11.23.16

Scott Statement on Latest Attempt to Deny Workers Their Hard-Earned Pay

WASHINGTON – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after a federal judge in Texas placed an emergency injunction on the Department of Labor's overtime rule. 

“Yesterday, a federal district court in Texas granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of Labor’s overtime rule from going into effect nationwide on December 1. The overtime rule would raise the salary threshold under which most workers are automatically eligible for time-and-a-half pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week from $23,660 to $47,476. More than four million people were slated to become eligible for time-and-a-half pay on December 1. This decision is a major blow for American families.

 “The salary threshold has been raised seven times since the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was enacted in 1938. Yet, the Texas court ignored this precedent when it ruled that this update to the salary threshold exceeded the agency's authority. The FLSA explicitly delegates to DOL the authority to “define and delimit” the scope of overtime protections. The DOL's authority to set a salary threshold has been widely accepted for more than three-quarters of a century.  Congress has amended the FLSA on many occasions. If it wanted to limit the agency’s authority to update the salary threshold, it would have already done so.

“This rule has the support of workers from across the nation, but Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal or delay it, even though it would raise Americans' pay by nearly $12 billion over the next 10 years. Working families need a raise and this rule would help ensure that those Americans who have been left behind in this economy get their fair share. Committee Democrats will continue to fight back against these attempts to rob working people of the hard-earned pay that they deserve.”

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