SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog 

With the Dec. 1, 2016, deadline for the Department of Labor (DOL) Final Overtime Rule approaching, employers across the country are urgently working to implement new compensation and classification practices. But recently, the DOL has been facing much criticism and resistance, as evidenced by a duo of federal lawsuits filed last week and a House vote to delay the rule’s implementation.

Twenty-one states have filed suit against the federal government seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction to block the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule and declare it unlawful.

In the 30-page complaint filed Sept. 20, 2016, the states allege that the Obama administration is trying to impose heavy costs and its own policy initiatives, in violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. On March 13, 2014, President Barack Obama ordered the DOL to revise the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime exemption to account for the federal minimum wage. The DOL complied and released its final rule on May 18, 2016.