The Pearland Chamber of Commerce has joined more than 50 Texas business organizations in filing a lawsuit against a new Department of Labor overtime rule, which goes into effect Dec. 1. The Texas and national business organizations, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and the Texas Association of Business, filed a lawsuit that alleges a new overtime rule exceeds the Department of Labor’s statutory authority under the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. The overtime pay rule changes the salary threshold for those who are exempt from receiving mandatory overtime pay. Currently, full-time, salaried workers making $23,660 or more per year do not qualify for overtime pay. Under the rule, that salary level changes to $47,476 or more per year in 2016. The increase will have several effects on businesses, including adjustments to full-time staff as well as part-time employees, said Ann Strouhal, Pearland Chamber of Commerce Government Relations Committee member. Strouhal said the ruling will hit restaurants and retail stores the hardest “It’s not just a salary issue at this point,” she said. “I think that’s what small businesses, especially, are beginning to realize—what other impacts it can have on their employees.” Strouhal said moral concerns have to be taken into account as decisions have to be made about raising salaries or counting hours of nonexempt employees, while also addressing the increased cost of doing business. Randy Johnson, U.S. Chamber vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits, said in a statement the policy would result in significant new labor costs and cause “disruptions” in the labor market. “The new overtime rule will result in salaried professional employees being converted to hourly wages, and it will reduce workplace flexibility, remote electronic access to work, and opportunities for career advancement,” Johnson said. U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said in a statement Tuesday he expects the overtime rule to withstand legal scrutiny, dismissing the lawsuits as a partisan attempt to undermine the Obama administration’s labor policies. “Despite the sound legal and policy footing on which the rule is constructed, the same interests that have stood in the way of middle-class Americans getting paid when they work extra are continuing their obstructionist tactics,” Perez said in the statement. The overtime rule was intended to “restore the intent” of the Fair Labor Standards Act, Perez said. The effects of the law’s overtime protections have eroded over time, he said. The DOL said about 4.6 million employees who are currently exempt from overtime pay would receive overtime protection under the rule, which the department argues would help those workers receive fair compensation for their work. The suit states that, by setting an excessively high salary threshold for determining who qualifies as “executive, administrative and professional employees,” the rule departs from the intent established by Congress in the Fair Labor Standards Act. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The state of Texas also announced its own federal lawsuit against the pending overtime rule change, joining a coalition of 21 states. Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement the new law would “lead to disastrous consequences for our economy."