Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees, 32842-32973 [2024-08038]
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Wage and Hour Division
29 CFR Part 541
RIN 1235–AA39
Defining and Delimiting the
Exemptions for Executive,
Administrative, Professional, Outside
Sales, and Computer Employees
Wage and Hour Division,
Department of Labor.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
The Department of Labor
(Department) is updating and revising
the regulations issued under the Fair
Labor Standards Act implementing the
exemptions from minimum wage and
overtime pay requirements for
executive, administrative, professional,
outside sales, and computer employees.
Significant revisions include increasing
the standard salary level, increasing the
highly compensated employee total
annual compensation threshold, and
adding to the regulations a mechanism
that will allow for the timely and
efficient updating of the salary and
compensation thresholds, including an
initial update on July 1, 2024, to reflect
earnings growth. The Department is not
finalizing in this rule its proposal to
apply the standard salary level to the
U.S. territories subject to the Federal
minimum wage and to update the
special salary levels for American
Samoa and the motion picture industry.
DATES: The effective date for this final
rule is July 1, 2024. Sections
541.600(a)(2) and 541.601(a)(2) are
applicable beginning January 1, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Daniel Navarrete, Acting Director,
Division of Regulations, Legislation, and
Interpretation, Wage and Hour Division,
U.S. Department of Labor, Room S–
3502, 200 Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202)
693–0406 (this is not a toll-free
number). Alternative formats are
available upon request by calling 1–
866–487–9243. If you are deaf, hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability,
please dial 7–1–1 to access
telecommunications relay services.
Questions of interpretation or
enforcement of the agency’s existing
regulations may be directed to the
nearest Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
district office. Locate the nearest office
by calling the WHD’s toll-free help line
at (866) 4US–WAGE ((866) 487–9243)
between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. in your local
time zone, or log onto WHD’s website at
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/
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SUMMARY:
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I. Executive Summary
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA
or Act) requires covered employers to
pay employees a minimum wage and,
for employees who work more than 40
hours in a week, overtime premium pay
of at least 1.5 times the employee’s
regular rate of pay. Section 13(a)(1) of
the FLSA, which was included in the
original Act in 1938, exempts from the
minimum wage and overtime pay
requirements ‘‘any employee employed
in a bona fide executive, administrative,
or professional capacity[.]’’ 1 The
exemption is commonly referred to as
the ‘‘white-collar’’ or executive,
administrative, or professional (EAP)
exemption. The statute expressly gives
the Secretary of Labor (Secretary)
authority to define and delimit the
terms of the exemption. Since 1940, the
regulations implementing the EAP
exemption have generally required that
each of the following three tests must be
met: (1) the employee must be paid a
predetermined and fixed salary that is
not subject to reduction because of
variations in the quality or quantity of
work performed (the salary basis test);
(2) the amount of salary paid must meet
a minimum specified amount (the salary
level test); and (3) the employee’s job
duties must primarily involve executive,
administrative, or professional duties as
defined by the regulations (the duties
test). The employer bears the burden of
establishing the applicability of the
exemption.2 Job titles and job
descriptions do not determine EAP
exemption status, nor does merely
paying an employee a salary.
Consistent with its broad authority
under the Act, in this final rule the
Department is setting compensation
thresholds for the standard test and the
highly compensated employee test that
will work effectively with the respective
duties tests to better identify who is
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity
for purposes of determining exemption
status under the Act. Specifically, the
Department is setting the standard
salary level at the 35th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region ($1,128 per week or $58,656
annually for a full-year worker) 3 and
1 29
U.S.C. 213(a)(1).
e.g., Idaho Sheet Metal Works, Inc. v. Wirtz,
383 U.S. 190, 209 (1966); Walling v. Gen. Indus.
Co., 330 U.S. 545, 547–48 (1947).
3 In determining earnings percentiles in its part
541 rulemakings since 2004, the Department has
consistently looked at nonhourly earnings for fulltime workers from the Current Population Survey
2 See,
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the highly compensated employee total
annual compensation threshold at the
annualized weekly earnings of the 85th
percentile of full-time salaried workers
nationally ($151,164). These
compensation thresholds are firmly
grounded in the authority that the FLSA
grants to the Secretary to define and
delimit the EAP exemption, a power the
Secretary has exercised for 85 years.
