Labor Dept. signals change to Obama’s overtime pay extension

The Labor Department signaled on Friday that it could lower the salary threshold for overtime eligibility set under the Obama administration, Reuters reported.

The department asserted to a federal appeals court that it had the authority to use salary levels to determine which workers are eligible to receive overtime pay, backing the Obama administration’s stance on the matter.

But it also argued that a ruling by a federal judge in Texas last year blocking the Obama administration’s overtime pay rule could limit the Trump administration’s ability to set a lower salary threshold.

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Former President Barack Obama’s Labor Department announced last May that the salary threshold for workers to receive overtime pay would increase from $23,000 per year to $47,500.

The threshold increase would make about 4 million more U.S. workers eligible to receive overtime.

Several states sued to block the rule, before a federal judge in Texas issued an injunction, arguing that only Congress could increase the salary level so drastically.

Trump’s Labor Secretary Alex Acosta indicated earlier this year that the department could aim to set a new threshold around $33,000.