Dreams in overtime: Newsweek on labor laws for salaried workers

Retail jobs are famously low-paying, with erratic schedules and sometimes shift changes without prior notice. Little wonder, then, that an hourly-paid retail worker would aspire to be promoted—to a salaried low-level management position with its promise of an ascent up the corporate ladder. But it doesn’t always work out so nicely, as writer Virginia Sole-Smith explains in this November 2015 Newsweek report.

Read it here: Sole-Smith, “It’s Walgreens vs. the American Dream in the battle for overtime”

 

1. For an hourly-paid retail worker, a salaried position is presented as a way to advance their career. Sole-Smith argues that large companies such as Walgreens, Chipotle, and many more, are using the shift to salaried status as a way to avoid paying overtime, without keeping the promise of genuine advancement. What evidence does she present? Give a brief summary. Is her argument persuasive? Why or why not?
2. Although Sole-Smith’s article focuses more on the concerns of the workers, the positions of the companies and industry groups are also explained. How fairly does she treat these opposing views? Point to examples to support your conclusions.
3. Sole-Smith refers to the American Dream without giving any definition or explanation. In what sense is she using the term? Read (or re-read) Edward McClelland’s essay in Chapter 19 of your text. Are McClelland and Sole-Smith interpreting the American Dream in the same way? How are the two authors’ interpretations similar? How are they different? Point to specific passages to support your thinking.
4. As Sole-Smith explains, it has been the law of the land since 1938 that wage workers be compensated at time-and-a-half for hours worked in excess of forty hours per week. However, the baseline salary that determines the threshold for overtime qualification hasn’t changed in forty years. In addition, the proportion of time a worker spends on managerial tasks can figure into the determination of overtime qualification. Thus, the current debate centers around “how to determine who qualifies for overtime.” Should this determination be based on the proportion of time spent on managerial tasks? The salary a worker receives? Some combination of the two? How would you propose solving the problem? Using Sole-Smith and/or the sources she cites as your They Say, write an essay proposing clear and fair guidelines for salaried workers’ overtime compensation.

Comments

[Mallory]

I completely agree with the fact that companies give employees the option to earn salary or stay at hourly so that they don't have to pay overtime. She describes that she was clocking 50-60 hours but was only promised to work 44 hours a week being on salary. So now that shes on salary, she doesn't make any more money for those 6-16 hours extra that she is working.

My store manager is on salary, and almost every week she works every day 9-10 hours a day. And on certain days, she'll be like "yup, working for free tomorrow." Honestly, she really is because shes not getting paid to come in the next day because shes already hit her hours but she has to do what needs to be done.

[Elaine Adkins]

Salary vs. hourly pay

[tim lasiter]

Mrs.Warner has very good keep points. For example, a person who gets promoted should get paid more. In her case, her salary was the same, but she got paid less per hour. In paragraph three it says, “ But Warner quickly found herself clocking 50- and 60- hour weeks instead of the 44 she’d been scheduled for. Even though her annual salary was now about $10,000 more than she’d made as a management trainee, when she did the math, she realized her wage per hour was exactly the same or less.” She did everything that her job wanted her to do. Clean bathrooms, stock things and also help take things out of trucks. I believe hard work and dedication pays off, in this case, it didn’t. When she was a manager she wasn’t really at times, because people had her do other things. I think she did the right thing by switching jobs and finding something better for herself. Companies should give employers more money when they work more hours then they are sopost to.

[Montai Crawford]

What is the American Dream? The American Dream, is the idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Equality is something America has been struggling with for decades. Someone who is dedicated to their job or career, shows up early every day, works until they feel weak in the knees and expects nothing too much in return, except equal pay and respect. How can a person achieve the American Dream and true equality, if they are treated unfairly within the workforce? When a person works overtime they work 40 hours or more without pay, in one 7 day calendar week. As an employer I would feel very grateful and honored to have such dedication brought upon my business. Therefore, paying them extra for their services, should be the right and normal thing to do. If someone is helping your business prosper and strive, they should be paid for their gratitude and hospitality. Smith argues that large companies are using shift salaried statuses to avoid paying overtime, which is unfair and unjust. People who work their respective hours, should get paid for both those hours and however much time they put into overtime. Most companies may not believe in pay for overtime, because that means more money spent out of their pockets.

Every voice should be heard when, it comes to equal justice and their own rights. I feel as though more people should speak up, when they are treated unfairly so they can catch the attention of others. One man/woman cannot change the world, without an army standing by their side. I feel as though, no one should ever put in 110%, while someone else is putting in 50% and still manages to be treated the same. People who stand out and make a difference, should be rewarded for their accomplishments, not because they need to be shown off but simply because they deserve it. I feel as though the government should do much better, when it comes to equal pay, whether it is for race, gender, age or for overtime. A solution to this problem could involve the government either ending the overtime era, or making a law that states people who work overtime, should earn some type of pay. The law could propose, that minimum wage should be the reward given to those who meet the requirements of overtime. If not then, the government should put an end to overtime and only allow people to work their respective hours.
How are we “One Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all?”, when certain people are being targeted for their beliefs, race, age, skin color, and equality. People are being stripped of their rights every day. We cannot call ourselves a “Nation” or a “Whole”, until changes are made and people can truly experience freedom. Until then, the world will continue to be unfair and unjust, as long as we continue to work and bow-down to “The Man”. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures happy. ~Thomas Paine

[cherelle Austin]

Reading the blog and the comments helped me to understand that jobs are very tricky if you don’t pay attention to what’s going on. It taught me a lesson in way which was, ask questions if you don’t understand something. When I read the comments, many people said that they believe you should get paid more if you’re promoted. I agree with this statement completely because most times if you’re the boss or manager, you have a lot more stress to deal with. Most companies good people because they don’t pay them the money they deserve. It isn’t fair that people work these minimum wage jobs and have to deal with stress, rude people, working long hours, and still get paid a low amount of money. In my opinion, if I have to clean the bathroom and do all the things Mrs. Warner does, I would expect the same things she wants as well.

[Jonathan Green]

Virginia Sole-Smith article can be easily disassembled via tactics used in the book They Say I Say. In chapter two of the book, it tells of how to summarize something that is said. Smith used the tactic of summarizing what Ruby Warner, the ex-management trainee at a Florida Walgreen, said about her scheduling. She does not simply state her summary as a list of events that occurred. Instead, Smith starts her article by creating a story around what Ruby Warner described as her experiences. Indeed, Smith supports her argument by telling of how Warner was promoted to executive assistant manager just so that Walgreen did not need to pay her for working over 44 hours. Finally, Smith closes her article with what Warner is up to now. Essentially, Sole-Smith used Warner’s story as a through line to accomplish and support her claim that companies are not paying overtime to salaried employee and why it clearly need to change. In chapter five of They Say I Say, the author tells of how to distinguish what you say from what they say. He offers multiple templates for sentence structure that help determine what I am saying over what the author is saying. Thus, I would say that Sole-Smith offers a persuasive argument because she uses real life events of an individual mixed with ongoing legal procedures.

In chapter six of the book, the author describes how putting a counter argument in your text can be a powerful tactic in writing because it allows a writer to combat counter-arguments that may arise. Thus, forming a stronger argument for why your position is the correct one to take. In her article, Sole-Smith says very little about the naysayers of her position. The strongest argument in her article is that small businesses will not be able to afford the salary increase in some parts of the country. I think if she elaborated on this statement by Weil, she would have a stronger argument for her position. Cynics of the new overtime policy claim that 45 percent of managers surveyed feel like the new overtime policy would make them feel like they are simply performing a job instead of their career. Overall, I think she treats these points strongly enough that it makes her position seem like the most logical position to take for society as a whole. The only gripe I have with Sole-Smith is that I wish she gave more information of the smaller businesses concerned. Maybe some revisions need to be made to the overtime plan before it is fully enacted in our country.

