Last month, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its final ruling on overtime regulations, updating and revising the regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The new regulations implement exemptions from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for executive, administrative, professional, outside sales and computer employees. The rule includes two-tiered increases to the minimum salary threshold and the threshold for highly compensated employees (HCE) as well as automatic updates to both thresholds.

When the final ruling was released, Doug Kantor, general counsel at NACS, said, “We are disappointed that the Department of Labor did not listen to the reality of the problems its overtime proposal will cause. By dramatically changing the law and treating every market in the country as if they are the same, the Department of Labor is doing a disservice to employees and small businesses alike. The rule will reduce employees’ flexibility and its costs will fuel inflation. It is even worse for businesses and their employees than the one that the courts struck down in 2017. We expect that the rule announced today will be challenged and overturned as well.”

A coalition NACS is a member of has filed a lawsuit challenging the DOL’s overtime rule. The lawsuit states that in 2017, the court permanently enjoined a DOL regulation, the “2016 Rule,” which attempted to dramatically raise the minimum salary required for executive, administrative or professional employees to be classified as exempt from overtime under the FLSA. The court also declared unlawful the department's attempt to reset the salary threshold on a triennial basis without further notice and comment each time. The lawsuit states that the plaintiffs are back before the court because the new overtime regulations go against the previous order declaring it unlawful.