DOL Overtime Rule Challenge

Support From THLA

THLA, along with the American Hotel and Lodging Association, is supporting a lawsuit to challenge the federal Department of Labor’s final rule that substantially altered the overtime regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

As previously reported, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new overtime regulations provide that beginning July 1, 2024, the minimum salary threshold for employees to be considered exempt from overtime pay will increase from $35,568 annually to $43,888.

On January 1, 2025, this minimum salary threshold will increase again to $58,656. These changes represent an over 60 percent increase in the salary that employers must pay an employee in order for that employee to be treated as exempt from overtime pay.  These regulatory changes, if implemented, will result in substantial increases in labor costs that will be burdensome to the hotel industry and other commercial sector employers.

Response

In response to the 2024 overtime rule, THLA has joined AHLA and other business groups in a lawsuit against the DOL to block the rule from taking effect. The lawsuit  was filed on May 5, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.  The lawsuit argues that the DOL has once again exceeded its statutory authority under the FLSA and violated the Court’s 2017 decision.  In 2017, the Court struck down a rule by the DOL which attempted to make a similarly dramatic increase to the salary threshold for overtime exempt employees.

Dive Deeper

AHLA will host a webinar June 5 on the final overtime rule and its impact on the hotel industry.

THLA will keep its members updated as this case unfolds. Do not hesitate to contact THLA attorneys with any questions you may have.