The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is celebrating an important victory for small business: the August 31, 2017 permanent injunction ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Amos Mazzant against the Overtime Final Rule published by the Obama Administration’s Department of Labor (DOL) on May 23, 2016.

Under the rule, employees earning up to $47,000 annually, double the previous maximum, would be eligible for mandatory, time-and-a-half overtime pay for each hour worked over 40 hours per workweek.

According to the NFIB, at least 44% of small businesses would have incurred significant additional operating expense arising from more than 4 million additional workers who would have been eligible for the mandatory overtime pay.

The NFIB and several businesses filed a lawsuit that the district court combined with a separate suit brought by 21 states’ attorneys general against the new rule that was scheduled to take effect on December 1, 2016.

Implementation was blocked, however, by a temporary injunction ordered by Judge Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas on November 22, 2016. The Obama Justice Department, on behalf of the Department of Labor (DOL), filed an appeal on December 1, 2016. The new administration filed a reply brief on June 30, 2017.  However, on August 31st:

The court held that the Final Rule’s salary level exceeded the Department’s authority, and concluded that the Final Rule is invalid.  The case was heard in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division (State of Nevada, et al. v. United States Department of Labor, et al., No. 4:16-CV-00731). https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/final2016/litigation.htm

As the NFIB noted, the “government could appeal Judge Mazzant’s decision.”

Alternatively, as pointed out by MRA, a 501(c)6 non-profit trade association:

The DOL [under the Trump Administration] is focusing its efforts on further rulemaking. In fact, the DOL has recently issued a “request for information” (RFI) asking for public comment by September 25, 2017 on 11 particular questions.

Access the RFI here.

The NFIB website serves the small business community nationwide.