Compliance Stuff

On February 14, 2025, the Fifth Circuit denied the appellants’ petition for rehearing  en banc  in  Mayfield v. United States Dep’t of Labor— a  September 2024 decision  holding that the U.S. Department of Labor’s authority to “define” and “delimit” the terms of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) exemptions includes the power to set a minimum salary for exemption. The dispute in  Mayfield  dates back to 2019, when the DOL issued a  final rule  raising the minimum salary required to qualify for most EAP exemptions from $455 per week to $684 per week.  Mayfield, a small business owner, challenged the rule, arguing that the DOL lacks, and has always lacked, the authority to define the EAP exemptions in terms of salary level (as opposed to by job duties)—an argument that has been embraced repeatedly by the Texas federal district courts (see  here  and  here ).  The district co...

A federal judge in Texas seemed skeptical that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) did not overreach with its latest rule that raised the minimum salary thresholds to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) white-collar overtime exemptions during arguments in a challenge by the state of Texas and several business organizations seeking to block the rule nationwide. Quick Hits A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas held oral arguments on cross motions for summary judgment in a challenge to the DOL’s rule that raised the minimum salary to be exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements. The state of Texas and a group of business organizations are seeking to expand a preliminary injunction to block the DOL’s overtime rule on a nationwide basis. Among other things, the rule will increase the minimum salary to be exempt to the equivalent of an annual salary of $58,656 on January 1, 2025. On November 8, 2024, U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan for the East...

On September 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit joined four other federal courts and held that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has statutory authority to impose a minimum salary threshold to qualify for the executive, administrative, and professional overtime exemptions (EAP Exemption) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA ).  Mayfield and R.U.M. Enterprises, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor , No. 23-507-24 (5th Cir. Sept. 11, 2024) . The Fifth Circuit’s decision was in response to a legal challenge related to the 2019 DOL Final Rule on overtime pay, which increased the minimum salary requirement for the EAP Exemption . While seen as a win for the DOL in its effort to enforce its more recent 2024 Final Rule, the ruling does not address the validity of the 2024 Final Rule, and leaves open other possible challenges to the 2024 Final Rule. Overview of the DOL Minimum Salary Rules In 2019, the DOL promulgated a new version of its “Minimum Salary Rule,” raising t...

  On September 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) authority to use a salary basis to define its white-collar overtime exemptions. Quick Hits The Fifth Circuit upheld the authority of the DOL to include a salary basis in the test in defining the white collar overtime exemptions. The ruling is a win for the DOL, which is currently defending its latest increase to the minimum salary thresholds for the white-collar exemptions. The Fifth Circuit, in  Mayfield v. U.S. Department of Labor , held that a 2019 DOL rule, which sought to raise the minimum salary requirement for the so-called white collar or executive, administrative, or professional (EAP) employee exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), “fell within the [DOL’s] explicitly delegated authority to define and delimit the terms of the Exemption.” The ruling is a significant win for the DOL as it defends its  new April 2024 rule  to further...