Local Molly Maid Owners Attend White House Press Conference in Support of President Obama’s Overtime Pay Protection

Highland Park residents Robert Dillon and Tom Blank, Molly Maid of SE Lake & NE Cook Counties Franchise Owners, visited the White House on March 13, 2014. Their visit included attending a press conference and standing on stage in support as President Barack Obama signed a Presidential memorandum for the Secretary of Labor Tom Perez to update regulations regarding who qualifies for overtime protection. Salaried workers making $23,660 or more per year are not eligible for overtime pay no matter how many hours they work.

“Proper pay has been left to the kindness of employers with no minimum to protect against abuse,” said Dillon. Employees could work many more hours than 40 hours per week, and would not be eligible for overtime pay. According to the White House’s fact sheet on the topic, the Secretary will consider revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act, which has only been updated twice since being signed by Congress in 1938 to:

• Update existing protections in keeping with the intention of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Address the changing nature of the American workplace.
• Simplify the overtime rules to make them easier for both workers and businesses to understand and apply.

“Tom and I were invited to the White House because we were identified as small business operators who champion fair pay for their employees,” said Dillon. “The President was speaking to that issue and we were proud to attend and show our support for such fairness.”

Dillon was one of 12 small business owners to actually stand on stage behind the President as he signed the memorandum and spoke about the topic to a room full of reporters. The coverage was carried live on CNN, MSNBC and on the White House website. Dillon’s image was also included in the official White House blog post and photograph which documented the signing in the East Room of the East Wing of the White House.

“I was proud to support the President and to represent small businesses all over the United States in the White House,” said Dillon. “The President spoke to each of the on-stage participants. I was able to speak with him, shake his hand and share a memory of him when he was my Illinois senator. He was kind, thoughtful and put me completely at ease. The experience was incredible. I am proud to be a Molly Maid owner and to be an American.”

About Molly Maid

Molly Maid, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is one of three service companies under Service Brands International. The residential cleaning franchise cleaned more than 1.6 million homes last year alone. Molly Maid was founded in 1979 and began franchising in 1984 and established the Ms. Molly Foundation to raise awareness and support for victims of domestic violence in 1996. Currently, more than 450 Molly Maid units are operating in the United States alone, with an additional 200 operating throughout Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan, England and Portugal. Molly Maid has consistently ranked high in Entrepreneur magazine’s Franchise 500 rankings and has been the recipient of numerous awards for entrepreneurialism, software innovation and humanitarian causes. For more information, visit www.mollymaid.com.

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