Texas Sues Obama Administration Again, This Time For Department Of Labor's 'Overtime Rule'

AUSTIN, TX -- The Texas attorney general joined his Nevada counterpart on Tuesday in suing on behalf of 21 states for what he termed as President Barack Obama's "latest illegal action," the U.S. Department of Labor's new overtime rule.

In May, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a new rule updating regulations determining which white-collar, salaried employees are entitled to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime pay protections. Toward that aim, the rule increases the salary threshold below which most white-collar, salaried workers are entitled to overtime from the current $455 per week (or $23,660 for a full-year worker) to $913 per week (or $47,476 for a full-year worker).

The rule is due to take effect Dec. 1, a date implemented to give employers plenty of time to prepare, Department of Labor officials said at the time. "The updates will impact 4.2 million workers who will either gain new overtime protections or get a raise to the new salary threshold," Department of Labor officials wrote on their blog.

But AG Ken Paxton views it differently, inferring the new rule is too costly and burdensome for the state's employers. In increasing the overtime eligibility threshold ("without valid congressional authorization," Paxton's press release noted), the rule will force employers in both the private and public sectors to substantially increase employment costs -- which could, in turn, lead to elimination of services or employee layoffs, he noted.

“Once again, President Obama is trying to unilaterally rewrite the law,” Paxton said. “And this time, it may lead to disastrous consequences for our economy. The numerous crippling federal regulations that the Obama administration has imposed on businesses in this country have been bad enough. But to pass a rule like this, all in service of a radical leftist political agenda, is inexcusable.”

Joining Texas and Nevada in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wisconsin.

The new rule is roughly two years in the making. President Obama in 2014 directed the Secretary of Labor to update the overtime regulations "...to reflect the original intent of the Fair Labor Standards Act, and to simplify and modernize the rules so they're easier for workers and businesses to understand and apply," federal officials wrote in their primer.

The final rule by the Department of Labor has several goals, officials added:

• Raise the salary threshold indicating eligibility from $455/week to $913 ($47,476 per year), ensuring protections to 4.2 million workers (including an estimated 370,000 in Texas).
• Automatically update the salary threshold every three years, based on wage growth over time, increasing predictability.
• Strengthen overtime protections for salaried workers already entitled to overtime.
• Provide greater clarity for workers and employers.

This is the latest lawsuit in a string of lawsuits filed by Texas against the Obama administration -- a record that is a point of pride for Republican leaders, as the Texas Tribune recently noted. Since Obama took office in 2009, Texas has sued his administration at least 44 times, often on issues with which state officials disagree from a politically ideological lens.

>>> Image via Shutterstock; graphics via U.S. Department of Labor