Amicus Brief: Mayfield v. Dept. of Labor

The Fifth Circuit is considering the Labor Secretary’s claimed power to set and modify salary level rules for executive, administrative, and professional employees (also known as employees “exempt” from the law requiring overtime pay). In 2020, the Labor Department raised the minimum salary level for exempt employees by more than 50%, from a minimum of $23,660 to $35,568. Confronted by the increased minimum salary (and a proposed further increase to $55,068) Robert Mayfield, who owns Dairy Queen franchises, says he will have to cut his incentive pay program and demote some managers. The district court, referencing Chevron deference—the idea that judges should defer to reasonable agency interpretations of statutory language—rejected Mayfield’s arguments about the limits of secretarial discretion and violation of the nondelegation doctrine (the idea that Congress can’t delegate its legislative authority).

On appeal before the Fifth Circuit, MI filed a brief alongside the National Federation of Independent Business explaining how the Labor Department has wrongly construed a vague statutory phrase to claim broad authority to regulate. We focused on the separation of powers and the importance of political accountability for sweeping regulation. The appellate panel ruled against Mayfield and he filed a petition for en banc (all judges in the circuit) review, which we are now supporting with another brief. We argue that the panel decision creates conflicts with another Fifth Circuit decision and that FLSA exemptions aren’t a boogeyman, but instead represent a delicate balance struck by Congress.

Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.

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