As many experts expected, the federal government’s new rules on overtime—set to take effect on Dec. 1—are now facing legal challenges.
Attorneys general for 21 states, including Kansas, have filed suit against the change, which says that employees will be eligible for overtime if they make less $47,476 per year, even if their job duties would otherwise make them exempt. (The previous threshold was $23,660.)
About 40,000 Kansas private-sector employees will be affected, plus 550 state government workers.
“The cascade of unauthorized rules and regulations continuing to pour out of Washington in the final months of this presidential administration is truly breathtaking,” Kansas Attorney Derek Schmidt said.
“The federal strategy appears to be throwing many new regulations at the wall and see what sticks. In this case, the unauthorized federal mandate affects not only private businesses but state taxpayers, who will bear the added cost imposed on state government. Our legal objection is that any power to impose this mandate on states rests with Congress, which has not delegated that power to the bureaucrats at the U.S. Department of Labor.”
The National Federation of Business has filed a separate legal challenge against the rule. The organization argues the Labor Department has overstepped its authority. The NFIB also says the changes present an unfair burden to small businesses. In addition to its lawsuit, the NFIB is petitioning the government to push the Dec. 1 implementation date back to next June.
“In many cases, small businesses must reorganize their workforces and implement new systems for tracking hours, recordkeeping, and reporting,” said Juanita Duggan, the NFIB’s president and CEO. “They can’t just flip a switch and be in compliance.”
Thinking Bigger Business has published pieces on what small businesses should be doing now to prepare, assuming the legal challenges don’t succeed. You can find those here:
How Your Small Business Can Get Ready for the New Overtime Rules