Again, in chapter seven of the book They Say I Say, the author brings up the most important part of all in writing. Why does what the author say matter? Sole-Smith answered this message with grace. Throughout her writing, she keeps the overtime payment issue relevant to all by making it personal with Warner’s story. She goes from being excited about an executive assistant manager at a Walgreen store promotion six years prior to becoming tired working over 44 hours without additional pay. She found she was making less money in some instances then those who worked under her because hourly associates have the ability to make time and half overtime pay. Sole-Smith turned an article that could have been boring and turned it into something important. Warner tells of how she would miss her children’s baseball games and other family events due to not knowing what store she would be assigned until shortly before being assigned there. After many years of this, Warner eventually ended up working at a Casino as a regular hourly associate because it allowed her more time with her family while also giving her marginally better pay. Overall, Sole-Smith answered the question of why one should care about changes in overtime payment with the use of Warner’s story mixed with information on current statistics of salaried employees. Essentially, Sole-Smith successfully appeals to an audience’s intelligence and emotional side in her article through the use of these tactics.

[Spencer Jackson]

I agree that companies are basically robbing their employees with their wages. they pay them the bare minimum that they have to and the employees get really bad benefits if they even get any at all. When I was working my summer job this past ssummer I worked with a civil engeneering firm on the surveying crews. I was fortunate that they paid well and liked when the crews worked overtime because it showed the office people doing the engineering work with the data that we brought them that we actually cared enough to want to work overtime. Also with surveying when the survey crews hit their 40 hours after that the engineering firm charges the customer extra for every hour the crew is in the field. So it makes up for the extra overtime pay for the whole crew and some extra. So I was lucky that the office was more than happy to offer us all overtime whenever we wanted it and we could work. Most businesses aren't like that thouugh because they end up paying the employees more money when they hit their 40 while still bringing in the same amount.

[Denise Litman]

americans have always wanted to be living the dream, but it seems as of late most employers want more work from you for less cost. So yes although it is nice to be offered hourly or salary choice, unless the company is going to work you more than 40-50 hours a week so they dont have to pay overtime. In my experience if salary is offered than its usually to save wage costs.In my opinion the american dream is becoming more and more expensive to achieve in todays economy.

[Hanh Nguyen]

Every American need to have equal opportunity in working. It is not fair when they work over 40 hours in week and don't have money for the overtime. The workers work hard to help the company develop, but the company don't pay salary for them.
People who work overtime, they should get paid for those hours.

[Rachel]

Sole-Smith doesn't come right out and say what the American Dream is but implies it with the addition of an employer statement "that workers who stand to be reclassified under the proposed rule will view that as a demotion rather than a step towards the American Dream". This seems to say that the American Dream is highly advancement based even though the salary numbers don't advance with the advancement. This coincides with chapter 19 from They Say I Say, where it says "We go to school,study, get a job, and work hard with the assumption that doing so will allow us to achieve financial security, rise up the economic ladder, and perhaps achieve great wealth ". Americans seem to associate advancement with progresss, and things like financial stability. AMexicans like making money and progress but according to this article it would seem the wool is being pulled over our eyes when it comes to what progress is. Chapter 19 doesn't recognize the same specific problems as this article but definitely hits on the rift between rich and poor just as well. Chapter 19 touched more on government it seemed to me and this article more on big business being the problem. Maybe thereally is something to be said when it comes to local businesses, small owners and home grown products. Maybe if our society supported and sponsored the little guy more there wouldn't be as many middle class issues and illusions in our economic idea.

[Alba Inzunza]

This article hits the nail right on the head, it explains exactly how the system works and how businesses take advantage of their employees. I most definitely agree that companies offer employees salary instead of hourly rates to save money in overtime. Just like Warner, who had an annual salary increase but found herself clocking 50 to 60 hours per week; my ex-husband was put in the same dilemma. He was offered a salary position as an Assistant Manager at a well-known restaurant in the San Diego area. He was obviously very happy and excited about this “promotion”, thinking he was heading to financial success and growth; he could not have been further from the truth. This so called “promotion” brought huge problems to our marriage. He started working 10 or even 12 hour shifts, 6 days a week, thus, he stopped spending time with us as a family and never had time to show up to our kids’ activities. Unfortunately, he did this for 10 years, all throughout this time I tried to explain to him that if he did the math, he would be better off working hourly, he finally realized that the extra $13000 yearly were not worth losing his family, but by this point it was too late, our marriage was done.
I am sure there are thousands of cases like mine, there are hardworking people trying to accomplish and live the “American Dream”, but in reality what is the American Dream? Does it mean losing your family over a company that is not even yours? I believe employers should be more sensitive and put themselves in the employees’ shoes. They should treat their employees with respect, gratitude, and loyalty, they should consider that the business is striving thanks to the employees’ hard work.
It is morally correct to pay employees for their time, and it’s only fair to pay extra for over time hours worked, after all we work hard with the hope to achieve financial stability and provide enough for our families.

