WASHINGTON – President Obama is planning to issue an executive order that could lead to revised regulations covering who should be paid extra for working more than 40 hours a week, reports The Washington Post.

The newspaper writes that a White House official said that Obama would direct Labor Secretary Thomas Perez “to begin the process of strengthening overtime pay protections for millions of workers to help make sure they are paid a fair wage for a hard day’s work while simplifying the rules for employers and workers alike.”

According to the White House, millions of salaried workers have had to work 50 or 60 hours a week without being paid overtime — and, in some cases, “making barely enough to keep a family out of poverty.”

Currently, the Fair Labor Standards Act guarantees extra pay to salaried workers earning less than $455 per week who work overtime. Obama’s order would increase that salary level, but the Post did not say by how much.

“There’s all kinds of rumors about what the president may or may not do with regards to overtime pay and reclassifying some jobs for overtime,” House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told the newspaper. “But if you don’t have a job, you don’t qualify for overtime. So what do you get out of it? You get nothing. The president’s policies are making it difficult for employers to expand employment. And until the president’s policies get out of the way, employers are going to continue to sit on their hands.”