The Patriot Post® · Obama Judge Halts Overtime Rule

The news just keeps getting worse for Democrats, particularly Barack Obama, whose already tarnished legacy is being jeopardized even more as he prepares to vacate the White House. The Left suffered more heartache yesterday after an Obama-appointed judge blocked an overtime rule that was finalized by the Department of Labor in May.

“A federal judge has blocked a Department of Labor rule on overtime pay that made more than 4 million private-sector workers eligible for mandatory extra pay or time off,” The Washington Times reports. “U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas, whom President Obama appointed, imposed a nationwide injunction against the rule Tuesday at the request of 21 states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups. … The judge said the Labor Department regulation exceeded the authority granted it by Congress, which he said gave Labor the right to define which workers are considered salaried but only based on the duties they performed, not by how much they made.”

What the injunction does, in addition to helping workers, is immediately save businesses billions of dollars. As the Times explains, “The Labor Department regulation, which business groups claimed would cost them $12 billion a year over the next decade, raised the salary threshold for receiving mandatory overtime from $23,660 to $47,476 a year, or from $455 to $913 a week.” But more tellingly, the decision also amounts to another smackdown of Obama, who personifies government overreach.

The decision “is good news for workers,” says the Manhattan Institute’s Diana Furchtgott-Roth, who adds, “As well as increasing the complexity of hiring for employers, the new rule would have hurt workers who value job flexibility. … Let us hope that the Trump administration repeals the rule in its entirety.”