DOL Appeals Nationwide Injunction of new FLSA Salary Basis Regulations and Mandatory January 1 Salary Increase for White Collar Employees

Last month, a federal judge in Texas enjoined on a nationwide basis April's new FLSA regulations increasing the minimum salary required for the white collar exemptions (for professionals, executives and administrators) and automatically increasing that threshold every six months.   Texas v. DOL, Case No. 4:24-CV-499 (E.D. Tx. 11/15/24).   The Department of Labor last week appealed that decision to the Fifth Circuit.  While most employers likely already increased their minimum exempt salaries to meet the initial July 1 deadline, employers have time to rescind any scheduled future increases intended to meet with January 1, 2025 deadline.  The Columbus Dispatch reported this week that OSU has so rescinded the scheduled salary increases intended to satisfy the new – now enjoined -- rule.  The court found, among other things, that the DOL exceeded its authority in making automatic increases instead of going through the Administrative Procedures Act route for each increase and refused to defer to the DOL under the Supreme Court’s 2024 Loper decision (rejecting the former Chevron rule). 

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