NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in Texas has blocked the Biden administration’s new rule that would expand access to overtime pay for millions of salaried workers across the United States

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan sided with the state of Texas and a group of business organizations that argued the Labor Department had overstepped its authority. Earlier this year we established a rule significantly increasing overtime pay for salaried workers — ruling that the department cannot prioritize employee pay based on job duties when determining eligibility.

Under federal law, nearly all hourly workers in the United States are entitled to overtime pay after 40 hours a week. But many salaried workers are exempt from this requirement unless they earn below a certain level.

The Labor Department’s now-repealed rule marked the largest increase to that cap in decades. Employers were required to pay overtime to salaried workers earning less than $43,888 a year in certain executive, administrative and professional roles as of July 1, and that figure is expected to rise to $58,656 next year.

The Labor Department estimated that an additional 4 million low-wage workers would be eligible for overtime protections in the first year under the new rule. An additional 292,900 higher-paid workers were expected to receive overtime benefits through separate threshold increases.

Now, the previous threshold of $35,568, set under the Trump administration in 2019, is set to come into effect again.

A Labor Department spokesman did not immediately comment when reached by The Associated Press on Friday. It was unclear whether the department would seek to appeal the decision by Jordan, who was nominated for the seat by Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his first term.

Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su when the rule was finalized in April stated He stated that management had “delivered on our promise to raise the bar” and that it was “unacceptable” for low-wage salaried workers to do the same work as their hourly colleagues without additional pay.

Legal challenges arose after this year’s rule was finalized. A handful of trade groups have argued that the move would hurt businesses and potentially lead to costs that could result in employers needing to lay off workers or limit employee hours.

David French, vice president of government relations for the National Retail Federation, one of the groups challenging the Labor Department’s rules, said Friday that the changes “will restrict retailers’ ability to offer the most flexible, generous and customized products.” Benefit packages for lower-level exempt employees in the industry.

Friday’s decision is a bit of déjà vu. A 2016 Obama-era effort to similarly expand overtime pay eligibility finally shot in court after facing objections from some business leaders and Republican politicians.

The Trump administration later imposed a smaller increase. First increase since 2004. Advocates for increasing overtime pay have emphasized that it is far from enough, arguing that too many salaried workers are still being defrauded of their time, but stressing that potential changes in Trump’s upcoming second term are unlikely to meet those demands.

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