The U.S. Department of Labor filed notice with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Monday appealing the decision that blocked implementation of the overtime rule that would have more-than-doubled the salary threshold for exempt employees. This appeal comes despite the administration’s prior move to drop the appeal in September 2017.
This does not mean, however, that the Trump administration is in favor of the Obama-administration rule; rather, this move will allow the current administration to revise the rule, likely by making a much more modest increase to the salary threshold. The Department of Labor has stated that it intends to file a motion to put the appeal on hold while the DOL “undertakes further rulemaking to determine what the salary level should be. ” Such rulemaking will be informed by the responses to the administration’s Request for Information issued earlier this year. The administration received more than 140,000 comments in response to that RFI.
As always, we will continue to keep you posted on any developments in this area. In the meantime, employers should expect and prepare for at least some increase to the salary threshold.