The Biden-Harris administration put small business owners in their crosshairs.
One man finally had enough and drew a line in the sand.
And a Dairy Queen owner went to war against Biden-Harris officials for this surprising reason.
Biden-Harris Department of Labor targets businesses with new overtime rule
The Department of Labor changed the overtime rules for businesses this year.
Previously, hourly workers who made the equivalent of $35,568 per year or less were eligible for overtime pay where they were paid one and a half times their normal salary.
On July 1 this year, the maximum salary for hourly workers to be eligible for overtime pay increased to $43,888 a year.
Next year it will increase to $58,656, and that figure will be updated every three years based on inflation and other factors.
The number of hourly workers eligible for overtime increased and that is going to put a strain on the restaurant industry.
Fast food chains had to deal with the closures from the pandemic and then had to deal with rising labor costs from state minimum wage increases and a tight labor market.
Increased labor costs mean price increases are passed on to customers and the business owner has to take the hit.
The restaurant industry operates on thin profit margins and increased overtime pay is another obstacle for them to overcome.
Texas Dairy Queen owner slams the new overtime rules
Robert Mayfield owns 13 Dairy Queen locations in the Austin, Texas area.
His father gave up life as a cowboy in the 1940s to open the family’s Dairy Queen location.
“It’s a bad deal,” Mayfield told Fox News Digital. “Anybody that believed that was a good idea doesn’t own their own business.”
Mayfield has been battling the Department of Labor in court with the help of the Pacific Legal Foundation.
The conservative legal nonprofit has argued that the overtime changes exceed the rulemaking authority the department was granted by Congress.
“This is free enterprise,” Mayfield stated. “If people don’t like it, they go somewhere else.”
He said that he should be able to set the wages and compensation for the employees that he hires.
Hourly employees at his Dairy Queens make $15 an hour, which is higher than the state and federal minimum wage.
Mayfield’s managers are compensated with bonuses based on hitting certain performance incentives.
“Managers don’t even look at the hours. They get a job done. If they make profits, then they get the bonus,” Mayfield explained. “It’s the closest thing you can get to owning your own business.”
His Dairy Queens have a reputation for great customer service.
“We’re able to grow so well because, like any other successful business, we treat our people right,” Mayfield said. “We pay them good money. We like ’em.”
A new Department of Labor rule will require him to either increase the pay of his managers or switch them to an hourly salary.
That would require Mayfield to cut or eliminate the bonuses that he pays to his managers.
“It’s going to hurt the people they say they’re going to help,” Mayfield stated. “I would ask ’em to back off . . . if they know anything or care about that small business.”
The Biden-Harris administration has been delivering a punch in the gut to the country’s small businesses.