[Cecilia Martinez]

This article uses Tammy Jenkins story as an example of how many companies are secretly saving money. By promoting eager workers to a management position so that they work more and lose their overtime pay. In her mind, the promotion was a reward for the last 6 years she had dedicated to the company. It was an accomplishment she had been seeking for her future. Only to later realize that she was being taken advantage of. She was working more hours weekly and not performing any managerial task that one would assume would be included with a promotion. Workers should be paid and compensated for their hard work. Instead is has a short list of employment loopholes that some companies are already doing: Several part-time workers instead of a full-time employee in order to not have the expense of benefits or schedule full-time employees a reduced 30 hours so they can have the flexibility of working more without touching overtime.

[Sai Prasad]

American dream as defined " a house, 2.5 kids, cars on the driveway and a stable job" seems far fetched, as the economic status of many people is trending towards poverty line. Large employers like Walmart, Chipotle and many more as smith argues are coming up with new tactics to offer managerial, exempt positions just for the sake of title and have their employees overwork. Ms. warner's story is incredibly sad. She is promoted to an assistant manger, but, did the duties of an hourly employee. As pointed by Liz Simmons, these employees feel like "they were performing a job instead of pursuing a career". Exempt employees are supposedly eligible for take time off to take care of sick children or attend their baseball games. If these so-called exempt employees are asked to work overtime and not paid for there overtime, how is it beneficial? American dream is way too distant for these workers.

[Kelsey Marx-Smith]

The article "It's Walgreens VS. The American Dream In The Battle For Overtime" by Virginia Sole-Smith, shows that career success is much more than attaining a manager or supervisor title. For many, being a manager means working up the corporate latter. It is something that employees should be able to be proud of, not just a money saving title that comes with the same work as their previous job. It is disgraceful that for many, being a manager is nothing more than a ploy by big corporations to save money.
Ruby Warner, a former Walgreens employee, experienced this firsthand as she was taken advantage of in order to save her store overtime money. Not only did Warner make the same or less hourly than she did previously, she also was denied valuable training that she was entitled to. Sole-Smith describes this mistreatment of Warner, stating in her article, "the training her bosses promised, she says, rarely amounted to more than a weekly conference call, which her manager often asked her to skip to so she could stock shelves." Companies like Walgreens need to take their promotions seriously and not use them as cost cutting opportunities. This is a big problem in America as "The Department of Labor estimates that around 6 million Americans hold jobs like Warner’s: Their employers classify them as overtime exempt even though their positions should qualify them for after-hours pay, and they may end up earning less than hourly employees working under them" (Sole-Smith). For the American Dream to be alive again, corporations need to stop taking advantage of employees and lawmakers need to step in to better ensure that people are not cheated out of years of hard work.

[Jillian]

In her article, “Its Walgreens vs. the American Dream in the Battle for Overtime” Virginia Sole-Smith gives us a glimpse into the experience of a retail worker who claims to be promoted solely for the purpose of saving the company money. Ruby Warner was excited about her promotion at first, until she realized that the company now expected her to work extremely long hours (50-60/week) without paying her beyond her base salary. Sadly, this is a common practice in retail and restaurants. When I worked for a restaurant in high school, a couple of my co-workers were in this same position. They had been promoted to a salaried position with the title “assistant manager”, but after a few weeks they began to notice the trend as well. They were expected to stay longer each day, adding up to a longer workweek, and their paychecks never saw an increase. Just like Ruby Warner. The American dream is mentioned in this article, in the sense that hard work and dedication will pay off and give one a successful life. I don’t believe that to be true anymore. In order to be successful and happy, one must work for a company that encourages their success, not one that limits them.

