Meet Nick: One in 5 Million Americans Who Could Be Helped by the Overtime Rule

It's a simple premise: A hard day's work ought to lead to a fair day's pay. 

The problem is, our current legal code doesn't reflect that simple truth. We're doing something to change that.

Earlier this week, President Obama announced that the Department of Labor will propose extending overtime pay to nearly 5 million workers. That would mean that most salaried workers making less than an estimated $50,440 next year would now be guaranteed overtime pay.

Nick may be one of them.

Read Nick's letter to the President below — and if you stand to benefit from the Administration's proposed action, add your voice to the conversation today.

Dear Mr. President,

I was thrilled to read in the news that you are considering raising the requirements for overtime pay for salaried workers.

In my last job, I was hired on the understanding that I would work 4 12-hour days per week (48 hours), at a salary of $43,800. On my first day on the job, I was told that it would be 5 10-hour days (50 hours). By my third week, I was told that I would have to work an extra 10 hour shift every fifth Saturday (52 hours weekly average). It was impossible to complete the workload that I was assigned within the constructs of a 10 hour day. Every day I stayed late at the office. Every week I put in over 60 hours, and many weeks more than 70. But despite working 25-50% more hours than I was hired for, I never saw an extra dime in my pay.

At the same time, I was juggling my duties as a servicemember in the National Guard, and my responsibilities as a single parent. It was almost impossible to give my full efforts to search for a new job, because the few precious waking hours that I had outside of work were spent with my son, or cleaning the house. There was literally no time for anything else.

I'm so thankful to be out of that situation now, but I often think of my co-workers who I left behind when I left that job. Nobody should be at the mercy of bait-and-switch hiring tactics like I was. The conditions that you agree upon when hired should be the conditions that you receive when you go to work. This includes pay, time commitment, workplace safety, and benefits.

By modernizing our overtime pay regulations, you can save several other American's from having to live through the same experience I did.

Thank you for all of your efforts. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.