The
U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has issued a nationwide
injunction against enforcement of the Obama administration’s rule, set to go
into effect December 1, that would mandated overtime pay for salaried employees
earning less than $47,426.00 annually, as opposed to the current overtime
standard of $23,660.00. The court ruled that the Department of Labor regulation
was unauthorized by the Fair Labor Standards Act because it substituted salary
level alone for consideration of employment duties in determining whether
salaried employees are or are not hourly workers.
The
court also held the Department of Labor lacks authority to insert automatic
upward salary adjustments in the new rule, because the automatic adjustment
provision eliminates the notice and comment period required by the Act before
implementing new regulations.
Twenty
state governments and fifty business organizations brought the lawsuit
challenging the rule. It seems highly unlikely that the Trump administration
Department of Labor will pursue efforts to enforce or revise the rule after
inauguration of the new President in January.
