Earlier this year, we wrote about the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) publication of the Final Rule, which significantly increased the minimum salary an employee must earn to qualify for the “white collar” exemption and the highly compensated employee exemption under federal law (see our blog post here). However, on November 22, 2016, a federal court in Texas blocked the enactment of the amendments that were set to go into effect next week on December 1, 2016. Finding that the DOL had exceeded its authority in increasing the salary basis for these exemptions, the court entered a nationwide preliminary injunction against the amendments going into effect.

For further information about the court’s preliminary order and our recommended actions for employers with operations in the US, please read our client alert.