Manufacturers Win as Overtime Rule Loses in Court

For nearly a year, a group of trade associations and 21 states fought the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime rule in court. On August 31, in the Eastern District of Texas, the judge ruled in  favor for the states and trade associations and granted summary judgment, saying that because the rule “would exclude so many employees who perform exempt duties, the [DOL] fails to carry out Congress’ unambiguous intent. Thus, the final rule...is unlawful.” The decision is an important win for manufacturers, halting a change in labor law that would have drastically altered salary requirements and more than doubled the minimum salary level below which employees would have to track hours worked and be eligible for overtime pay. DOL has issued a Request for Information on these overtime regulation and the comment period remains open until September 25, 2017. SGIA continues to monitor this critical rulemaking. Sign up(link is external) to receive the most up-to-date regulatory and legislative information about specialty imaging.