Under federal and state laws, employers must compensate their employees with 1.5 times their regular rate of pay for any hours of overtime work. However, under these laws, employees who work in an executive, administrative or professional (EAP) capacity are exempt from overtime pay if they satisfy, among other things, the salary level requirements for their exemption.
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the current salary level requirement for the EAP exemption is $684 per week ($35,568 per year) on a salary or fee basis. For highly compensated employees (HCEs), the salary level is $107,432, which includes at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis.
While these salary levels apply in most U.S. jurisdictions, some states have adopted EAP salary levels higher than the ones required by the FLSA. These states are:
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- Alaska;
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- California;
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- Colorado;
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- Maine;
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- New York; and
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- Washington.
DOL’s Final Overtime Rule
On April 23, 2024, the DOL announced a final rule to amend current requirements employees in white-collar occupations must meet to qualify for an FLSA overtime exemption. The final rule increased the standard salary level on July 1, 2024, from $684 to $844 per week for EAPs and from $107,432 to $132,964 per year for HCEs. On Jan. 1, 2025, the standard salary level was set to increase again. However, on Nov. 15, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the DOL’s final rule, returning the salary threshold to the pre-July 2024 threshold. The DOL has appealed the 5th Circuit’s ruling.
Important Dates
Jan. 1, 2025
New salary levels for EAP exemptions become effective in Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, New York and Washington.
Links and Resources
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- U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) overtime pay website
- DOL overtime e-tools
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For detailed overview of state EAP overtime salary levels higher than the FLSA thresholds and additional salary thresholds for other overtime exemptions, download the pdf here.
