Texas Judge blocks Overtime rule
A Texas judge provided a preliminary injunction to the Labor Department’s New Overtime Rule that was set to go into effect on December 1.
The Gettysburg Adams Chamber of Commerce summarized the judicial action in an email to it’s members.
The Labor Department’s contentious overtime rule was blocked Tuesday by a federal judge in Texas, putting one of President Obama’s top regulatory initiatives in jeopardy.In a 20-page order, Texas U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant issued a temporary injunction halting the rule nationwide.
“Due to the approaching effective date of the Final Rule, the Court’s ability to render a meaningful decision on the merits is in jeopardy,” he wrote. “A preliminary injunction preserves the status quo while the Court determines the department’s authority to make the Final Rule as well as the Final Rule’s validity.”
The rule would have extended overtime pay to more than 4 million workers starting Dec. 1, but the effective date has now been indefinitely pushed back. It would have required employers to pay overtime to most salaried workers who earn less than $47,476 annually, a much higher threshold than the current annual salary limit of $23,660.
It is unknown whether the litigation will kill the rule entirely, but a decision is likely not going to be made before Jan. 20.
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