The FLSA’s exempt salary threshold increases to $43,888 today (July 1, 2024) for all U.S. employers except the Texas state government. Texas had sought a preliminary injunction in federal court suspending enforcement of the rule nationwide.
Instead, late on Friday, June 28, the federal court overhearing its challenge, temporarily halted the rule only as it applies to the government of Texas until the merits of the underlying case are adjudicated. Private employers in Texas, and all other employers in the country, are subject to the new salary test beginning today.
While the new salary test remains alive for most for now, the court’s ruling makes clear its days are likely numbered. In issuing the preliminary injunction, the court’s opinion found Texas will be “likely to succeed in showing that the 2024 rule is an unlawful exercise of power” when the case is ultimately decided.
Notably, the court relied on the reasoning set forth in the United States Supreme Court’s decision issued earlier the same day. That ruling overruled a 40-year-old case precedent that holds courts must defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of the federal laws they enforce.
The Texas lawsuit is one of three federal court challenges to the DOL final rule. Another, which did not seek an injunction, filed by more than a dozen business groups led by the Plano Chamber of Commerce, was consolidated by the court with Texas’s challenge.
A third challenge was filed by software company Flint Avenue LLC in the Northern District of Texas. Flint Avenue moved for a nationwide preliminary injunction in that case on June 12, 2024. No decision has been issued.
We will update our subscribers with any developments as these cases progress.
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