Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, FEDERAL LEGISLATION—Sanders, Takano introduce legislation to expand overtime pay by increasing salary threshold, (May 19, 2026)
Organizations Mentioned:AFL-CIO | International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers | International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers | Service Employees International Union | UAW | United Steelworkers
By WK Editorial Staff
The legislators note that in 1975, nearly 63 percent of all full-time salaried workers were guaranteed overtime pay.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Representative Mark Takano (D-Cal.) announced that they have introduced the “Restoring Overtime Pay Act” to expand and strengthen overtime protections for nearly 30 million workers.
Rescission of Biden rule. They note that the current overtime salary threshold of $35,568 was set by the Trump administration in 2019, after the 2016 Obama-era threshold of $47,476 was struck down in federal court, and that the Biden administration set a two-step increase of the overtime threshold to $43,888 effective July 1, 2024, and $58,656 that was intended to go into effect on January 1, 2025. That rule would have benefited 4.3 million workers.
The Act would expand or strengthen overtime protections for up to 29.3 million workers by gradually increasing the overtime salary threshold from its current $35,568 to more than $89,000 by 2030. This proposed legislation comes soon after President Trump's rescission of the Biden-era rule.
From 8 percent eligibility to 55. Currently, just eight percent of full-time salaried workers are eligible for overtime pay based on their salaries alone. This legislation would increase that figure to 55 percent of full-time salaried workers. The legislators note that in 1975, nearly 63 percent of all full-time salaried workers were guaranteed overtime pay.
Joining Sanders and Takano on this legislation are Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Alex Padilla (D-Cal.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Ron Wyden (D-Or.), Jeff Merkley (D-Or.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), and 22 members of the House of Representatives.
The Restoring Overtime Pay Act has been endorsed by 34 organizations, including the AFL-CIO, United Auto Workers (UAW), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers (IAM), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Communications Workers of America (CWA), UNITE HERE, United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), United for Respect, and United Steelworkers (USW).
News: FederalLegislation WageHour Overtime ESGNews