Fresno, California – Federal overtime rule saga continues in court and this week a judge granted the Department of Labor an extension to May 1 for a decision. The agency will be required to provide a position and briefs on the legitimacy of jacking up the federal overtime salary threshold by more than double.
Gail Whaley from the California Chamber of Commerce gives us some background on the federal tap dance in court, “The revised federal overtime rule was set to take effect on December 1, 2016. The rule would change the salary level that must be met before an executive, professional or administrative employee can be classified as exempt from overtime. Under the rule, the federal minimum salary test would increase to $913 per week ($47,476 annually for a full-time employee); an employee paid less than this threshold would be guaranteed overtime pay. This salary threshold is more than double the current federal test and is also higher than California’s minimum salary test.”
After a suit was brought challenging the validity of the new federal overtime rule, just one week prior to it becoming law a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to halt the rule. Earlier this week both sides were in court to move this along, but due to the change to the Trump Administration, the judge granted the extension as the DOL argued that the new players in the federal government need time to go over the issue. The DOL stated that additional time is, “necessary to allow incoming leadership personnel adequate time to consider the issues.” The recent nomination of Alexander Acosta to become next Secretary of Labor is awaiting approval.
In the meantime, the old standard remains and time will tell if this new overtime rule will, in fact, go into play.
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