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“Ms. Alvarez and her counsels’ dismissive attitude towards this court and disregard for the sanctity of its order—at Chipotle’s expense—cannot be condoned,” Chipotle’s lawyers at Cantey Hanger said in their Texas filing.
Joseph Sellers, a partner at Cohen Milstein in Washington, called Chipotle’s motion a very unusual move.
“It’s ultimately a misguided defense tactic to threaten the plaintiff and lawyers rather than defend the merits of the case,” Sellers said. “The proper recourse is to engage in briefing on the question, not to run to another forum. This is a wholly unnecessary and gratuitous attack.”
In June, the U.S. Labor Department told a federal appeals court that while it intends to revise the Obama-era rule that made millions of workers eligible for overtime pay the agency will continue to defend its authority to create and enforce such a regulation.
In a brief filed in the lawsuit challenging the rule, the Labor Department urged the Fifth Circuit to “lift the cloud” created by a Texas trial judge’s broad conclusion that any salary-level test adopted by the agency would be unlawful.
The Labor Department said in its court filing that it has not decided to advocate for a specific salary level and intends instead to determine what that level should be.
