Federal Judge Strikes Down Biden’s Overtime Expansion

Inside Higher Ed

Jessica Blake

November 18, 2024

A federal judge in Texas has struck down a Biden administration rule that would have expanded overtime eligibility for about four million salaried workers, including thousands of employees at colleges and universities.

The decision, released Friday, comes nearly six weeks before the second phase of the rule was set to take effect. In that phase, employees making less than $58,656 a year would be eligible for overtime pay. The current cutoff, which took effect in July under the first phase of the policy, is $43,888. But in his ruling, District Judge Sean D. Jordan tossed the entire rule, resetting the overtime threshold to $35,568.

Colleges and universities have argued that the Biden administration’s overtime expansion, first proposed in September 2023 and finalized this spring, went too far, too fast and would be “highly disruptive.” They warned that it could lead to tuition increases or layoffs. According to one analysis, nearly 59,000 employees across 882 institutions were set to benefit from the second phase. Those employees included admissions officers, counselors and advisers, student affairs professionals, and athletics staff, though coaches and faculty would have been exempt.

The overtime ruling, which Biden can appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, is the latest legal blow to the outgoing president’s agenda. Biden’s efforts to rework the student loan system, provide debt relief and expand antidiscrimination protections to transgender students are also on hold because of court rulings.

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