“There were shortages of people who had kids at home,” said Catherine Ruckelshaus, the general counsel of the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group. “I would almost say there’s never been a time when those workers are more empowered,” he said. (Pay for all workers grew much faster than pay for managers from 2019 to 2021, though pay for managers grew slightly faster last year.) Experts say the denial of overtime pay is part of a broader strategy to drive down labor costs in recent decades by staffing stores with as few workers as possible. If an employee did not show up for an afternoon shift, she typically had to stay late to cover.

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Persons: ”, Catherine Ruckelshaus, “, Ed Egee, there’s, Deirdre Aaron, Ms, Palliser, Panera Organizations: National Employment Law, National Retail Federation, Labor Department