Obama Administration's 'Overtime Law' Hit With Lawsuit by 21 States

Nevada was joined by 20 other states in a lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday over a new rule that would extend mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million workers.

The Washington Post reports that the suit was filed by Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, asking the court to block the law before it goes into effect Dec. 1. The measure would make many exempt employees, including those who perform executive, administrative or professional duties, eligible for overtime.

Under current Fair Labor Standards Act rules, “employees who are paid less than $23,600 per year ($455 per week) are nonexempt” and qualify for paid overtime.

Under the new rule, overtime protections would apply to workers who make up to $913 a week, or $47,476 a year, and the threshold would readjust every three years to reflect changes in average wages.

The Labor Department announced the new rule in May and said that it would result in “a meaningful boost to many workers’ wallets.”

Laxalt said that the rule would put a burden on private and public sectors by straining budgets and forcing layoffs.

“This rule, pushed by distant bureaucrats in D.C., tramples on state and local government budgets, forcing states to shift money from other important programs to balance their budgets, including programs intended to protect the very families that purportedly benefit from such federal overreach,” Laxalt said in a statement.

Filing the suit in the Eastern Texas District was a strategic move; that district is known as a “rocket docket” court where cases move along quickly.

The states of Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin are all hoping that this will end quickly.

Read more at the Washington Post.