JACKSON KELLY PLLC “PUBLIC LAW MONITOR”
BY Joshua Claybourn who is Counsel in Jackson Kelly’s Evansville Office.
Injunction Issued For New Overtime Rules
A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction blocking a sweeping Department of Labor (“DOL”) regulation set to qualify millions more Americans for overtime pay beginning December 1. The rule would require employers to start paying overtime to certain “white collar” workers earning salaries of less than $47,476 a year—a threshold many say is too big a jump from the current $23,660 last updated in 2004. Judge Mazzant in the order said the challengers had made a sufficient case “that the Department’s salary level under the Final Rule and the automatic updating mechanism are without statutory authority.â€
Even without court action, the fate of the rule was far from certain because it also faces a possible strong challenge from Donald Trump, who has vowed to roll back business regulations. DOL may appeal the ruling, but the next administration may instruct DOL not to continue defending the suit.
Notably, twenty-one states who were included as plaintiffs also asked the Texas district court to overturn Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (1985), where the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Fair Labor Standards Act applies to the states. The district court noted only the Supreme Court may overturn its precedent, but it also indicated the states made a persuasive argument against Garcia which could later be heard by the Supreme Court.
Indianapolis Tries To Claw Back $380,675 In Incentives
Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett has begun the process of clawing back $380,675 in tax incentives granted to Rexnord Corp. as the firm prepares to fold its local operations and move the work to Mexico. Rexnord had claimed the incentives under a 2009 agreement which provided a five-year personal property tax abatement. Although Rexnord retained its workforce for five years after its agreement with the city, the memorandum of understanding “stipulates that the city can monitor Rexnord for compliance during the five-year period of tax abatement and for two years afterwards,” said Taylor Schaffer, a spokeswoman for Hogsett. Click here for more from the Indianapolis Star.
Man Sues After Losing Election To Dead Candidate
A Democrat who ran for the Allen County Council is challenging the results because one of the three contested seats went to a candidate who died shortly before the election. Palermo Galindo says Republican Roy Buskirk should never have been certified as one of the three winners because he died of cancer on Nov. 4, four days before the election. Galindo filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Allen County Election Board. Galindo was the fourth top vote-getter in the election and his attorneys argue one of the three contested seats should be his because Republicans did not fill the ballot vacancy created by Buskirk’s death.
ACLU Sues Franklin Township Schools Over Christian Prayer
A man represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has filed a lawsuit challenging the Franklin Township School Board’s alleged policy of opening meetings with exclusively Christian prayers. The suit filed Tuesday on behalf of Duane Nickell before Judge Tanya Walton Pratt in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana seeks an injunction and a declaration that the practice violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The complaint alleges that prayers are given by school board members and are “invariably Christian with the School Board member-officiant referring to Jesus or Christ.
FOOTNOTE: Joshua Claybourn is Counsel in Jackson Kelly’s Evansville office. He advises clients in matters of business and corporate law, governmental services, and public finance. Learn more here.
