Working overtime has affected my ability to help my kids with homework, attend sporting activities, and generally be there when they need me. This last Fourth of July, for example, I was exhausted so I went to sleep early instead of supervising activities with my kids. Because I was exhausted from working long hours, I chose to sleep, rather than supervise my kids.
Read MoreIs $35,000 enough money to be working for free?
The Trump administration has recently announced plans to finally update the salary threshold for overtime exemption… to $35,000/year. That would mean that it's ok for an employer to pay you just $35,000/year, make you overtime-exempt, and require you to work limitless overtime hours with no additional overtime pay.
Read More"You’re one phone call away from having to drop everything and go to work."
When I worked as a fishmonger at Whole Foods Market they wanted to promote me to associate team leader, a salaried position, but I refused. In the seven years I worked there, I got maximum raises at every evaluation but declined invitations to move up because I knew what those positions were like. The corporation basically owned you. You’re one phone call away from having to drop everything and go to work.
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We support mission-driven nonprofit organizations. We support restoring overtime rights.
“Together, we urge fellow nonprofit donors, employees, leaders, and board members to join us in supporting a path to restore overtime rights that will serve our larger missions and benefit the long-term health of our staff, our organizations, and the communities we serve.”
Read MoreDo you work at a nonprofit?
As we've been campaigning to restore overtime protections for salaried workers in our state, we've encountered a somewhat surprising voice speaking out in opposition to workers' rights: a handful of nonprofit executive directors and nonprofit industry groups have been siding with the business lobbyists and trying to convince the state that people working extra hours without extra pay is just the way things are.
Read More"I do not work an extensive number of overtime hours. But I do work a few hours every week, and I do not get paid for them."
In my case, what has been done to my coworkers over the last twenty years impacts other employers, who will find me (and others like me) suspicious of their intentions when they advertise for new positions as exempt.
Read MoreOctober 25th is Free Time Day for salaried workers
Today’s the day when the average salaried worker — who puts in 49 hours a week — has already worked full-time hours this year. And since most salaried workers don’t get overtime pay when they work overtime hours over 40 in a week, all your time for the rest of the year is effectively free for your employers.
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"Being a software tester in the video game industry is its own kind of augmented reality."
Making games has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I just never knew someone would take advantage of my passions. It’s incredibly rare to get a salaried position testing video games—something like one out of a thousand—so I felt like I had achieved a dream when I got that job. I never spoke up because I didn’t want to rock the boat. Those who did speak up were seen as venomous, and they were let go.
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"it wasn’t long before I was told I was being put on salary"
Then one day I realized that I was now working for less than minimum wage, in part because our salaries did not rise when minimum wages went up. There certainly was nothing prestigious about that kind of salaried work.
Read MoreAfter four decades of inaction, L&I releases "pre-draft" towards updated overtime rules
Restoring overtime rights could improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of salaried workers, including front-line managers in food and retail; underpaid professionals in social work, research, and other fields; numerous office and clerical workers; more than a few journalists; and many others.
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