[Jaclyn]

I’ve witnessed what Miss Warner went through first hand. As a licensed cosmetologist I was promoted from an hourly stylist to a salaried manager. Most of my job was the same as it was before my promotion, but I was given extra tasks on top of the work already required. I was also able to earn different bonuses for different aspects of my job. Keeping sales high and employee hours low awarded me more on my bonuses each paycheck. My “full time” employees didn’t work more than 30 hours a week. These stylists had gone through the time and expenses to learn a trade and were struggling to get by. Our hours of operation were 9-8 each day, with even shorter hours on the weekends. Schedules were never set or guaranteed. The lack of consistency and clause against competition basically ruled out a stylists ability to get a second job anywhere else, let alone within the same trade.
As a manager I was expected to keep my hours below 40, even though I worked off salary. The reason behind the restriction was that my bonuses would increase too much (higher sales with lower employee hours, not to mention tip money) I was also required to work at least 30 hours each week. If was ever short on hours, for something like sickness or uncontrolled events, my pay was actually docked. So even though I was a “salaried manager,” I was making no more than dollar/hour more than what I had been originally. That was on a good paycheck too. There were times that my hourly employee made more than I did, because their bonuses weren’t limited like mine. It ended up being a lot more work, stress, and responsibility for very little, if any, reward. It’s because of my 7 years spent “working my way up” at that company that I finally cut back and focused my time more on school. I’ve since had a child (another on the way) and now do school full time while being a stay at home mom. The money I would make working and putting my kids in daycare wouldn’t even out, or would barely add maybe an extra hundred dollars to our budget each month, on a good paycheck.
It is unfortunate that these new guidelines that people are trying to put into place will only negatively affect the small business owners of America. Increasing restrictions as they’re suggesting will only lead to an increase in part-time job, as the article stated. That is already the reality at my former job. Full time jobs, for those without college degrees are few and far between. That just seems to be the way things are going now.

[K Dorsey]

In Virginia Sole-Smith’s article, “It’s Walgreens vs. the American Dream in the Battle for Overtime,” she makes the argument that large corporations are using loopholes in the current labor laws to save them money by promoting employees to over-time exempt salaried management positions. Sole-Smith introduces Ruby Warner, a grandmother from Florida, who was promoted to the executive assistant manager at a local Walgreens six years ago in hopes of having her own store. Warner was happy to put in her time and work hard, but after her promotion took affect, she was still responsible for the same tasks as her hourly-paid coworkers, even "cleaning the bathrooms," she claimed. Although Warner had a $10,000 pay increase and was working more hours, she did not see an increase in her pay over all due to the exempt overtime hours, nor did she see the advancement her bosses promised (Sole-Smith).

Warner is not alone. There are many others working 50- and 60- hour work weeks, but not being compensated for overtime hours, since their employers are using management promotions to disguise overtime exempt positions and make them look more attractive. The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which was passed in 1938, was put in place to protect the workers and it is doing just the opposite - it is allowing these employers to save money at their employees expense. The "baseline" was set in place in “1975 at $23,660 (an … equivalent to [approximately] $104,642 in 2015 dollars…), which covered 62 percent of salaried workers at the time." Now, only 8 percent qualify in today’s world, since that “baseline” hasn’t been reevaluated (Sole-Smith).

Sole-Smith reports, the Obama administration has been working to change FLSA, proposing to raise the baseline to $50,660 per year, which would benefit approximately 40 percent of the American workforce by allowing more to earn overtime pay. "Industry critics” argue that small businesses would not be able to afford the increase and they also point out the new loopholes the employers can use to their advantage (Sole-Smith), once again. Sole-Smith quotes, UCLA’s Chris Tilly to explain ways around the proposed increase: “[employers] may replace full-time positions with multiple part-time jobs (… sav[ings] on benefits), or set the base hours for full-timers as low as 30 hours per week, so they can still have them work those 10 extra hours without … overtime pay.”

After reading this article, I am questioning the American Dream and if it is still “alive” in America. I believe that the American Dream is defined as being able to work your way up through hard work and dedication, but if these large corporations are constantly finding ways to dock pay or not pay their employees the wages that are deserved, how can anyone ever move up or forward towards their dreams. If I were in Warner’s position, I too would be excited and relieved with a new management position thinking I was working up towards my goals of having my own store. But learning that I am earning less then most of my co-workers without a management title, would be extremely discouraging to me in hopes to make a better life for myself.

