Press Releases

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training, today introduced a resolution (H. J. Res. 95) under the Congressional Review Act to protect workers, students, nonprofit organizations, and small business owners from the consequences of the Department of Labor’s controversial overtime rule.

Concerns have been raised that the department failed to streamline existing overtime regulations and instead finalized a rule that will stifle workplace flexibility, threaten upward mobility, and burden small businesses. Additionally, nonprofit organizations and colleges and universities have warned this costly mandate will hinder their ability to serve their communities.

“Our nation’s overtime rules need to be modernized, but the Department of Labor’s extreme and partisan approach will lead to damaging consequences that the American people simply cannot afford,” Rep. Foxx said. “This resolution will protect workers, students, small business owners, and vulnerable individuals from a rule that will do more harm than good.”

“The Department of Labor has finalized a rule that will limit opportunities for workers, make it harder to realize the dream of a college education, and jeopardize important services for individuals in need,” said Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN). “We have a responsibility to do everything we can to ensure this doesn’t happen. I want to thank Representative Foxx for introducing this resolution and for her leadership in protecting workers, students, and vulnerable Americans from this fundamentally flawed rule.”

BACKGROUND: In May, the Department of Labor released its final overtime rule, which increases the salary threshold for overtime eligibility from $23,660 to $47,476 per year. House and Senate leaders introduced legislation earlier this year to require the department to pursue a more balanced and responsible approach to updating federal overtime rules. However, the administration issued an extreme rule that will:

• Stifle workplace flexibility by shifting employees into hourly status and requiring them to track their hours.

• Limit opportunities for workers to climb the economic ladder by forcing employers to scale back hiring, eliminate entry-level management positions, and reduce opportunities for on-the-job training and career development.

• Hurt younger Americans who will face higher college costs, fewer jobs, and new obstacles as they begin their careers.

• Jeopardize crucial services for individuals in need by dramatically increasing costs on nonprofit organizations serving their communities.

• Create new hurdles for small businesses that have limited resources to comply with the department’s costly mandate and will continue to confront a confusing and complex regulatory scheme that the administration failed to streamline.

Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress may pass a resolution of disapproval to prevent, with the full force of the law, a federal agency from implementing a rule or issuing a substantially similar rule without congressional authorization. The resolution would block the Department of Labor’s overtime rule, which is scheduled to go into effect December 1, 2016.

To read the resolution, click here.

To learn more, click here.