COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than 4 million U.S. workers will become newly eligible for overtime pay under rules issued Wednesday by the Obama administration.
The rule seeks to bolster overtime protections that have been eroded in recent decades by inflation. A diminishing proportion of workers have benefited from overtime regulations, which date to the 1930s and require employers to pay 1½ times a worker’s wage for work that exceeds 40 hours a week.
Under the new rules, released in draft form last summer, the annual salary threshold at which companies can deny overtime pay will be doubled from $23,660 to nearly $47,500. That would make 4.2 million more salaried workers eligible for overtime pay. Hourly workers would continue to be mostly guaranteed overtime.
QUITO, Ecuador – Two powerful earthquakes jolted Ecuador on Wednesday, a magnitude 6.7 early morning temblor followed by a 6.8 shake around midday.
The extent of damage from the second quake was not immediately clear, though President Rafael Correa announced on Twitter some areas along the coast had lost power and said schools would be cancelled nationwide as a precaution. The first caused little serious damage.
Both appeared to be aftershocks of a magnitude 7.8 quake a month earlier.
Associated Press
