Working overtime and not getting paid? A nightmare, right? We wish it were only a bad dream. But working overtime without getting paid is a nightmarish reality for too many working families because outdated regulations haven’t caught up with inflation. In fact, right now, millions of workers are working overtime but not seeing a single dime from it—putting our families and the economy in a bind.

But plans are in the works to change this! A year ago, President Obama directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to update and simplify the guidelines for overtime pay to ensure that we have an economy that works for everyone. Last month, the DOL released its rule on how they plan to strengthen overtime protections. They want to increase the overtime salary threshold to workers who earn $50,440 a year. This would give a boost to 5 million workers, including 3.1 million moms.

Below are stories from just four of the millions of moms who are working overtime and not getting paid and would benefit from the DOL rule change:

“I work sometimes seven days a week as an assistant manager from 8am to 7pm. Most of the time I don’t even take a lunch (sometimes because we’re busy and sometimes because I just can’t afford it). I’m paid an hourly salary. I work over 40 hours a week and they will not pay overtime. My husband is ill and cannot work anymore, and I am raising two special needs children. I can hardly make ends meet but I’m not in a position to do anything else. I am grateful for my job, but if we all could be paid for the overtime it would also make us feel better about ourselves and better about our jobs.” –Brenda from Texas

“I am a single mom and my job changed. It used to be that I could always get off before the daycare closed and never had to work major holidays when the daycare was closed, standard hours for a state worker. Then they started laying off my peers and not hiring for open positions. Supposedly they had to save money. Then they stopped paying overtime, or offering comp time and said that the industry standard was to work 60 hours per week. Then they wanted me to stay late, past daycare hours, and to work major holidays to make up for time off when I had a baby. My pay went down and my hours increased. Meanwhile, my boss’ salary went up. I had to hire a nanny which ate up even more of my pay. I was coming home too exhausted to take my son to Cub Scouts or do anything else for that matter. It doesn’t make sense for the workplace to rob children of their mother. So I stopped working. It was way too much!”-Sherri from Washington

“The boss will give me a title that will not need to comply with overtime, since they know they will have you work above and beyond 40 hours. Especially if you are a white collar worker. There is this unspoken entitlement that you have to work over 40 hours no matter what. What have we become in the USA? Indentured slaves? The laws do not matter any longer.”-Deborah from Florida

“I work as a salaried employee and always work more than my regular 40 hours a week. My usual weekly hours can amount to 50 or 60 hours a week and I do not get paid for the extra time. Sometimes I work 12 hour days without compensation due to being salaried. This has got to stop for the people that work more than the 40 hour weeks or 8 hour days so that we can make ends meet and we can spend time with out families.” -Soledad from California

Outraged by these stories and the fact that million of moms and dads are working overtime without pay?! Then it’s time to take action! Send a letter to the Department of Labor in support of their overtime rule change.