Rule Will Not Take Effect On December 1. Yesterday, a federal judge in Texas blocked the U.S. Department of Labor's (USDOL's) overtime rule from taking effect on December 1, handing an eleventh-hour victory to employers across the country. The regulation was scheduled to take effect on Dec. 1. It would raise the salary limit below which workers automatically qualified for overtime pay to $47,476 from $23,660. The judge, Amos L. Mazzant III of the Eastern District of Texas, ru