New Biden rule extends overtime to millions of salaried workers

The Biden administration announced a rule Tuesday aimed at ensuring workers whose annual salaries are roughly $59,000 or less are compensated fairly when working overtime.

The Labor Department said the rule would increase the salary thresholds required to exempt salaried workers from federal overtime pay requirements.

Starting this July, the office said the salary threshold would rise to $43,888, and then jump to $58,656 in January 2025.

“The July 1 increase updates the present annual salary threshold of $35,568 based on the methodology used by the prior administration in the 2019 overtime rule update,” the office said. 

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a statement that the new rule would “restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time.”

“Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts but are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay,” she said. “That is unacceptable.”

The Labor Department said, beginning in July 2027, that salary thresholds would “update every three years, by applying up-to-date wage data to determine new salary levels” as part of the new rule.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), former head of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, lauded the move in a statement Tuesday, adding the rule could “make a material difference in the lives of over 4 million workers.”

“From Day One, the Biden administration has been laser-focused on improving the lives of working Americans, and this rule is one more important step in that direction,” she said.