What you need to know about Ohio Politics and Policy
Terra Goodnight · September 14, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 14, 2018 Columbus, OH — Researchers from the National Employment Law Project Action Fund (NELP Action) and Innovation Ohio released a new report today that enumerates the wages lost by Ohio workers as a result of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine blocking a federal overtime pay expansion. Overtime pay cuts have cost 327,000 Ohioans $42 million a year in badly-needed higher pay.
The report is available online here. It includes county by county breakdowns of how many local workers are impacted.
“Wall Street and CEO pay are booming but paychecks for working Ohioans haven’t budged. Restoring overtime pay is one of the concrete things we can do to boost middle class incomes – but Mike DeWine made it worse by blocking this badly needed raise,” said Paul Sonn, director of NELP Action and the report’s author.
The report details how Ohio’s next governor and legislature can deliver this long delayed overtime raise as leaders in other states are doing. It includes county by county breakdowns of how many local workers are impacted.
“It’s basic fairness – you should get paid for the hours that you work. But Attorney General Mike DeWine’s lawsuit is keeping 327,000 Ohioans from getting the pay they deserve,” said Innovation Ohio President Janetta King. “It’s imperative that Ohio’s next governor work with the legislature to reverse this setback and ensure that hardworking Ohioans are paid for the work they do.”
NELP Action and Innovation Ohio also released a new video based on the report.
In 2016, the U.S. Labor Department updated federal overtime standards for the first time since 2004 to restore overtime coverage for more middle class workers. But Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine joined with other states and filed a lawsuit that blocked the overtime expansion. The Trump Labor Department is now holding listening sessions as it develops a weaker, replacement proposal that will protect fewer workers.
The report’s key findings include:
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