A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down an Obama administration rule that would have extended mandatory overtime pay to more than 4 million U.S. workers, siding with business groups and 21 states that had challenged it.
The decision came after the same judge last year blocked the rule from taking effect pending his final decision. The Trump administration had already said it would make changes to the rule, which riled trade groups and companies when it was adopted.
The rule, first proposed in 2015, would have doubled to about $47,000 the maximum salary a worker could earn and still be automatically eligible for overtime pay.
U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant in Sherman, Texas, initially blocked the overtime pay rule two days after the election on Nov. 22, 2016, before ultimately striking it down on Thursday. Mazzant said the salary level was set so high that it could sweep in some management workers who are supposed to be exempt from overtime protections.
