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Overtime is now available to more Washington workers. They just had to change a law from the 70s

caption: Tamarind Tree employees from left, Tin Dang, Loan Luong, and Mui Tang work in the kitchen on Thursday, October 12, 2017, at the restaurant in Seattle's Little Saigon neighborhood.
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Tamarind Tree employees from left, Tin Dang, Loan Luong, and Mui Tang work in the kitchen on Thursday, October 12, 2017, at the restaurant in Seattle's Little Saigon neighborhood.
KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer

People who make less than $35,000 a year will be eligible for overtime pay in Washington, starting in July.

The state's department of Labor and Industries approved that update to overtime rules today.

The current threshold is about $24,000 dollars for overtime eligibility, but hasn't been updated since 1976.

Washington L&I director Joel Sacks says Washington's overtime benefit is currently unfair, which is why they're changing the rule.

"Our state is going to ensure that many more workers will be paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a workweek," he said. "If someone is exempted from the overtime protections they'll be paid an appropriate salary. From our perspective that's only fair and it's long overdue."

Washington's new law is similar to the federal recommendation for who gets overtime pay. The state will eventually surpass federal requirements and require overtime for people making up to $83,000 by the year 2028.

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