Scott, Murray Lead Democratic Amicus Brief Supporting DOL’s Overtime Rule
WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Members of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), filed a bicameral amicus brief in support of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) appeal of a Texas district court’s order enjoining the overtime rule.
“As members of Congress working to ensure that workers are provided fair wages, amici have a strong interest in the proper interpretation and strong enforcement of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), including the Act’s requirement that workers be paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours per week,” the Members wrote. “In the regulation challenged in this case, the Department of Labor took a needed step toward ensuring that workers receive fair pay.”
Last month, a Texas court issued an injunction against the Department of Labor’s overtime rule that would provide working Americans with the overtime pay they have earned and deserve. The brief filed today argues that the court's claim that the Secretary of Labor did not have authority to set the salary level below which workers qualify for overtime pay disregards nearly 80 years of precedent.
“Congress has amended the FLSA a number of times, but never altered the relevant portions of section 13(a)(1) or questioned the Department’s authority to “define and delimit” the bona fide EAP exemption,” the Members argued. “Rather, the salary level test has long been regarded as an essential part of the determination whether an employee works in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity.”
In addition to Ranking Members Scott and Murray, the Amicus Brief was signed by Representatives Alma Adams, Suzanne Bonamici, Katherine M. Clark, John Conyers, Joe Courtney, Danny Davis, Mark DeSaulnier, Marcia Fudge, Ruben Gallego, Raúl Grijalva, Rubén Hinojosa, Barbara Lee, Frank Pallone, Mark Pocan, Jared Polis, Jan Schakowsky, Mark Takano, and Frederica Wilson, and Senators Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Bob Casey, Al Franken, and Bernie Sanders.
More than 4 million workers will directly benefit from the Department’s overtime rule, which raises the salary level under which most salaried workers automatically qualify for overtime pay to $913 per week, or roughly $47,476 per year. This was woefully out-of-date, covering just 7 percent of the full-time salaried workforce.
Full text of the amicus brief can be found here.
###
Press Contact
edlaborpress@mail.house.gov
202-226-0853
Next Article Previous Article