Fourteen state attorneys general have filed an amicus brief in Texas, joining opposition to a Department of Labor final rule meant to expand overtime eligibility to many long-term care employees and others as of July 1.
The overtime rule increases the salary threshold necessary to exempt salaried executive, administrative or professional employees from federal overtime pay requirements. When the changes first were proposed last year, industry advocates told McKnight’s Senior Living that the changes were “ill-timed” and would worsen workforce issues for providers, threatening access for residents.
“Texas has already secured a preliminary injunction topping this rule, and I am proud to lead this coalition of states in supporting our neighbor asking to vacate this latest effort by the Biden-Harris administration to go around Congress in an election-year giveaway,” stated Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R).
The preliminary injunction applies only to some employees in Texas, according to attorneys at Nelson Mullins.
Griffin is joined in the amicus brief by the attorneys general of Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West Virginia.
In the brief, the attorneys general cited the Supreme Court’s overturning of the Chevron doctrine earlier this summer as a reason for overriding the overtime rule. The court ruled 6-3 in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo to overturn the Chevron Doctrine, which held that US courts should give substantial deference to federal agency decisions.
