New state guidelines governing overtime pay are sensible and necessary.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries last week approved rules that will make more workers eligible for overtime pay when they exceed 40 hours of work in a given week. “Our state has long been a leader in protecting worker rights, and the changes we’re announcing today will restore fairness to the state’s overtime rules,” director Joel Sacks said.
While being phased over the next several years, the rules will reduce the number of employees considered exempt from overtime pay. By 2028, the salary threshold for exempt employees is expected to increase to about $83,000 a year — depending on cost-of-living increases between now and then. Currently in Washington, the threshold is about $13,000 a year, well below the federal limit.
That is what happens when Washington goes more than 40 years without updating its guidelines, a situation that called for the formulation of new rules.
Eventually, the new threshold is expected to affect about 250,000 employees in the state. That does not mean that employers will be compelled to increase salaries; it means that workers making less than the annually increasing threshold will need to be paid at overtime rates for extra work.
While the minutiae of labor laws can be confusing, the new rules reflect Washington’s continued commitment to workers. The state has quickly increased the minimum wage in recent years, and voters have approved a law tying the wage to cost-of-living increases in the future. In addition, a new Paid Family and Medical Leave law that is considered the strongest in the nation went into effect this year.
Washington’s approach belies policy trends that have dominated federal policy and been followed by numerous states over the past four decades. For example, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009, following years of intermittent boosts. Because inflation has continued to increase prices, the minimum wage has lost 24 percent of its purchasing power since 1981.
Along with other policies — such as rules governing overtime pay — government’s lack of concern for labor has contributed to growing wealth inequality in the United States. Washington and other West Coast states over the past decade have slowly been adopting policies designed to turn back that trend.
In that regard, the new overtime rules are just one part of the economic picture, and the original proposal drew some pushback from business leaders. The Department of Labor & Industries hosted a series of public hearings, garnering testimony from 182 people along with 2,266 online comments, and eventually extended the phase-in period by two years.
Following adoption of the new guidelines, Bob Battles of the Association of Washington Businesses told The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review: “Small businesses and nonprofits are not going to be able to afford this.” He added that some employees might lose opportunities for advancement that come with working extra time and learning a business.
There is a glaring problem with that argument: If businesses cannot afford to pay more workers overtime wages when they are earned, it means those businesses are relying on employees working extra hours without adequate compensation. That is not an equitable arrangement.
With this sensible change, Washington’s guidelines will help protect workers and ensure fairness in the marketplace.
