Robert Mayfield jumped out of his bright red 1953 Chevy and walked into his Dairy Queen on Manor Road. It’s one of 13 franchise locations he owns in the Austin area. Inside, he twirled the tip of a vanilla soft serve cone and held it up to his face, peering through the "eye of the curl."
His father traded a tough life as a cowboy for a Dairy Queen franchise in the late 1940s. Now, Mayfield is known as the "King of Queens," a title given by the Austin-American Statesman.
The King is challenging the federal government. He accuses the Department of Labor of overreaching its authority by raising the minimum salary employees must earn to be exempt from overtime pay.
"It's a bad deal," Mayfield told Fox News Digital. "Anybody that believed that was a good idea doesn't own their own business."
Federal law mandates overtime pay for employees working over 40 hours a week. Those in salaried positions with "executive, administrative or professional" duties are exempt. The Department of Labor has historically used salary levels to determine overtime eligibility.
Since 1938, this threshold was stuck at $23,660 for over 15 years. In 2020, the Trump administration increased it to $35,568. This year, the Biden-Harris administration raised it again, first to $43,888 on July 1, and then to $58,656 on January 1. This change could extend overtime benefits to about 4 million workers.
"Too often, lower-paid salaried workers are doing the same job as their hourly counterparts," said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. "That is unacceptable."
Mayfield has fought the Department of Labor for two years. He wants the flexibility to set his managers’ compensation as he sees fit. His legal team from the Pacific Legal Foundation argues that imposing a salary requirement exceeds the DOL's authority.
"This is free enterprise," Mayfield insists. "If people don't like it, they go somewhere else."
He pays hourly employees starting at $15 per hour, above the minimum wage. Managers receive bonuses based on their restaurant performance. "Managers don't even look at the hours. They get a job done," he said. "It's the closest thing you can get to owning your own business."
His approach is working. Mayfield Dairy Queens stand out in Austin. Customers are often amazed by the cleanliness, fast service, and cheerful employees. "I was confused the first time I went," said one Reddit commenter.
Last month, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling, siding with the government. They noted a "strong" connection between job duties and salary but added that the DOL's "power is not unbounded."
The January rule change will force Mayfield to either raise salaries for nearly two-thirds of his exempt managers or convert them to hourly pay. He sees this as a burden. "It's going to hurt the people they say they're going to help," he said.
Some Congressional Democrats want to raise the threshold even higher, suggesting a salary of at least $82,732 by 2026. They also want automatic updates to the salary threshold.
However, Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Luke Wake argues that Congress should set a higher salary floor, not the DOL. "We have a fundamental breakdown in separation of powers," he stated.
Mayfield's lawyers are asking the entire 5th Circuit to take up the case. If they refuse, the case may head to the Supreme Court. Wake believes the high court has shown interest in separation of powers, especially after its recent Chevron ruling.
"If you really want to stop the growth of the administrative state, reinvigorating the non-delegation doctrine is the next major battle," Wake said. A federal judge temporarily blocked the rule for Texas state employees in June after a challenge from the Republican-led state.