On November 15, 2024, a district judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a significant, albeit somewhat unsurprising, opinion in Texas v. Department of Labor, vacating the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) 2024 Final Overtime Rule (“Final Rule”), which, as we previously reported (here and here), had raised the minimum salary threshold on July 1, 2024, and was set to further increase the minimum salary threshold on January 1, 2025, for the executive, administrative, and professional (“EAP”) exemptions, and the highly compensated employee (“HCE”) exemption.
As a refresher, the Final Rule featured three components: (1) an increase to $844 per week (or $43,888 per year) for the EAP exemptions and to $132,964 for the HCE exemption that took effect on July 1, 2024; (2) a further increase to $1,128 per week (or $58,656 per year) for the EAP exemptions and to $151,164 for the HCE exemption on January 1, 2025; and (3) automatic increases every three years, beginning July 1, 2027.
The DOL previously issued a similar overtime final rule in 2019 that increased the minimum salary threshold from $455 per week to $684 per week. Unlike the 2024 Final Rule, the 2019 rule withstood legal challenge, and was upheld this past September by the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
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Recent Updates
- New York Enacts Amendment to Limit Frequency of Pay Damages for Manual Workers
- DOL Shelves Independent Contractor Rule
- Time Is Money: A Quick Wage and Hour Tip . . . Contractual Indemnification May Not Guard Against FLSA Claims
- California Court of Appeal Holds That Prospective Meal Waivers for Shifts Between Five and Six Hours are Enforceable
- New Jersey Supreme Court Confirms: Commissions Are Wages Under the New Jersey Wage Payment Law