AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt filed a lawsuit today on behalf of 21 states, challenging the Obama administration’s latest illegal action: the U.S. Department of Labor’s new “Overtime Rule.”
Without valid congressional authorization to do so, the overtime rule more than doubles the salary threshold for a worker to be entitled to overtime. The effect of this doubling will be substantial. The overtime rule will force many state and local governments, as well as private businesses, to substantially increase their employment costs. Some governments and private businesses may even be forced to eliminate services or lay off employees.
Even worse, the new rule contains a ratcheting mechanism to automatically increase the salary level every three years without going through the rule-making process required by law. As a result, none of the groups affected by the changes to the rule—workers, employers, governments, and the public in general—will have the ability to provide their valued input before the federal government imposes these massive changes on the economy.
“Once again, President Obama is trying to unilaterally rewrite the law,” Attorney General Paxton said. “And this time, it may lead to disastrous consequences for our economy. The numerous crippling federal regulations that the Obama administration has imposed on businesses in this country have been bad enough. But to pass a rule like this, all in service of a radical leftist political agenda, is inexcusable.”
Joining Texas and Nevada in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin.
Click here to view the lawsuit:
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/epress/Overtime_Rule_Complaint.pdf