On Friday, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the Biden administration Expanding overtime protections to millions of workers.

Judge Sean D. Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas reigned He said the Labor Department overstepped its authority by issuing the regulation earlier this year. It granted summary judgment to the state of Texas, which sued to stop the rule from taking effect.

The overtime rule is one of the most far-reaching economic reforms that President Joe Biden has unilaterally pursued through the federal rulemaking process. This would significantly increase the share of workers eligible for half-time pay when they work more than 40 hours a week.

But thanks to court fights like the one in Texas, the regulation the future was in doubt Even before Donald Trump won the presidential election, he vowed to broadly roll back Biden’s agenda.

Jordan, who Trump nominated to the bench during his first term in the White House in 2019, temporarily blocked the implementation of the overtime rule in Texas in June. His latest order halted the nationwide regulation, leaving existing, stricter overtime rules intact.

A Department of Labor spokeswoman did not immediately comment on the agency’s plans for the rule.

The agency may appeal Jordan’s decision in hopes of keeping the rule alive, but it will ultimately fall to the incoming Trump administration to defend it. A Trump campaign spokesman declined to say where Trump stood on the Biden rule when HuffPost asked in September.

Most hourly workers are entitled to time and a half pay when they work extra hours, but the rules are different for salaried workers. Biden is seeking to raise what is known as the overtime pay threshold, the level at which most salaried workers are automatically guaranteed to receive overtime pay.

Trump set the threshold at just $35,568 during his first term. Biden’s rule would increase that figure to $58,656 next year, so the threshold would cover an estimated 4 million additional workers. From now on, the threshold would be indexed to increase with inflation.

Leading employer groups had strongly opposed the Biden rule, just as they did when former President Barack Obama tried to expand overtime protections to more workers. Ultimately, increasing the salary threshold will increase workers’ wages and therefore employers’ labor costs.

Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents the construction industry, was among the groups that applauded Jordan’s decision to lift the rule. He said employees would lose the “flexibility” granted to executives and other salaries exempt from the law.

“This could have disrupted the construction industry, harmed small businesses in particular, restricted workplace flexibility in setting employees’ work hours and schedules, and harmed career advancement opportunities,” Ben Brubeck, the group’s vice president of regulatory and labor affairs, said in a statement.

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