[Nina Orr]

How is anyone supposed to be able to afford the American dream in the first place? Moving up from a part-time position to a salaried position is every employee’s goal. The new title is supposed to come with higher pay and more opportunities for growth within the company. But according to Sole-Smith that isn’t always the case. This article was a real eye-opener for me since this is a practice that I have never encountered or heard of. Why give someone a so-called “promotion” and get their hopes up? This is a very underhanded way to get free labor out of someone in lieu of hiring more employees. “But salaried employees whose roles are considered “executive, administrative or professional” and who are paid above a set baseline are exempt. Employers don’t have to pay them extra if they work more than 40 hours” (Sole Smith, Newsweek.com). So I get a promotion, hooray, but then I get to basically work for free doing the same grunt work as before? There is something wrong with this picture.

[Alisha]

In this article, Ms. Sole-Smith equates the American Dream to a battle for fair pay. She is writing specifically about overtime pay and employees who are exempt from overtime pay. I don’t think it matters what the definition of American Dream is, fair pay should be a part of that. For some, the American Dream is owning a house; for others it may be having a new car every year. These scenarios require money, which is supposed to be paid according to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Ms. Sole-Smith alleges that corporations are reclassifying employees as salaried managers to avoid paying overtime. When looking at the numbers, I think this could be accurate. As she states, the baseline income of $23,660 was in 1975. At that time, the minimum wage was $2.10. A salaried worker in 1975 was making more than five times a full time worker making minimum wage ($4,368). To federal minimum wage today is $7.25, or $15,080 annually for a full time employee. If we go by the same ratio – 5 times minimum wage – the baseline for a salaried worker should be around $75,400, more than three times the current baseline. In California, the minimum wage is currently $11, which is $22,880 per year. This figure is a difference of only $780 from the overtime exempt salaried worker baseline. It would be extremely beneficial to “promote” hourly employees to salary and avoid paying overtime – which means this probably does occur in many corporations. In order to keep this from happening, the FLSA needs to be brought current. Either the baseline needs to be adjusted, or a better definition should be made regarding who qualifies as an exempt employee.

[Alicia Pina]

I would like to agree on how companies try to cheat ways or find loop holes in not paying for overtime to workers. I’ve noticed from personal experience, companies and small businesses try to avoid paying overtime by giving as little as 20-30 hours a week. They also higher more part time workers to avoid having full time workers to receive and avoid hourly costs. They tend to have part time workers work without pay raise and then give them promotions that will cut them from being paid extra hours with a manger position on salary. My mother was a manager for McDonald’s and she became known as a shift manager so they can avoid paying her overtime. She was making the same amount of money I was making and I Was working part time for another job. She got switched hours as well without any warning and did not receive any benefits for working there because she was considered a salaried worker but part time. The loop hole in her job was to avoid paying shift managers higher than $10 and having them work long hours but refused to be paid overtime. Some shift managers would go overtime up to 20 hours and still receive not even half of those hours. But the regulations say those who are salaried as chosen are exempt from over time. This article very much describes how companies, franchises, and small businesses try to obtain a hold and focus on trying to give more for those with experience and who have no pay raise for years or who were tricked into being payed the same with a salary. They need to pay those of higher positions a higher salary rate and be given the overtime pay so they wouldn’t need to work for “free”.

[Fabiola g]

I agree with most of the comments. I don’t see the American Dream for everybody. For personal experience, I saw how in a small business how they were hiring par time employees so the owners don’t pay the extra hours, how they have some employees in salary, working long hours for the same pay, I think this is not fair, some owners take advantage of their employees, maybe for the necessity of the job I don’t know. I agree when you get promoted you should get paid more, it is true what somebody said in a comment, sometimes some employees get better pay that some managers and the managers or assistants managers , like I used work at a restaurant and some servers were making more that the assistant managers, this was not fair.

