A federal choose in Texas on Friday completely blocked a Biden administration rule that will have made about 4 million extra salaried US staff eligible for additional time pay.
US District Decide Sean Jordan in Sherman, Texas, mentioned the Division of Labor rule that took impact in July improperly bases eligibility for additional time pay on staff’ wages fairly than their job duties.
The state of Texas and enterprise teams representing a spread of industries had filed lawsuits difficult the rule, which had been consolidated.
Jordan, who was appointed by Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his first time period, struck down the rule after saying in June that it was possible invalid and quickly blocked it from being utilized to Texas state workers.
The rule would have required employers to pay additional time premiums to salaried staff who earn lower than $1,128 per week, or about $58,600 per 12 months, once they work greater than 40 hours in per week, starting Jan. 1, 2025, and it had quickly raised the brink to about $44,000 per 12 months on July 1.
The earlier threshold of about $35,500, which was set in 2019, will now be again in impact.
The Labor Division and the workplace of Republican Texas Legal professional Basic Ken Paxton didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
David French, government vp of the Nationwide Retail Federation, one of many teams that sued, mentioned the rule would have curtailed retailers’ means to supply larger advantages to lower-level salaried workers.
The Labor Division can search overview of the ruling within the New Orleans-based fifth US Circuit Courtroom of Appeals, which is extensively considered essentially the most conservative federal appeals courtroom. However the incoming Trump administration might abandon any try to revive the rule.
Federal regulation exempts staff with “executive, administrative, and professional” (EAP) duties from receiving additional time pay, and the Labor Division has for many years used wage as one issue in deciding when that applies.
The Labor Division, in adopting the rule, mentioned that lower-paid salaried staff typically do the identical jobs as hourly workers, however work extra hours for no further pay. The rule additionally established automated will increase within the wage threshold each three years to mirror wage progress.
Jordan on Friday agreed with Texas and the enterprise teams that by considerably elevating the wage degree, the rule improperly jettisoned the duties requirement written into federal regulation.
“The Department may impose some limitations on the scope of the EAP Exemption’s operative terms, but it cannot enact rules that replace or swallow the meaning those terms have,” Jordan wrote.
