New Overtime Changes on Hold… For Now

Less than two weeks before the Department of Labor's controversial new federal overtime rule was scheduled to take effect, a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Labor from implementing the new rule.

The new rule would have doubled the minimum salary threshold to qualify for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standard Act's white collar exemption to $47,476 per year, with automatic adjustments to the threshold every three years.

Twenty-one states filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in October to block the rule, asserting that the DOL had exceeded its statutory authority. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant ruled in favor of the states, and issued a preliminary injunction to "preserve the status quo while the court determines the department's authority to make the final rule as well as the final rule's validity."

Following this ruling, the overtime rule will not take effect on December 1 and employers may continue to follow the existing overtime regulations until a final decision is reached by the court.

We are monitoring this matter closely. Please feel free to contact me directly or any of our attorneys at Berenzweig Leonard for further guidance or analysis. You can reach me at 703-760-0402 or DLeonard@BerenzweigLaw.com.