Deadline for overtime rule briefs extended by court

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to delay until May 1 receiving briefs from the U.S. Department of Labor in litigation over the overtime rule while it considers the issues involved.

The Trump administration is widely expected to withdraw the Department of Labor’s support for its proposed new overtime rule, which would have raised the threshold for overtime-exempt employees to $913 a week, or $47,476 annually for a full-time employee, compared with the current $455 a week, or $23,600.

On Feb. 17, the federal government filed an unopposed motion seeking a 60-day extension of the due date for its reply brief, which was due on March 2, stating the extra time was needed “to allow incoming leadership personnel adequate time to consider the issues.” The 5th Circuit granted the motion in Wednesday’s order.

On Nov. 22, Judge Amos L. Mazzant III, of the U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas, issued a preliminary injunction halting the overtime rule’s planned Dec. 1 implementation, and the Labor Department then appealed to the 5th Circuit, which is based in New Orleans.