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FLSA Injunction on Salary Threshold for Exempt Employees

Client Alert

A November decision issued by the Eastern District of Texas officially “vacated” the Department of Labor’s Final Rule, nationwide, raising the salary threshold for exempt employees. Interestingly, the Court decided to vacate the rule and “set it aside,” rather than issue an injunction based on a directive from the Fifth Circuit that calls for “illegal agency action” to be nullified and revoked, rather than stayed. The decision can be located here: https://www.cupahr.org/wp-content/uploads/OT-SJ-Decision.pdf

What does this mean for employers?

  1. January 1st salary increase requirement for exempt employees will no longer be required, and employers will not be required to raise salaries to maintain the exemption status.
  2. The Court also held that the July 1st increase requirement was similarly unlawful and; therefore, employers who did raise employees’ salaries could theoretically drop them back to, at or above, $35,568 and still maintain the exemption.

Although the Department of Labor could appeal this decision to the Fifth Circuit, such appeal would not conclude by January 20th when it is expected that Trump’s AG/DOL would drop the appeal.

If your clients would like to further discuss how this ruling impacts them or how to unwind previous changes, please do not hesitate to contact Bryan Meek at 330.253.5586 or bmeek@bmdllc.com.


"Alien Land Law" Restricts Foreign Ownership of Real Property in Florida

You can now enter into a Postnuptial Agreement in Ohio!

Ohio's 2024-2025 Fiscal Budget - Behavioral Health Updates

Ohio’s 2024-2025 State Budget was signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine on July 3, 2023. Behavioral health is an area that Governor DeWine expressed great interest in supporting and the final version of the Budget does reflect some of those initiatives. The Budget prioritizes growing the behavioral health workforce and increasing research and innovation by building community capacity for care that offers better crisis response services and treatment, increased prevention efforts, and increased provision of residential and outpatient services. Outlined below are notable Budget items geared toward achieving growth and improvement in the behavioral health field as well as some key items that were rejected by Governor DeWine’s veto.

ChatGPT for Legal Research

How trustworthy and beneficial is ChatGPT for legal research? What are the benefits and drawbacks of using this tool in the legal system.

Supreme Court Rules that Employers Must Show Substantial Increased Costs to Legally Decline Employees’ Religious Accommodation Requests

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in Groff v. DeJoy that under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”) employers must show, in order to decline religious accommodations, that the burden of granting religious accommodations to employees will result in substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of an employer’s particular business, thus amending the prior, simple standard of a “de minimis” undue hardship.