Rep. Takano: Delaying Overtime Rule is Another Betrayal of Workers
Washington, D.C. – Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, released the following statement after Secretary Alexander Acosta announced at a hearing this morning that the Department of Labor will file a Request for Information that will further delay the implementation of the overtime rule. The rule, finalized under the Obama administration, would restore overtime protections to more than 4 million middle-class workers.
“American workers have waited four decades for a meaningful update to the rules governing overtime eligibility. Today the Trump Administration extended that wait indefinitely by opening a Request for Information on the updated overtime rule that will further delay and possibly weaken its support for working families. This decision will cost America’s middle class $1.2 billion in 2017 alone.
“President Trump campaigned on his promise to defend America’s forgotten workers, but his presidency has been defined by a shockingly anti-worker agenda. By rolling back workplace safety reporting standards, delaying the fiduciary rule, and now denying millions of workers the overtime pay or time with their families they have earned, the president is betraying the same American workers he pledged to protect.
“In this morning’s hearing, Secretary Acosta justified delaying the overtime rule by calling it a potential ‘shock to the system.’ But after 40 years without a raise, a shock to the system is exactly what middle-class workers need. And in this time of soaring income inequality, a shock to the system is exactly what the American economy needs.
“Working families deserve safe workplaces, they deserve overtime pay, and they deserve a president who keeps his promises. Under this presidency, they appear destined to get none of those things.”
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