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Labor pushes for expedited overtime appeal schedule

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Labor department pushes for expedited overtime appeal schedule

The U.S. Department of Labor is asking an appellate court to expedite its consideration as to whether it should overturn a preliminary injunction that halted implementation of new overtime rules.

In a motion filed with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Friday, the Department of Labor asks that a schedule be established calling for briefs in State of Nevada et al. v. United States Department of Labor to be filed between Dec. 16, 2016, and Feb. 7, 2017.

The overtime ruling would have raised the threshold for exempt employees to $913 a week, or $47,476 annual for a full-time employee, compared with the current $455 a week, or $23,660 annually.

But on Nov. 22, Judge Amos L. Mazzant III of U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas, issued a preliminary injunction halting the Dec. 1 implementation of the rule. The Department of Labor filed a notice of appeal in the case earlier this week.

In its motion on Friday, the department asks that plaintiffs, who have said they plan to oppose expedition of the case, respond to its motion  by Dec. 6 and that the appeals court issue a ruling by Dec. 8.

“Expedition is clearly warranted in this case,” says the department in its motion. The overtime rule “provides crucial overtime pay protections to millions of workers who were treated as exempt under the outdated regulations that the Final Rule amended,” says the motion.  “Our opening brief will show that the preliminary injunction rests on an error of law and should be reversed.”

Plaintiffs in the litigation have “indicated they would prefer to await a summary judgment decision if the district court is inclined to issue such a diction.  However, a preliminary injunction is appealable on an expedited basis as of right,” says the motion.

 

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