Before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, a federal judge in Texas blocked the implementation of an Obama administration rule to extend mandatory overtime pay for more than four million salaried workers.
Under the rule, which was scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1, employers would have been required to pay time-and-half to employees who worked more than 40 hours a week and earned less than $47,476 a year.
U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant issued a preliminary injunction because he felt that the Department of Labor was overreaching in its authority in making the change. Plaintiffs in the case also argued that the overtime pay rule would have especially hurt small businesses and eventually could have resulted in layoffs.
President Obama has the ability to appeal the decision, but he may choose to hold off on further action with his limited time in office leaving President-elect Donald Trump to deal with settling the dispute.
While not all meeting and event planners are salaried, the rule was likely on many of their radars, as they typically work nontraditional hours, especially in the weeks leading up to a big meeting or event.
More information on U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant’s ruling is available via Reuters.
