A federal judge in Texas on Nov. 22 placed a preliminary injunction on a regulation that would make an additional 4.2 million workers eligible for overtime, according to the court decision.
The regulation would have, beginning Dec. 1, required overtime pay for workers making $47,476 or less whenever they work more than 40 hours in a week. Previously, the salary threshold to receive overtime pay was half that amount. The Labor Department, which drafted the regulation, released a fact sheet that estimated the additional cost to American businesses at $295 million per year.
The regulation was placed under a preliminary injunction by Judge Amos Mazzant, who was appointed by President Barack Obama. The injunction is temporary, but Mazzant wrote in his decision that the plaintiffs have a strong case against the regulation.
"The State Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success on the merits because the Final Rule exceeds the Department's authority," Mazzant wrote.
