It's Not Just About the Paycheck. Ask Workers.

She cried when she heard she’d soon be eligible for overtime. They weren’t tears of joy.

She’s a producer for a public radio station who asked that I not use her name. She loves her job but struggles to stretch her “paltry” paycheck to cover rent and other living expenses. She’s exactly the kind of dedicated white-collar worker the Barack Obama administration sought to help with a sweeping new overtime regulation. In May, the Labor Department declared that, as of Dec. 1, most salaried workers earning less than $47,476 a year, or $913 a week, would have to be paid time and a half for anything more than 40 hours a week. (A few occupations, such as teaching and law, are excluded.) The rule more than doubled the existing salary threshold.