In light of the Texas district court’s recent judgment invalidating the 2016 overtime rule, the DOL filed an unopposed motion to withdraw its appeal of the November 2016 order that preliminarily enjoined the rule on a nationwide basis. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the motion and dismissed the appeal on September 6. Unless and until a party to the underlying litigation files a plenary appeal of the summary judgment order, the Texas litigation challenging the 2016 rule is over.
The DOL, meanwhile, has received more than 124,000 comments in response to its June 2017 Request for Information regarding the overtime rule. The agency is likely to propose some version of a new overtime rule, but what exactly that new rule will look like–and when it will be published–remains to be seen. Based on comments made by Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, many expect a proposed increase in the minimum salary threshold for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions to the low $30,000 range.