President Donald Trump may abandon a plan that would give millions of American workers extra pay when they work overtime. The rule was put in place by former President Joe Biden but was blocked by a federal judge last year. Now, Trump’s team has chosen not to defend the rule in court.
According to Huffpost, the Biden rule would make many more workers eligible for time-and-a-half pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. This would help about 4 million workers get extra money or more free time. Many workers, like retail store manager,s work very long hours but don’t get any extra pay beyond their regular salary, even if they work 70 hours in a week.
Twelve Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, wrote a letter to Trump’s labor secretary on Wednesday. They warned that rolling back the overtime reforms would betray Trump’s campaign promise to help working people. “This refusal to defend the overtime rule in court flies in the face of President Trump’s campaign promises to help workers,” Warren and her colleagues wrote.
What the overtime rule would actually do for workers
The rule focuses on something called the overtime salary threshold. This is the income level below which most salaried workers must get overtime pay under the law. Right now, the threshold sits at just $35,568 per year. This low number comes from a policy set during Trump’s first presidency.
While our brave pilots & airmen were in the skies over enemy airspace, Donald J. Trump was golfing with billionaires at his country club
— Jimmy (@TimmyFiveTimes) June 26, 2025
Biden’s rule would raise this threshold to $58,656 and then adjust it for inflation over time. This means employers would have to either pay these workers extra money for overtime or limit their hours to 40 per week. The change would give workers either more money or more time with their families.
Trump’s Justice Department filed a motion in April to stop an appeal that would keep the Biden rule alive. The administration wrote that it “intends to reconsider the rule.” This suggests they may weaken it or kill it completely, leaving the current low salary threshold in place. The situation mirrors what happened during Trump’s first term, when he abandoned a similar overtime rule from Barack Obama and put in place a much weaker version instead.
