-week jobs into 1,600 50-hour-per week jobs, then I get to pocket the wages of 400 workers. At the median annual wage that comes to over $20 million, more than enough to buy myself a brand new private jet – every single year. And while I’m jetting around to exotic locations, you’re struggling to arrange childcare to cover all those extra hours you have to put in at work.

Here’s the good news: Restoring overtime protections doesn’t have to go through Congress. President Biden and his Department of Labor could do it themselves, and that’s what Civic Action is encouraging them to do. 

But we could use your help. Will you send a letter to your representative and senators in Congress telling them to join the fight and encourage the Biden administration to restore overtime protections?

Restoring overtime protections doesn’t actually have to cost businesses a penny. The easiest choice employers have is to simply let their people go home at the end of a full work day. If they do need extra work done, they can compensate their employees for overtime or hire more people to get the job done, which is good for our economy.

By raising the salary threshold – the salary under which you’re guaranteed overtime pay – to $85,000, we would come close to restoring overtime protections to the levels they were at in the mid-1970s. For millions of American salaried workers, it would mean they’d get more money in their pockets, more of their time back, or a little bit of both. Either way it’s a win-win.

As I’ve said before, overtime pay is the minimum wage for the middle class, and it’s time to restore overtime protection. The U.S. Department of Labor has the regulatory authority to raise the salary threshold themselves – but we need activists like you to help convince the Biden administration to take action. That’s why we need YOU to send a message to your representative and senators in Congress today, urging them to get on board with overtime.

American workers are underpaid and overworked – but we have the power to change that. Please, speak out now to restore overtime protection.

Thanks for your advocacy, 

Nick Hanauer
Founder, Civic Action