A federal judge in Texas on Friday blocked the federal government’s enforcement overtime rulefinding that the Department of Labor exceeded its authority in raising the minimum wage for exemption for executive, administrative and professional employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The rule, which went into effect in July and with the wage threshold set to rise again on Jan. 1, faced legal challenges from the state of Texas and business groups that were consolidated in one case.

Judge Sean Jordan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas said Friday that the July 1 threshold increase from $35,568 a year to $43,888 a year affected at least a third of employees who had previously been exempt.

“When one-third of exempt employees, whom the department acknowledges meet the duties test, are nevertheless non-exempt because of an atextual proxy feature — the increased salary level — something has gone terribly wrong,” Jordan said in court documents.

In making the decision, the judge referred to the Supreme Court in July acting in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raymondwhich overturned the Chevron doctrineProskauer Rose Allan attorneys Allan S. Bloom and P. Kramer Rice wrote in a article published in Sunday’s National Law Review. The doctrine held that American courts should give substantial deference to the decisions of federal agencies.

“Jordan found that the new wage increases not only excluded those employees who were not exempt, but also disqualified significant portions of employees who would otherwise meet the applicable requirements. pregnancy tests,” conformable Polsinelli attorney Robert J. Hingula.

The salary threshold was to increase to $58,656 on January 1.

The judge’s decision means the annual salary threshold for overtime pay returns to $35,568 per year or $684 per week, the established in September 2019 and in effect in January 2020, when Donald Trump was president.

“The DOL can appeal the decision, but with the upcoming change in administration, it is uncertain what the DOL’s next step will be,” Hingula said.