The Labor Department estimated that an additional 4 million lower-paid salary workers would become eligible for overtime protections in the first year under the new rule.

The overtime rule is one of the furthest-reaching economic reforms that President Joe Biden has pursued unilaterally through the federal rulemaking process. It would dramatically expand the share of workers who are entitled to time-and-a-half pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week.

A federal judge in Texas on Friday permanently blocked a Biden administration rule that would have made about 4 million more salaried U.S. workers eligible for overtime pay.

The Labor Department rule that took effect in July improperly bases eligibility for overtime pay on workers' wages rather than their job duties, a judge said.