The US Department of Labor is considering its legal options regarding a preliminary injunction by the US District Court of Eastern District of Texas, enjoining the Department of Labor from implementing and enforcing its new over time rule.
At present federal law exempts employees with weekly salaries of $380 form being paid overtime.
But the US Dept of Labor issued a rule earlier this year requiring that managers earning salaries of up to $767 a week be paid overtime.
That rule which was set to go into effect this Thursday was blocked by the Texas District Court ruling.
Last Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant granted an emergency motion for preliminary injunction and thereby enjoined the Department of Labor from implementing and enforcing the Overtime Final Rule on December 1, 2016.
A DOL statement says since 1940, the Department’s regulations have generally required each of three tests to be met for the FLSA’s executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemption to apply: (1) the employee must be paid a predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed (“salary basis test”); (2) the amount of salary paid must meet a minimum specified amount (“salary level test”); and (3) the employee’s job duties must primarily involve executive, administrative, or professional duties as defined by the regulations (“duties test”).
The statement says the DOL has always recognized that the salary level test works in tandem with the duties tests to identify bona fide EAP employees.
The department has updated the salary level requirements seven times since 1938.
DOL strongly disagrees with the decision by the court, which has the effect of delaying a fair day’s pay for a long day’s work for millions of hardworking Americans.
It says the Overtime Final Rule “is the result of a comprehensive, inclusive rule-making process, and we remain confident in the legality of all aspects of the rule. We are currently considering all of our legal options.”
