"Too many Americans are working longer and harder without anything to show for their efforts in their paychecks."

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 30, 2015) - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined a group of 26 senators in supporting updating overtime rules to ensure more middle-class workers are paid fairly for overtime hours. In a letter to President Obama, the senators urged the administration to increase the income threshold to $56,680 per year to strengthen overtime protections for millions more middle-class workers. The current annual salary threshold to receive time-and-a-half pay for overtime hours is $23,660 impacting a mere 11 percent of salaried workers nationwide.

"Too many Americans are working longer and harder without anything to show for their efforts in their paychecks," the senators wrote. "These long hours are straining middle class workers and their families. Since the 1970s, average salaries for middle-class individuals have dropped even while salaried workers have increased the hours they spend on the job. Strengthening overtime protections will help millions of middle class families."

The current threshold of $23,660 disqualifies thousands of New Mexico middle-class workers, who often work long hours, from earning time-and-a-half pay. An estimated 100,000 additional New Mexican workers would be covered under an updated overtime threshold.

Heinrich signed the letter, led by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), along with Sens. Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)

Full text of the letter is here.