DOL’s new overtime rule may face legal challenges: Should employers wait and see?

U.S. Department of Labor building in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

“It’s déjà vu all over again.” Yogi Berra’s famous words seem apt, as the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on Sept. 8 proposing changes to the minimum salary thresholds to qualify as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that are eerily similar to the 2016 regulations that were enjoined just days before they were slated to take effect.

The NPRM proposes a more than 50% increase to the minimum salary thresholds to be classified as exempt from overtime under the white-collar exemptions (i.e., executive, administrative and professional) and a more than 30% increase to qualify for the highly compensated employee exemption. And similar to the ill-fated 2016 regulations, the NPRM calls for “automatic” updates to the minimum salary threshold every three years.