TYLER, Texas, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Nearly two dozen states filed a lawsuit against the federal government on Tuesday claiming that a new labor rule, which offers overtime pay to all American workers who earn up to nearly $50,000 per year, is unconstitutional.
Twenty-one states are plaintiffs in the suit, filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Texas.
The crux of the new regulation, set to take effect nationwide Dec. 1, is to raise the ceiling for American workers to get overtime pay. The new threshold is $47,476 per year -- a substantial amount higher than the old limit of $23,660.
The plaintiffs, who argue that the rule is unconstitutional because it issues fiscal mandates to states, are concerned that the change might wreak havoc with state budgets because more government employees would earn overtime pay.
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The suit, led by Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, also argues that the Obama administration overstepped its authority by creating the new regulation.
"The Department of Labor's new overtime rule is the latest in a series of unlawful, overreaching and unilateral actions taken by President Obama's administration," Laxalt said in a statement Tuesday. "Longstanding federal law requires an overtime exemption for 'bona fide executive, administrative, or professional' employees."
"The Department of Labor ... is forcing state, local and private employers to pay overtime to any employee who earns under a certain amount, regardless of whether that employee is actually performing 'executive, administrative, or professional' duties," he continued.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the new rule will extend overtime pay availability to more than 4 million workers in its first year.
"The department has issued a final rule that will put more money in the pockets of middle class workers -- or give them more free time," the department says on its website.
In addition to Nevada, the other states party to the lawsuit are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.
21 states sue gov't over labor rule
