New DOL Overtime Rule salary thresholds
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law that regulates when employees must be paid minimum wage and overtime. Under the FLSA, overtime must be paid to nonexempt employees at one and one-half times the workers' regular pay rate for every hour that is worked beyond 40 hours in a work week.
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (Department) announced a final rule, Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees, which will take effect on July 1, 2024. The final rule updates and revises the regulations issued under section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act implementing the exemption from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) employees.
The final rule will increase the standard salary level and the highly compensated employee total annual compensation threshold on the rule’s effective date of July 1, 2024, and on January 1, 2025, when changes in the methodologies used to calculate these levels become applicable. The final rule also provides for future updates of these levels every three years to reflect current earnings data. These scheduled increases are displayed below.
| DATE | STANDARD SALARY LEVEL | HIGHLY COMPENSATED EMPLOYEE TOTAL ANNUAL COMPENSATION THRESHOLD |
|---|---|---|
| Before July 1, 2024 |
$684 per week (equivalent to $35,568 per year) | $107,432 per year, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis. |
| July 1, 2024 | $844 per week (equivalent to $43,888 per year) | $132,964 per year, including at least $844 per week paid on a salary or fee basis. |
| January 1, 2025 | $1,128 per week (equivalent to $58,656 per year) | $151,164 per year, including at least $1,128 per week paid on a salary or fee basis. |
| July 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter |
To be determined by applying to available data the methodology used to set the salary level in effect at the time of the update. | To be determined by applying to available data the methodology used to set the salary level in effect at the time of the update. |
Non-ferrous foundries should review their workforce to determine if there is need to increase exempt employees' salaries so that they do not lose their exempt status when the rule takes effect on July 1, 2024, or to convert those employees to nonexempt employees. They should also update their internal procedures to ensure ongoing compliance when the automatic salary increases take effect beginning in 2027.