Obama's thwarted overtime expansion

A federal judge in Texas ruled the Labor Department had overstepped its authority in setting new overtime rules

President Obama.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Business owners around the country are cheering this week, said Michelle Rindels at the Associated Press. New overtime rules were set to go into effect on Dec. 1 that would have made more than 4 million workers "newly eligible for time-and-a-half pay" when they worked more than 40 hours a week. Employers would have been required to pay overtime to salaried workers making less than $47,500 a year, "a dramatic jump from the old threshold" of less than $23,660. But those changes are now on hold after a federal judge in Texas ruled the Labor Department had overstepped its authority by raising the salary limit so significantly. Employers are off the hook for the extra pay for now, but they have a fresh dilemma on their hands, said Katie Johnston at The Boston Globe. Many businesses have spent the past few months preparing for the new rules — some by bumping workers' pay up to the new threshold to avoid paying them overtime or by converting salaried employees to hourly wages. Should they "roll back changes that have already been put in place?"

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