A coalition of U.S. business groups has filed a lawsuit to block a new Biden administration rule extending mandatory overtime pay to 4 million workers.
As per Reuters, the complaint was filed in a federal court in Sherman, Texas, late Wednesday.
The groups claim the rule goes too far and will force businesses to cut jobs and limit workers' hours.
The business groups argue that the U.S. Department of Labor lacks the authority to adopt the rule, which would require employers to pay overtime to workers earning less than $1,128 per week, or about $58,600 per year, when they work more than 40 hours a week.
Currently, the threshold is about $35,500 per year, set by a 2020 rule from the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, the business groups in the lawsuit said the costs of complying with the new rule "will force many smaller employers and non-profits operating on fixed budgets to cut critical programming, staffing, and services to the public."
However, the Labor Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. In adopting the rule, the agency noted that lower-paid salaried workers often perform the same jobs as their hourly counterparts but work more hours without additional pay.
While, the groups involved in the lawsuit include the National Federation of Independent Business, the International Franchise Association and the National Retail Federation.
Moreover, the case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump.
Additionally, the other judge in Sherman, U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, blocked a similar rule in 2017 that would have raised the overtime salary threshold to about $47,000.
