Injunction Temporarily Blocks New Overtime Eligibility Rule

On Tuesday, Nov. 22, a U.S. District Court judge from Texas issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s overtime rule, which was scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 1.

Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for administration at Duke, said that while it may take time for the legal process to be resolved, the immediate impact on Duke will be two-fold:

1. any salary adjustments made on or prior to Dec. 1 to move pay ranges above the new salary threshold of $47,476 per year communicated earlier by the DOL will proceed as planned, and
2. all positions with pay ranges at or below the salary threshold that were scheduled to transition from exempt to non-exempt status on Dec. 1 will remain exempt until further notice.

“Duke will follow through on plans to move certain positions above the new salary threshold of $47,476 per year to remain exempt,” he said.

Those positions include postdoctoral fellows, job level 12 (and market level equivalents), the F1 market target, and certain research administration (RACI) classifications.

However, the action to move about 650 staff from exempt to non-exempt status effective Dec. 1, will be put on hold until further guidance is available.

“Those positions would have been eligible for overtime pay effective Dec. 1 but will remain exempt until further notice,” Cavanaugh said. “All staff in these positions will not be required to track their hourly time beyond their normal work schedule as previously communicated.”

Additional information will be shared in the coming weeks and as more information becomes available.