Earlier today Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas denied the motion of the U.S. Department of Labor to stay further district court proceedings in the overtime litigation.  The DOL had asked the district court—which has already issued a preliminary injunction blocking the DOL’s new overtime rule from taking effect—to refrain from taking any further action until such time as the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on the interlocutory appeal of the injunction. Still on tap at the district court are the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment (essentially seeking a permanent injunction of the overtime rule) and a motion filed by the Texas AFL-CIO to intervene in the lawsuit.  (The Texas AFL-CIO is seeking to intervene as an additional party defendant to hedge against the possibility that the DOL—a cabinet-level department—abandons the appeal or its defense of the underlying district court lawsuit after President-elect Trump takes office later this month.)

Briefing at the Fifth Circuit concludes on January 31, and while the district court proceedings will continue until then, any intervening action by the district court—as well as the preliminary injunction already issued—could be affected by the Court of Appeals’ eventual decision.