Texas judge blocks overtime expansion
Association advocated against rule
A Texas federal judge blocked a U.S. Department of Labor rule that would have expanded overtime eligibility to low-salaried workers.
Judge Sean D. Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted summary judgment against the rule Nov. 15, stating it overstepped the DOL’s authority.
A year prior to the judgment, the ADA wrote a letter in response to the DOL’s Federal Register notice, urging the agency to reconsider the proposal.
“Dental practices cannot absorb heightened labor costs through price increases. Rates are often fixed by third-party payers,” wrote then ADA president Linda Edgar, D.D.S., and Executive Director Raymond Cohlmia, D.D.S., in a Nov. 7, 2023, letter to the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. “Even if they could, higher prices could be detrimental to the millions of Americans already struggling to pay for the dental care they need.”
The DOL proposed extending overtime pay eligibility to salaried workers earning less than $55,068 annually, or $1,059 per week. It was a nearly 55% increase over the current salary threshold of $35,568 per year, or $684 per week, that applies to businesses with over $500,000 in annual dollar volume.
“Factoring out the employer’s annual dollar volume, this proposal would extend overtime eligibility to most dental assistants and dental laboratory technicians,” Dr. Edgar and Cohlmia added.
The DOL uses several standards to determine whether salaried workers are eligible for overtime pay. Salaried workers who meet or exceed those thresholds are “exempt” from overtime pay, and some workers who do not meet those thresholds may be eligible.
“Note that dentists are already using pay increases as one of several strategies to alleviate widespread workforce shortages,” the letter reads, adding that 26% of dentists report that staffing shortages are preventing their practice from reaching 100% capacity.
More than 35% are actively recruiting dental assistants, to the ADA, and simultaneously nearly 40% report increasing pay by over 9% in the last year.
Follow all the ADA’s advocacy efforts at ADA.org/Advocacy.
