On June 30, 2017, the Department of Labor filed its reply brief with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.  A copy of the brief can be found here. Thus, the Texas lawsuit that has put the overtime regulations overhaul on hold nationwide, is now in the hands of the 5th Circuit.  Any question as to whether the Department of Labor would chose to withdraw the appeal has been answered in the negative. Significantly, however, the Department of Labor has withdrawn its appeal with respect to the legality of the specific $913 per week ($47,476/year) salary threshold:

“The Department has decided not to advocate for the specific salary level ($913 per week) set in the final rule at this time and intends to undertake further rulemaking to determine what the salary level should be.  Accordingly, the Department requests that this Court address only the threshold legal question of the Department’s statutory authority to set a salary level, without addressing the specific salary level set by the 2016 final rule. In light of this litigation contesting the Department’s authority to establish any salary level test, the Department has decided not to proceed immediately with issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking to address the appropriate salary level….Instead, the Department soon will publish a request for information seeking public input on several questions that will aid in the development of a proposal.”

Accordingly, the question now is simply whether the Department of Labor has the authority to set a specific threshold or whether Congress must do so. And again, we wait.