The Patriot Post® · SCOTUS Critical of Obama's Overtime Pay Rules

Last year, the Obama administration was in the process of tweaking the nation’s overtime rules. And while the Department of Labor might have justified the action by saying it was forcing employers to pay their employees more, the Supreme Court ruled that the department didn’t follow procedure when it reinterpreted the regulation. On Monday, SCOTUS ordered a lower court in California to revisit the case of a California auto dealer who sued after its advisors wanted overtime. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “One of the basic procedural requirements of administrative rulemaking is that an agency must give adequate reasons for its decisions. … But where the agency has failed to provide even that minimal level of analysis, its action is arbitrary and capricious and so cannot carry the force of law.” See, Labor never explained why it changed the regulation.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, arguing that the majority shouldn’t have decided “to punt on the issue before it.” Still, it’s yet another instance where Barack Obama’s regulatory decrees were checked by the courts.