On Nov. 15, in a win for ABC and its members, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas set aside the U.S. Department of Labor’s controversial 2024 final rule, Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees which changed overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court found that the Biden-Harris Labor Department’s 2024 overtime rule’s July 1, 2024, increase was unlawful as well as the scheduled Jan. 1, 2025, increase. Specifically, DOL’s final rule increased the minimum annual salary level threshold for exemption to $43,888 on July 1, and on Jan. 1 it was scheduled to increase to $58,656. In addition, salary thresholds would have been updated every three years starting on July 1, 2027. On May 22, ABC joined a coalition of business groups in filing a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas challenging the DOL’s overtime rule.
“This decision is the correct one, and an important win for ABC members and the rest of the regulated community,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “The 2024 rule’s radical increase in the salary threshold for exemption would have further complicated the current economic outlook. Multiple industries, like construction, are grappling with uncertain economic conditions such as high interest rates, supply chain disruptions, materials price inflation and workforce shortages, all of which push operational costs ever higher. The rule’s triennial automatic indexing provision would have exacerbated its harmful impact on businesses and added to rampant inflation that is already harming the economy as a whole.”
For more information, please see ABC’s press release.
