By now you’ve no doubt heard that a federal judge has delayed the Department of Labor pending rule on overtime pay. More than 4 million private-sector workers would have been eligible for mandatory extra pay or time off and job classifications would have changed from salary to hourly in many more cases. Many employers were just beginning to experience the unpleasant backlash accompanied with the “status” change or feeling of job security that some workers equate with being a salaried employee.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, other business groups and 21 states had lined up to challenge the overtime rule in court. U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas, imposed a nationwide injunction against the rule saying the Labor Department regulation exceeded the authority granted it by Congress, which he said gave Labor the right to define which workers are considered salaried but only based on the duties they performed, not by how much they made.
What’s Next?
Since this was an Obama administration executive order, and given the waning days the President has in office, there will be no challenge or effort to appeal the order. It remains to be seen what course of action the Trump administration will take.
