Today, the Department of Justice, on behalf of the Department of Labor, filed a notice to appeal the preliminary injunction issued last week by the US District Court in the Eastern District of Texas of DOL’s new overtime rule.
The injunction, issued November 22 by U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant, enjoins the Department of Labor from implementing and enforcing the Overtime Final Rule which was scheduled to take effect today, December 1st.
Under the overtime rule, the salary threshold of workers who would be exempt from earning overtime would be raised from $380 per week to $767 a week .
The overtime rule would have largely affected management employees who up to now don’t earn overtime.
The Department of Labor has said it strongly disagrees with the court’s decision, and points out that the overtime rule is the result of a comprehensive, inclusive rule making process and it’s confident in the legality of all aspects of the rule.
DOL says since 1940, the department’s regulations have generally required each of three tests to be met for the Fair Labor Standard’s Act executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemption to apply.
These are that the (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 (2) the amount of salary paid must meet a minimum specified amount and (3) the employee’s job duties must primarily involve executive, administrative, or professional duties as defined by the regulations.
DOL has updated the salary level requirements seven times since 1938.
