Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
Yesterday, a federal judge invalidated the Obama administration’s overtime rule, which would have doubled the overtime salary threshold to around $47,000. The rule would have made around 4 million additional workers overtime eligible. In an 18-page opinion, Judge Amos Mazzant (E.D. Tex.) concluded that, while the FLSA gives the Labor Department authority to use a salary threshold to determine eligibility for overtime, job duties must also be considered, at least when the salary threshold is high enough that it might sweep in white collar workers exempted from overtime.
As we previously covered, after Judge Mazzant enjoined the rule in November 2016, the Obama Administration appealed. When the Trump Administration took over, it continued to defend its FLSA authority but told the Fifth Circuit that it planned to abandon Obama’s rule.
Also on Thursday, France’s government unveiled its overhaul of the country’s labor code. As The New York Times summarizes:
[President Emmanuel] Macron’s changes make it easier to hire and fire workers and allow some workplace issues to be negotiated directly at the company level, rather than through industrywide agreements . . . .
The changes will go into effect on September 22, after they are ratified by the Cabinet.
The NLRB filed a complaint against Tesla yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The unfair labor practices alleged include Tesla’s requirement that workers sign broad confidentiality agreements that prevented them from talking about safety and working conditions.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
July 17
Senator J.D. Vance joins Donald Trump’s campaign, targeting pro-labor voters, Project 2025 includes gutting the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and Seattle Boeing workers prepare for a strike vote.
July 16
Teamsters president speaks at RNC; Starbucks decertification campaign fails; Biden taps new PBGC leader
July 15
Workday bias suit moves forward; DOL proposes new LMRDA rule; Bronx Defenders to go on ULP strike
July 14
Teamsters president to speak at RNC; youth work permit requirement rollbacks; eulogies to Jane McAlevey.
July 12
Dollar Tree and OSHA settle; union leaders split over Biden support; new report on low wages.
July 11
President Biden meets with union leadership and a New York law firm announces new applicant screening policy regarding student protest activity.