A Texas federal judge overturned a U.S. Department of Labor rule that would have extended overtime eligibility to four million additional workers.

U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan said the U.S. Department of Labor’s rule wrongly determined overtime pay eligibility based on workers’ wages instead of job responsibilities.

The rule — introduced by the Biden administration earlier this year to go into effect Jan. 1, 2025 — was set to modify the test used to determine whether a worker qualifies for an exemption from overtime pay requirements.

The new Biden rule updated the salary component of the test, making workers earning less than $58,656 annually eligible for overtime pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a week. It also included a provision to adjust the salary threshold every three years.

The previous threshold of about $35,500, established in 2019, will be reinstated. The DoL’s rule would’ve included an overtime threshold increase on July 1, 2024, which was also struck down, along with the rule’s automatic “escalator” provision that would have increased the threshold every three years going forward.

“The minimum salary level imposed by the 2024 Rule ‘effectively eliminates’ consideration of whether an employee performs ‘bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity’ duties in favor of what amounts to a salary-only test,” Jordan said.

Jordan ruled that the overtime rule set the salary threshold for the exemption test so high that it rendered other factors, such as a worker’s job duties, irrelevant.

“Once again, the courts vacated a Department of Labor overtime rule that would harm wholesaler-distributors and businesses nationwide,” NAW Chief Government Relations Officer Brian Wild said in a news release. “The significant increase in salary thresholds would have stifled employee growth opportunities, reduced workplace autonomy and limited flexibility for workers.”

Likewise, the National Retail Federation — one of several business groups that filed the lawsuit — argued that the rule would have “forced employers to reconsider compensation packages for millions of workers across the country.”