On September 20 we reported about a lawsuit by 21 states seeking to block the U.S. DOL’s new overtime exemption rules. This week, the states followed up their complaint by filing an Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction, asking the court to block enforcement of the new rule pending a final ruling on the states’ claims. According to the court’s docket no hearing date has been set.
There have been no further developments in a similar lawsuit filed on the same day by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a coalition of business groups. To date, the business groups have not filed a motion for a preliminary injunction. The court’s docket reflects that the Labor Department’s answer to the complaint is not due until November 21, 2016.
At this point, we cannot recommend that employers pin their hopes on these lawsuits to relieve them from having to comply with the new FLSA exemption rules effective December 1, 2016.
Note: This post has been corrected. The original post stated that the Chamber of Commerce lawsuit does not challenge the base salary increase included in the new rule. It does.