Attacks on Overtime Rule’s Salary Levels Carry Business Downside

Business groups challenging the US Labor Department’s new overtime rule may get more than they wished for if courts broadly gut a key provision on worker earnings, creating the potential for more litigation against employers over who should be eligible for time-and-a-half-pay.

Four pending lawsuits argue the DOL went beyond its authority when revising exemptions to overtime requirements for certain “white collar” workers, in part because it makes a huge swath of employees eligible when Congress meant for them to fall within a carve out.

Another legal strategy endorsed by all four cases takes aim specifically at the salary cutoff ...