[David Wheeler]

It seems like a goal for everyone is to reach that sought after salary position. Although a salary position can be beneficial, at some jobs it’s actually a step down. Many big companies like Walgreens, Walmart, and other big corporations have found loopholes in the salary laws that allow them to pay their employees less. Salaried employees are not entitled to overtime pay under the current law, employees will find themselves working over 50 hours a week, and not receiving the compensation for it. That is exactly the situation Ruby Warner, an assistant manager at Walgreens found herself in. Ruby accepted a promotion to a salary position thinking it would be a better opportunity, but after working long days and doing the math ruby realized she was making less than her hourly position. According to this article over 6 million Americans are in this position, and it needs to change. If employees are putting in extra hours each week, they should be entitled to overtime pay salary or not. With the price of living so high now a days, Americans can’t afford to put in this extra time, unless they are making over $150,000 a year. The economy is just going to get worse and worse if this stays the same. The national debt level will continue to raise, if employers continue to take advantage of their employees like this.

[Bradley Espinoza]

A salaried position has been viewed over the past few decades to be a sign of stature and a sense of being comfortable. A steady income allows for planned budgeting, which helps people achieve their American Dream over time. However, what people are starting to realize is, this form of work actually puts them at quite the disadvantage. Virginia Sole-Smith's story of Ruby Warner, It's Walgreens vs. the American Dream in the Battle for Overtime, is a clear example of this realization. Corporations have begun restricting the American Dream by creating an environment that people can barely live a regular life, let alone succeed and thrive. The fear of paying overtime has caused companies to create more salaried positions, with which they can create free labor by overworking them.

These people aren't given the chance to live the American Dream because they are stuck in a capped position with a clear ceiling. As well, they aren't even able to enjoy the parts of life worth living such as the, "ability to take time off to manage family emergencies or for children’s baseball games," because they are clocking 50-60 hours of work a week. The same laws that were used to help create a better life for these workers, are now being exploited to create profit off of under-valued and over-worked employees. Without a change in the law, more and more companies will realistically be removing the opportunity of the American Dream from these hard working people. They may not all dream of houses, families, or nice cars, but one thing they are wrongfully being deprived of is their freedom.

[sowjanya Dandina]

After reading this article “The American Dream” that everybody seems to dream about feels like it doesn’t exist. Hard work and determination seem to be losing its value in the battle over equality under all these corporate loopholes. People always taught if they work hard and keep their mouth shut, they are paying the dues to reach the top. The retail chains and the big corporations seem to be taking this quality into their advantage and trying to rob people of their equal opportunity. Generally, people always felt that moving from a part-time employee to salaried positions is the gateway to reach the top, but everybody had to learn it the hard way, it’s just an excuse to exempt to pay for over time.
These companies are generating free labor and overworking their employees instead of paying for the extra hours and hard work. “Virginia Sole-Smith's story of Ruby Warner, It's Walgreens vs. the American Dream in the Battle for Overtime” is a good example of how these corporations and big retail chains playing people in make them believe in the American Dream which actually doesn’t exist.

[Renee Castro]

Walgreens Vs. The American Dream highlights one of the biggest problems within the American workforce. Unfortunately, the more laws we try to pass to protect workers from being underpaid or overworked the more complicated the answer to a solution becomes. There are a lot of factors that play into the problem that are not addressed in the article such illegals filling jobs or taking over entire industries because it is not an employer's responsibility to decipher if documents are authentic or the issue with the exorbenant and constant rising costs to maintain insurance and mandatory health benefits for full-time employees. However, in a nutshell, I feel the bulk of the problem falls between large corporations and its employees because thousands of workers cannot be appreciated as individuals. While I advocate for higher salaried wages especially when taking into consideration the "baseline set in 1975 at $23,660" has not changed, I do not feel like the article addressed the positives of salary wages. I myself have opted to work for a salary paying less than other positions because I am guaranteed and can depend on a set amount every pay period without fluctuation, and it was my responsibility to not allow myself to be taken advantage. If my schedule was 9am-5pm, then ultimately it was my decision if I wanted to stay and continue to work. I understand that workers sometimes feel they don't have a choice but you do and you can be clear about that before accepting a position. Change for the better only happens when people don't tolerate abuse and there's mutual respect between employer and employee, but greed is the biggest hurdle to overcome.