Department of Labor officials estimate the new overtime protections will cover an additional 4.2 million USA workers, 69,000 of whom will be in Wisconsin.
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Gov. Paul LePage has joined officials from 21 states – all but one controlled by Republicans governors – to challenge in federal court a new U.S. Department of Labor rule that extends mandatory overtime to an estimated 4 million employees.
The suit says the federal Department of Labor simply doubled the salary basis in determining who is eligible for overtime instead of considering the type of work performed.
The plaintiffs, who argue that the rule is unconstitutional because it issues fiscal mandates to states, are concerned that the change might wreak havoc with state budgets because more government employees would earn overtime pay.
“The numerous crippling federal regulations that the Obama administration has imposed on businesses in this country have been bad enough”, Paxton said.
“Over the past year, manufacturers have been facing a deluge of regulations, often proposed with razor-thin or nonexistent legal authority”, NAM’s Vice President and General Counsel Linda Kelly said.
The Department of Labor lists a couple of ways employers can comply with the new rule; either pay time and a half for overtime work, raise workers’ salaries above the $47,000 threshold or limit worker’s hours to 40 a week.
Texas and 20 other states sued the Obama administration to block overtime rules that business groups say will boost employment costs and may force layoffs by effectively setting a federal minimum salary for white-collar workers.
By using an executive order to establish these dramatic rule changes, President Obama successfully avoided Congress, yet again, to enact drastic and controversial changes during his last few months in office.
“We are confident in the legality of all aspects of our final overtime rule”.
Tuesday’s legal challenge seeks to halt the new rule from going into effect on December 1.
The rule is expected to have broad effect on employers, workers and sectors including fast-food, retail, colleges and nonprofits.
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In addition to SC, other states who joined this filing include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.
