AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced that Texas, Nevada and 19 other states, won a final judgment from a federal district court ruling that invalidates the U.S. Department of Labor’s unlawful Overtime Rule. The Obama-era edict more than doubled the salary threshold for a worker to be entitled to overtime, which would force many state and local governments, as well as private businesses, to substantially increase their employment costs.
“I applaud the court’s ruling, which represents a victory for the American worker and prevents an unlawful revision of the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Marc Rylander, communications director for the Office of the Attorney General. “The Overtime Rule limits workplace flexibility without a corresponding increase in pay and forces employers to cut their workers’ hours. This was one of the many egregious examples of federal overreach that occurred during the Obama era.”
Last November, a federal district court granted a nationwide preliminary injunction against the rule. “The Final Rule…is contrary to the statutory text and Congress’s intent” and “Congress, and not the Department, should make that change,” the court wrote.
Texas and Nevada were joined in the lawsuit by Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin.