Federal courts weighing challenges to the US Labor Department’s overtime pay rule still have to decide how far the Biden administration can stretch its authority, despite the Fifth Circuit’s decision upholding an earlier version of the regulation.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Sept. 11
gave the DOL the greenlight to continue using a worker’s salary as a factor in determining their eligibility for overtime pay, in a case involving the Trump administration’s version of the rule.
The court warned, however, that the agency doesn’t have unlimited authority in determining the salary threshold. The decision shows that even when judges determine agencies are acting within the law, they may still rein in regulators if they think a rule goes too far.