DOL Appeals Overtime Ruling to Fifth Circuit Ahead of Trump Term

The US Labor Department wants a federal appeals court to review a Texas judge’s decision to toss its rule to expand overtime eligibility to 4 million new workers, an effort that may be short lived under the incoming Trump administration.

Department of Justice attorneys representing the agency filed an appeal Tuesday to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, requesting that the court take a look at US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas Judge Sean D. Jordan’s decision earlier this month to vacate the rule on the grounds that it went beyond the agency’s authority.

The rule, issued by the Biden administration earlier this year, would have updated the test used to determine whether a worker should be subject to an exemption to overtime pay requirements for employees who work in a “bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity.”

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, those workers don’t have to be paid overtime if they are salaried, make more than a certain amount each year, and have qualifying job duties.

The regulation canceled by Jordan on Nov. 15 would have updated the salary portion of the test so that workers making less than $58,656 a year would be automatically eligible for overtime pay any time they worked more than 40 hours a week. It also planned to update that salary threshold every three years.

Management-side attorneys have speculated that once President-elect Donald Trump takes office that the DOJ will withdraw its appeal of the rule.

The DOL wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The case is State Of Texas v. DOL, 5th Cir., Docket No. unavailable, appeal filed 11/26/24.