The National Restaurant Association (NRA) has issued a statement of support for the House of Representatives attempt to allow a six-month delay in the effective date of the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule.
“We thank Congressman Tim Walberg (R-Michigan) for his continued leadership on this bipartisan effort to bring much needed relief to America’s one million restaurants. Restaurants operate on extremely thin margins with low profits per employee and little room to absorb added costs. The Department of Labor’s overtime overhaul will force many Main Street businesses to make hard decisions. A delay in implementation will help employers learn how to comply and carefully adjust for impact. We urge Congress to move this legislation forward,” said Cicely Simpson, EVP of policy and government Affairs for the NRA.
In other news concerning the DOL’s overtime rule, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt filed a lawsuit on Sept. 20 on behalf of 21 states, challenging the Obama administration’s overtime rule. The AGs maintain that the overtime rule more than doubles the salary threshold for a U.S. worker to be entitled to overtime and will force many state and local governments, as well as private businesses, to substantially increase their employment costs.
Joining Texas and Nevada in the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin.
In addition, the National Retail Federation filed a suit in U.S. District Court on behalf of the millions of employers and employees who will be drastically affected if the DOL’s changes to the federal overtime rules go into effect on Dec. 1.
On May 18, the DOL issued a final rule to update the regulations governing which employees are eligible for overtime pay. Today, employers are required to pay overtime for all employees earning $455 per week or $23,660 or less per year. Under the new rule, that salary threshold would increase and require businesses to pay overtime for all employees earning $913 a week or $47,476 or less per year.
