LANSING, Mich.—Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Oct. 24 that she plans to increase the number of workers in the state eligible for overtime pay. Only 5% of Michigan workers now get overtime, down from 63% in 1975, according to Whitmer’s office, because the current federal standard allows employers to exempt salaried workers from getting time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours a week if they make more than $23,660 a year. The governor ordered the state Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to raise that cutoff point to $51,000, which she said would make another 200,000 Michigan workers eligible for overtime pay. The Trump administration will raise the federal cutoff to $35,568 in January after federal courts blocked the Obama administration’s attempt to raise it to $47,476. “In America, hard work should be recognized and rewarded,” Whitmer said in a statement. “When I was growing up, that meant you got overtime if you worked more than 40 hours.” The Department of Labor won’t develop a final version of the proposed increase until next year. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce said it would oppose it. Read more
