A Texas judge has issued a preliminary injunction delaying implementation of the Department of Labor’s new overtime regulation. The new laws were announced in May and set to go into effect on Dec. 1.
Previous regulations stated that workers who made up to $23,660 per year ($455 a week) were entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours in a week. The new regulations would include anyone earning up to $47,476 a year ($913 per week.)
The White House claimed the new regulation would have meant overtime pay for more than 4 million workers who had not been eligible before, and would have boosted wages by $12 billion over the next 10 years.
To comply with the new regulations employers would need to either pay their employees overtime for working more than 40 hours/week, raise workers’ salaries above the new threshold or limit workers’ hours to 40 hours/week.
U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant declared that the DOL’s update of the regulation exceeded its authority. The judge’s ruling effectively presses the pause button on the regulation.
“The rule as written is simply too much too fast,” said Lizzy Simmons, senior director of government relations for the National Retail Federation. “We were pleased to see that the judge was taking a very [hard] look at the rule, and issu[ed] a ‘timeout’…while he considered the underlying case before issuing a final judgment.”
Noting that the holiday season is a very busy time of year, Simmons believes that this nationwide timeout will be very helpful to retailers.
The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals has maintained a neutral stance on the injunction, choosing instead to focus on keeping members updated on the changing status of the regulation. “I believe a lot of our members are very pleased with the temporary injunction,” said Jennifer Hatfield, government affairs director for APSP. “[They’re] probably hoping to see this as a permanent ruling.”
The Labor Department said in a statement that the court’s decision “has the effect of delaying a fair day’s pay for a long day’s work for millions of hardworking Americans.” The Department is currently considering all of its legal options.
