The new Department of Labor (DOL) overtime regulations increasing the minimum salary threshold for white collar exemptions to an annualized $47,476 were set to become effective December 1, 2016. However, on November 22, 2016, a Texas Federal District Court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the new rules from becoming effective.
The DOL has now appealed the Court’s injunction decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The timing for such an appeal typically stretches over several months. The DOL does have the option, however, of requesting that its appeal be considered on an expedited basis, but such requests are not automatically granted. The DOL may also file a motion requesting that the injunction be stayed while its appeal is pending. Granting a stay would reinstate the new overtime regulations. Doing so would of course create a potentially cumbersome scenario of implementing significant overtime changes which might only be reversed once the 5th Circuit rules on the DOL appeal.
Takeaway: At least for now, and unless a motion to stay is made and granted, the DOL new overtime regulations remain without effect. Accordingly, employers are not at this time obligated to adjust employee salaries to maintain their exempt status.
