“I’ve had many salaried jobs and in none of them did I have control over when and where I worked.”
Same here; the wording of the law doesn’t meet the definition of many jobs I’ve worked or seen. By moving up the salary for anyone to be considered “salaried” versus hourly, this rule can only prevent exploitation. Defending companies (which I understand are necessary for an economy to flourish) on this issue is a political minefield. It is addressing one of the issues involved in the discussion about American workers not getting real raises for over a decade.
It’s a market “cheat”. Exploitation is a false premise, the real issue is a surplus and artificial pricing of labor. Nobody makes you take a salaried job, and your free to go at any time.
No one deserves or is owed a job. When you enter a salaried position you’ve essentially contracted for your skill set. If your skill set is needed badly enough then for the “lousy hours” you should either get more or have it in writing you won’t be working 60+ hours a week. An employers acceptance of that means you’re needed bad enough, refusal means there’s plenty more where you came from.