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Obama's proposal would make millions of workers eligible for overtime pay - here's who could be affected
Obama's proposal would make millions of workers eligible for overtime pay - here's who could be affected
Shana LebowitzJun 30, 2015, 22:41 IST
Boston Globe/Getty ImagesCustomer Service Supervisor Angelina Latimore, left, in orange training the new staff at The Daily Table in Dorchester, Mass.The Obama administration has just proposed a rule change that would significantly expand the number of Americans who qualify for overtime pay.Under the new rule, workers who earn up to $50,440 a year would be eligible for time-and-a-half overtime wages. (That's the 1975 threshold adjusted for inflation.) Currently, the threshold below which workers can earn overtime wages is $23,660.Certain employees are more likely to be affected by the policy change. We consulted Daniel Hamermesh, Ph.D., a professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as a report from the Economic Policy Institute, to find out who those employees are.The Economic Policy Institute defines "strongly affected occupations" as supervisory/managerial/professional occupations in which at least half of full-time, salaried workers would be automatically covered if the cutoff for overtime wages were raised.Here are the top 10, ranked in order of (approximately) how many employees would be automatically covered:1. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workersMedian salary: $34,498Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 80%2. Insurance claims and policy processing clerksMedian salary: $39,427Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 69%3. Customer service representativesMedian salary: $43,567Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 63%4. Food service managersMedian salary: $46,130Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 63%5. Legal support workersMedian salary: $49,283Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 58%6. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workersMedian salary: $47,805Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 57%7. Social workersMedian salary: $47,312Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 56%8. First-line supervisors of retail sales workersMedian salary: $48,298Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 56%9. Insurance sales agentsMedian salary: $49,283Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 52%10. CounselorsMedian salary: $50,269Percentage of workers who would be automatically covered: 51%Mark Wilson/GettyPresident Obama signs a presidential memorandum for overtime protections for workers at the White House, on March 13, 2014.On the other hand, the occupations least likely to be affected include engineers, lawyers, physicians and surgeons, pharmacists, computer and information systems managers, and chief executives.Workers under 35 and those without college degrees will probably be helped by the policy change, since they're more likely than other demographic groups to have salaries below the proposed threshold. Hamermesh said it's unclear whether many women will be affected by the rule, since they tend to earn lower salaries but work shorter weeks than men.Of course, Hamermesh added that, if the rule goes into effect, some employers may cut their workers' hours so as to avoid paying overtime wages. That could benefit employees who currently feel overworked, but wouldn't help those who would rather log additional hours and make more money in overtime wages.
