(PATCH) — If you feel like you’re earning less, despite working longer hours, you might be right, a recent study says.
According to a wages study done by law firm Bisnar Chase, the average Virginia employee in the private sector worked about 1.7 hours of “unpaid overtime” per week during 2022. The national average for unpaid overtime is 2.1 hours.
When this figure is applied to the number of exempt workers in the Commonwealth (and based on the median wage), and then annualized, Virginia workers are collectively owed about $4 billion in backpay, researchers said.
Average hourly wages, adjusted for inflation, have declined since the 1970s, while the average number of hours worked has increased, the law firm’s study said. As a result, American workers are facing underpayment, overwork, and stress. One of the reasons for this is the decrease in overtime pay.
According to managing partner Brian Chase of Bisnar Chase, the concept of free time has drastically changed over the past 50 years. “Free time is now something that is expected to be given up to one’s employer. The recent trend of working from home due to the pandemic has exacerbated the situation, as unpaid overtime has become a widespread and accepted norm.”
“Overtime pay may not be a familiar term to many younger generations, but in the past, it was a staple for middle-class workers. Nowadays, a significant portion of employees work over 40 hours a week without receiving any overtime compensation. Despite laws that protect the right to overtime pay, those earning above $35,000 per year are often misclassified into exempt positions that do not qualify for overtime. This creates a large pool of free labor for employers to exploit, leading to increased profits, declining real wages and a widening income gap.”
The best state for unpaid overtime is South Dakota, where that total came to 0.3 hours per week.
The survey of 3,000 responses was taken in February. The number of workers per state used in the calculations include only those who are exempt from receiving overtime. Median wage was used to calculate the average hourly rate. The overtime figure per person is hourly rate multiplied by average overtime worked per year. The final figure is the number of exempt workers multiplied by owed overtime per person in 2022.
