Obama-Era FLSA Amendment DOA

The continuing saga of the Obama-era overtime rule now appears to be officially over. This rule, if implemented, would have required employers to pay employees more than $47,000 annually to qualify under one of the Fair Labor Standards Act's white- collar exemptions. As set forth in a previous post below, the rule was in serious limbo after a Texas federal district court judge temporarily prevented its enforcement just before Thanksgiving last year, and now that same judge has struck down the rule permanently.

In a nutshell, the court said the DOL exceeded the authority granted to it by congress by fashioning a rule that effectively doubled the salary employers had to pay employees to qualify under the white-collar exemptions. Although the court didn't quite shut the door on whether the US Department of Labor (“DOL”) has any authority to alter the salary basis test, the decision substantially limits DOL's authority to implement a new salary basis test and dramatically alter the landscape of workers eligible for overtime compensation.