Federal Court Strikes Down Overtime Rule

Last week, a federal district court in Texas issued a ruling to strike down the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Overtime Rule in its entirety. The case challenging the DOL rule was brought by the state of Texas and a group of businesses and trade associations asserting the Department lacked the authority to raise the salary threshold for overtime pay to the level promulgated in the final rule. U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan agreed with the groups challenging the rule, finding that the salary threshold increase subverted the intent of the Fair Labor Standards Act by prioritizing an employee’s salary over an employee’s duties. Accordingly, the court issued an order vacating the rule. It is unclear at this time whether DOL will appeal the ruling.