By On the very day that its final overtime rule was supposed to go into effect, the U.S. Department of Labor filed an appeal of last week’s preliminary injunction that temporarily halted the rule. The appeal will be heard by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Will Appeal Be Expedited?
Appellate rules for the Fifth Circuit permit parties to file a motion for an expedited appeal, which means the appeal would be heard and ruled upon in a much shorter timeframe than normal, e.g., the normal timeframe for an appeal can be a year to 18 months. The court will grant such motion only for good cause. We expect that the DOL might try to expedite its appeal, especially given the change in administration coming in late January. As of this morning, however, there is no indication that the DOL has moved for an expedited appeal, but it is possible that it hasn’t been listed on the docket or otherwise been made public yet.
The DOL could also ask the district court to stay the preliminary injunction pending the appeal – in other words, to allow the new overtime rules to go into effect pending the outcome of the appeal. It is unlikely that the district court judge would grant a stay, but it would be a logical next step. Again, no motion to stay the injunction is yet listed on the court’s docket.
Webinar At Noon To Discuss Injunction and Appeal
Please join our free webinar at noon (MT) today (December 1, 2016) as I discuss what the preliminary injunction of the DOL’s overtime rule and the pending appeal mean for employers. I’ll also discuss options for employers who have been considering, or may even have implemented pay practices in anticipation of the overtime rule changes. Register for the webinar here. We will record the webinar for those unable to attend.