Wisconsin is among a coalition of 21 states suing the U.S. Department of Labor over a new rule that would make more higher-earning workers eligible for overtime pay.

Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt filed the lawsuit in Texas on Tuesday, urging the court to block implementation before the regulation takes effect on Dec. 1.

The measure would repeal the so-called “white collar exemption” and more than double the salary threshold under which employers must pay overtime to their workers.

In joining Wisconsin to the lawsuit, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said the rule could force state and local governments to eliminate some services and even lay off employees.

“The federal overreach we continue to see is not a Republican vs. Democrat issue, which is demonstrated by the bipartisan coalition of states fighting this rule,” Schimel said in a statement. “Wisconsin, and every other state, must be able to set their own priorities and policies, and not be forced to take directive from an unchecked Washington, D.C., bureaucracy attempting to establish unprecedented power.”

The lawsuit came the same day that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and more than 50 other business groups filed a legal challenge against the regulation.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said he was confident in the legality of the rule, describing the lawsuits as partisan, obstructionist tactics. He noted that overtime protections have receded over the years: They applied to 62 percent of full-time salaried workers in 1975 and just 7 percent today.

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah; and the governors of Iowa, Maine and New Mexico.

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