On Nov. 22, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction blocking the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) burdensome and costly overtime final rule. The rule would have changed the federal exemptions to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act for administrative, executive and professional employees, the so—called "white collar" worker classifications that have long been exempt from time-and-one-half pay for working more than 40 hours per week. The new rule will not go into effect without further action from the court.

Prior to the preliminary injunction, the rule was scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 1 and would have doubled the current minimum standard salary level for exemption from $23,660 to $47,476 annually and automatically increased it every three years. To learn more about the impact of the decision, ABC’s general counsel Littler Mendelson, P.C. has prepared an analysis of the court’s ruling.

On Sept. 20, ABC and a coalition of business groups filed suit against the DOL's costly and burdensome final overtime rule in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. ABC will continue to update members on any developments regarding the legal challenge through Newsline.

Read ABC’s press release praising the court’s decision here.

ABC has been a vocal opponent of the overtime rule and submitted comments along with more than 900 ABC members opposing the rule. ABC supported legislation that would prevent DOL from implementing the rule and that would have delayed its implementation and submitted comments as a member of the Partnership to Protect Workplace Opportunity as well.

Additional information is available on DOL’s website.