U.S. DOL Proposes Raising Salary Threshold for Certain “White Collar” Employees

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workers are entitled to overtime pay of 1 ½ times their regular rate of pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek, but there are exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees (among other exemptions). To qualify for one of these three exemptions, an employee must meet both a “duties” test and a “salary” test. Under current salary test regulations, which have been in place since 2004, most employees must generally be paid a salary of at least $455 per week. ($23,660 annually). In 2016, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued regulations raising that salary threshold to $921 per week ($47,892 annually). A federal district court held those regulations to be invalid.