Salaried Employees: Finally Being Paid For ALL The Work You Do

Congratulations on your promotion, now you can work overtime for free.

This was a painstaking reality for many managers, social workers, and other salaried workers in the United States. One of these workers is Tiffany Palliser, a manager at a Panera Bread located in South Florida (Scheiber, 2023). Palliser reported working a minimum of 50 hours per week, working shifts beginning at 5:00 a.m. and ending in the late afternoon, but getting no overtime for the extra hours due to her salaried position and bona fide managerial status (Scheiber, 2023). This is a devastating reality for many workers and legally justified under the Department of Labor’s income threshold rule of 2019 stating bonified higher staff were not entitled to receiving any overtime pay if they made over $35,568 per year (Luhby, 2024). This meant that managerial or senior staff employees who made a mere $36,000 were not eligible for overtime compensation; a loophole entitling companies to pay salaried workers a barely survivable wage in the United States today without needing to pay for any overtime work. This loophole is even more sinister when research showed that in 2024 an individual had to make $96,500 to live “comfortably” in many cities -(DeJohn & Conde ,2024). This too was a fairly conservative estimate where ‘comfortably’ meant that only 50% of the individual’s paycheck accounts for rent alone, without considering additional living costs such as? groceries, travel or living itself which only greater exacerbate financial security and wellbeing (DeJohn & Conde, CEFP, 2024). ??

In April of 2024, this devastating reality was finally acknowledged and addressed. U.S. Department of Labor officials passed a final rule in 2024 which made many salaried workers now eligible for overtime pay; overtime constituting for any clocked work above 40 hours per week (Luhby, 2024). The final rule is a remedy and step in the right direction toward paying employees for ALL of the work they do to support their companies. While the final rule is indeed a great improvement from current legislation, there is much to expand upon yet. The updated rule will not immediately entitle every salaried worker to qualify for overtime compensation, only those who are making less than the highest threshold noted will qualify. The ultimate target of this rule will raise the threshold for overtime compensation to $58,656 on January 1st of 2025. The rollout of this ruling will be implemented in two stages: the first stage of implementation being this July with a salary threshold increase to $43,888 and the second stage to be implemented on January 1st, 2025, with a threshold increase of $58,656 (Luhby, 2024). A report conducted in tandem to this ruling found nearly four million more workers will qualify for overtime compensation post January 2025’s final rollout and threshold increase. (Luhby, 2024). This is four million people who can provide for themselves, their families, and their communities and no longer need to be away from home while receiving nothing in return.??

In a world where capitalism, burnout, and exhaustion are all too prevalent, legislation that supports and centers the people in the workforce provides hope. It is indeed hopeful to know so many social workers no longer have to write up their case notes long after they leave their office for the day, to know that so many managers no longer need to clean and lock up the building after they have already punched out for the day, to know that so many administrative workers are not doing reports on behalf of companies for free. It is indeed inspiring when legislation prioritizes the sustainability of humans; rather than the sustainability of whatever product is created.??

If you are a current, prospective, or potential employee reading and learning of this rule, I hope you feel hopeful too. I encourage you to research your individual workplace(s) to determine if this may apply to you. I encourage you to advocate for not only this ruling, but further advancement of this rule in the future. Every person, despite their salary, deserves to be paid for ALL the work they do for the benefit of an organization. Advocacy for the expansion of this ruling and equity within the Department of Labor’s rule is a notable way to achieve this goal.??

If you are a workplace or employer first learning of the 2024 final rule, I fiercely encourage you to lean into what your individual company may do to better support and fairly compensate the people in your workforce who have worked so greatly to support and sustain you.?