Murray: Updating Overtime Protections Will Help Reward Hard Work With Fair Pay

Murray calls updating overtime protections “a matter of fairness”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released the following statement after the Obama Administration announced proposed rules to restore overtime protections for millions of Americans. Murray noted that for too long, corporations have exploited outdated overtime rules and these new protections will help restore economic security and increase wages for families across the country.

“Today, the Obama Administration has taken an important step to restore overtime protections that reward hard work with fair pay. This is a matter of fairness. Across the country, many families feel like they are working more and more for less and less pay, and in many cases, they are. Without updated overtime protections, big corporations can exploit the rules to avoid paying workers the time-and-a-half pay they’ve earned, robbing them of money they could put toward groceries, the mortgage, or college tuition. I think that’s wrong, and it needs to change. Strengthening basic worker protections like this will help grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down, and will help ensure our country, economy, and workplaces work for all families, not just the wealthiest few.”