DOL Appeals Overtime Injunction

Author: Michael Cardman, XpertHR Legal Editor

October 30, 2017

On behalf of the US Department of Labor (DOL), the US Department of Justice today appealed the permanent injunction invalidating the Obama administration's 2016 overtime rule.

The DOL filed the appeal to maintain its authority to establish overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and it should not be interpreted as the Trump administration endorsing the $47,476 minimum salary threshold set by the Obama administration last year, a DOL official told the Wall Street Journal. A request for comment from the DOL had not been returned as of the time of publication.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued the permanent injunction in August, saying the DOL's rule would have made an employee's job duties irrelevant by raising the minimum salary threshold so high. This is not what Congress intended when it wrote the FLSA; therefore, the court ruled that the DOL exceeded its authority by setting the salary level at $47,476.

Once the appeal is scheduled, the Trump administration will ask the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to put the case on hold while the DOL undertakes additional rulemaking to determine what the salary level should be.

In his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said the minimum salary level should be "somewhere around $33,000" to account for the rate of inflation since 2004.