Here’s What Obama’s Overtime Rule Means for Workers and Businesses

Expect some changes in the workplace, like having to track hours more closely.

By Alain StephensMay 19, 2016 10:39 am

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced final details on new rules increasing the salary cutoff for overtime pay. Right now, salaried workers who earn more than $23,600 are not entitled to time and half pay, but on Dec. 1, that threshold will more than double to $47,476 a year. By some estimates, more than 12.5 million more Americans will be able to demand overtime pay.

Thomas Tunstall is the Senior Research Director at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Institute for Economic Development. He says the changes have been a while in the making.

“Wage inequality in the U.S. has been rising significantly over the past years,” Tunstall says. “A lot of Americans have seen hedge fund managers and CEO pay rising significantly as a result of overall increases in output, but very little of the benefit of that increase in output has made its way down to a lot of salaried workers. So I think this is sort of a reaction to it.”

What you’ll hear in this interview:

– How this will affect companies and workers
– What workplace changes can be expected
– When we’ll be able to tell if this policy worked or not