Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened a new front in his legal battles against the Obama administration, this time leading the challenge against the White House’s effort to make more Americans eligible for overtime pay. The numerous crippling federal regulations that the Obama administration has imposed on businesses in this country have been bad enough. The overtime rule will force many state and local governments, as well as private businesses, to substantially increase their employment costs. “Forcing these regulations on states is a violation of the 10th amendment and the rule of law”.
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Plaintiffs in Tuesday’s lawsuit include the states of Texas, Nevada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and OH, among others.
Officials from the labor department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The change, which is scheduled to go into effect in December, is meant to reverse the erosion of overtime protections by raising the overtime threshold for the first time in more than a decade. Currently, full-time, salaried workers making $23,660 or more per year do not qualify for overtime pay.
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which joined the suit, said in a statement Tuesday that the rule will force employers to cut critical programs, staff and services. On Tuesday, Paxton warned the rule “may lead to disastrous consequences for our economy”. They double the annual salary threshold that allows companies to deny overtime to almost $47,500, up from $23,660.
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 Federal Labor Standards Act took effect in 1938 and guarantees workers will receive no less than the minimum wage. Both suits are filed in the Eastern District of Texas and were assigned to Judge Amos Mazzant – who was appointed by President Obama in 2014. Yet in adopting such a high salary threshold, the DOL has ignored the text and meaning of the FLSA which defines whether an employee is a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional employee in terms of the duties an employee is actually performing.
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This new rule will significantly impact public employers, private employers and workers everywhere, all without any Congressional oversite and with very limited public input.
