Litigation Over Overtime Rule Continues in the Federal Courts

When the new Secretary of Labor takes office, one of the first orders of business will be to determine how to deal with the Obama administration's overtime rules, which have been put on hold by a federal district court preliminary injunction currently on appeal to the Fifth Circuit.  This week, the circuit court extended to May 1st the deadline for the Trump administration to file a reply brief in the appeal.  Although the Fifth Circuit granted the DOJ request for an extension to "allow the incoming leadership personnel adequate time to consider the issues," the federal judge in Texas who temporarily blocked the rule is currently mulling business groups’ motion for summary judgment to permanently invalidate the rule.  Presumably, once Alex Acosta is confirmed by the Senate to be DOL Secretary, the Department will move quickly to settle this issue.