RULING EXPECTED NEXT WEEK IN LEGAL CHALLENGE TO INCREASED SALARY REQUIREMENT FOR FLSA “WHITE COLLAR” EXEMPTIONS

Back in May 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") issued its final rule, bumping the minimum salary level for white collar exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") from $23,660 annually ($455 per week) to $47,476 annually ($913 per week). With the new standard slated to go into effect on December 1, 2016, employers have spent the last six months scrambling on how to comply with the new rule, which makes millions of formerly exempt employees now eligible for overtime under the FLSA.

 

Options available to employers include bumping employee salaries to meet the new minimum (not feasible in many cases), paying employees’ current salaries with overtime after 40 hours (increased expense), reorganizing schedules and workloads to avoid overtime, or adjusting hourly rates of pay to essentially maintain the same pay level by estimating potential overtime hours. For a more detailed explanation of the final rule, click on this link to read an article by my colleague Jessica Coco Huffman in Phelps Dunbar’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana Office. For a discussion and explanation of the FLSA white collar exemptions, click on this link.
 

However, 21 states filed a lawsuit against the DOL, seeking to block the implementation of the new salary requirement prior to it going into effect, because of the heavy burden it would place on state budgets An injunction hearing was held November 16, 2016 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. At the hearing, issues addressed included the DOL’s authority to make the change, the appropriateness of a nationwide injunction, and the impact on the incoming Administration. Following the hearing, the federal Judge in the case stated he was taking the matter under advisement, and expects to have a ruling on the requested injunction on Tuesday, November 22, 2016.
 

Reading the tea leaves, I think it is unlikely the Court will issue the injunction this late in the game. The federal Judge hearing the case, Amos L. Mazzant III, is an appointee of President Obama, who initially pushed for the change. However, after our tumultuous roller-coaster ride of a political season, the only sure bet is to see what happens next Tuesday.
 

If the unlikely actually happens, I expect an enormous sigh of relief from many employers, tinged with annoyance and aggravation over six months spent preparing for a rule that never went into effect.

 

 

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