A federal judge in Texas recently blocked a new federal regulation that would have expanded overtime pay to millions of Americans who are currently paid a salary. Under the blocked regulation, which would have gone into effect on December 1, 2016, most employees who earn less than $47,476 per year would have been entitled to earn an overtime premium whenever they worked more than 40 hour in any given week. We described the proposed regulation in an earlier post, which you can find here.
In a lawsuit titled Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor, a coalition of 21 states filed suit against the U.S. Government seeking to block this historic expansion of overtime rights. On November 22, 2016, the federal judge presiding over the lawsuit issued an injunction that prevented the overtime expansion from going into effect. The U.S. Department of Labor intends to appeal the judge’s decision.
Do you earn less than $23,660 per year? You may be entitled to overtime pay.
Despite this recent decision, many “salary” employees today should be paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a work week. For instance, most “salary” employees who earn less than $23,660 per year must be paid overtime; most employees who are paid a mix of salary and hourly pay must be paid overtime; and many employees who earn a fee per visit must be paid overtime.
We have successfully represented tens of thousands of workers all across the country in overtime cases. We work on a contingency, meaning we only get paid if we get a recovery for our clients. To learn more about our Wage & Overtime practice, click here.
Contact us today for a free consultation. We are here to work for you!