Temporary Relief

A U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has granted a request for a preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from enforcing the new overtime rule that takes effect on December 1, which would increase the salary threshold for exempt employees from $23,660 to $47,892. The court gave nationwide application to the injunction so that all states will be treated equally, rather than the injunction only being applicable to the twenty-one states (of which Oklahoma is one) that had originally sued the DOL to enjoin implementation of the new overtime regulations.

The lawsuit, filed this past September, alleges that implementation of the DOL regulations would cause a forced—and substantial—increase in labor costs for states and businesses with the near-doubling of the threshold for exemption from overtime eligibility.

What does this mean for schools? Temporary relief. Until the case is settled, employees currently exempt from overtime will continue to remain exempt. Districts can continue to pay their employees as they do now and will not have to make any changes or adjustments that they might have otherwise been planning for before the injunction.