Overtime Rule to be Rewritten
The overtime rule put in place by the President Barack Obama administration will be rewritten by the administration for President Donald Trump. There have been various delays regarding the changes to the rules dating back to November of 2016, giving the current administration more time to rewrite the rules. The deadline for the overtime rules change had been extended from May 1 to June 30.
Under the previous administration, the rule was expanded to double the amount of money a worker must make before being deemed a managerial employee and exempting them from the law that requires them to make time and a half when working more than 40 hours per week. The number was raised to $47,000, but the administration ran out of time to get this new limit passed, leaving it in the hands of President Trump and his administration.
The proposed changes to the rule were rejected by a Texas court based on procedural grounds late in 2016 when business groups sued, saying the new amount was too high. The Obama administration appealed the ruling, but failed to resolve the problem prior to leaving the White House.
Overtime lawyers made a court filing on June 30 that stated the following:
"The department has decided not to advocate for the specific salary level ($913 per week) set in the final rule at this time and intends to undertake further rulemaking to determine what the salary level should be. Accordingly, the Department requests that this court addresses only the threshold legal question of the department's statutory authority to set a salary level."
The Justice Department has yet to say what the new level for the overtime rule should be when it comes to the salary. Business groups were pleased with the court filing by the overtime lawyers from late in the month of June, claiming that the impact on their workers would’ve been excessive had the rule changes from President Obama taken effect.