The increase in the standard salary
level to the 35th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region better
fulfills the Department’s obligation
under the statute to define and delimit
who is employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity. Upon reflection, the
Department has determined that its
rulemakings over the past 20 years,
since the Department simplified the test
for the EAP exemption in 2004 by
replacing the historic two-test system
for determining exemption status with
the single standard test, have vacillated
between two distinct approaches: One
used in rules in 2004 4 and 2019,5 that
exempted lower-paid workers who
historically had been entitled to
overtime because they did not meet the
more detailed duties requirements of the
test that was in place from 1949 to 2004;
and one used in a rule in 2016,6 that
restored overtime protection to lowerpaid white-collar workers who
performed significant amounts of
nonexempt work but also removed from
the exemption other lower-paid workers
who historically were exempt because
they met the prior more detailed duties
test, an approach that received
unfavorable treatment in litigation.7
Having grappled with these different
approaches to setting the standard
salary level, this final rule retains the
simplified standard test, the benefits of
(CPS) Merged Outgoing Rotation Group (MORG)
data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
(BLS). As explained in section VII.B.5.i, the
Department considers data representing
compensation paid to nonhourly workers to be an
appropriate proxy for compensation paid to salaried
workers, although for simplicity the Department
uses the terms salaried and nonhourly
interchangeably in this rule. The Department relied
on CPS MORG data for calendar year 2022 to
develop the NPRM, including to determine the
proposed salary level. The Department is using the
most recent full-year data available for this final
rule, which is CPS MORG data for calendar year
2023. The new standard salary level of $1,128 per
week is $12 to $30 less than the Department
estimated in the NPRM. 88 FR 62152, 62152–53 n.3
(Sept. 8, 2023).
4 69 FR 22122 (April 23, 2004).
5 84 FR 51230 (Sept. 27, 2019).
6 81 FR 32391 (May 23, 2016).
7 The Department never enforced the 2016 rule
because it was invalidated by the U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of Texas. See Nevada v. U.S.
Department of Labor, 275 F.Supp.3d 795 (E.D. Tex.
2017).
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which were recognized in the
Department’s 2004, 2016, and 2019
rulemakings,8 while, through a revised
methodology, fully restoring the salary
level’s screening function and
accounting for the switch from a twotest to a one-test system for defining the
EAP exemption, and also separately
updating the standard salary level to
account for earnings growth since the
2019 rule.
The new standard salary level will, in
combination with the standard duties
test, better define and delimit which
employees are employed in a bona fide
EAP capacity. By setting a salary level
above what the methodology used in
2004 and 2019 would produce using
current data, the new standard salary
level will ensure that, consistent with
the Department’s historical approach to
the exemption, fewer lower-paid whitecollar employees who perform
significant amounts of nonexempt work
are included in the exemption. At the
same time, by setting the salary level
below what the methodology used in
2016 would produce using current data,
the new standard salary level will allow
employers to continue to use the
exemption for many lower-paid whitecollar employees who were made
exempt under the 2004 standard duties
test. The combined result will be a more
effective test for determining who is
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity.
The applicability date of the new
standard salary level will be January 1,
2025. The Department is not finalizing
its proposal to apply the standard salary
level to the U.S. territories subject to the
federal minimum wage and to update
the special salary levels for American
Samoa and the motion picture
industry.9
The Department is also increasing the
earnings threshold for the highly
compensated employee (HCE)
exemption, which was added to the
regulations in 2004 and applies to
certain highly compensated employees
and combines a much higher annual
compensation requirement with a
minimal duties test. The HCE test’s
primary purpose is to serve as a
streamlined alternative for very highly
compensated employees because a very
8 See 84 FR 51243–45; 81 FR 32414, 32444–45; 69
FR 22126–28.
9 The Department proposed in sections IV.B.1 and
B.2 of the NPRM to apply the updated standard
salary level to the four U.S. territories that are
subject to the federal minimum wage—Puerto Rico,
Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
(CNMI)—and to update the special salary levels for
American Samoa and the motion picture industry
in relation to the new standard salary level. The
Department will address these aspects of its
proposal in a future final rule.
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high level of compensation is a strong
indicator of an employee’s exempt
status, thus eliminating the need for a
detailed duties analysis.10 The
Department is increasing the HCE total
annual compensation threshold to the
annualized weekly earnings amount of
the 85th percentile of full-time salaried
workers nationally ($151,164). The new
HCE threshold is high enough to reserve
the test for those employees who are ‘‘at
the very top of [the] economic ladder’’ 11
and will guard against the unintended
exemption of workers who are not bona
fide EAP employees, including those in
high-income regions and industries. The
applicability date of the new HCE total
annual compensation threshold will be
January 1, 2025.
In each of its part 541 rulemakings
since 2004, the Department recognized
the need to regularly update the
earnings thresholds to ensure that they
remain effective in helping differentiate
between exempt and nonexempt
employees. As the Department observed
in these rulemakings, even a wellcalibrated salary level that is not kept
up to date becomes obsolete as wages
for nonexempt workers increase over
time.12 Long intervals between
rulemakings have resulted in eroded
earnings thresholds based on outdated
earnings data that were ill-equipped to
help identify bona fide EAP employees.
To address this problem, in the 2004
and 2019 rules the Department
expressed its commitment to regularly
updating the salary levels.13 In the 2016
rule, it included a regulatory provision
to automatically update the salary
levels.14 Based on its long experience
with updating the salary levels, the
Department has determined that
adopting a regulatory provision for
updating the salary levels to reflect
current earnings data, with an exception
for pausing future updates under certain
conditions, is the most viable and
efficient way to ensure the EAP
exemption earnings thresholds keep
pace with changes in employee pay and
thus remain effective in helping
determine exemption status. This rule
establishes a new updating mechanism.
The initial update to the standard salary
level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold will take place
on July 1, 2024, and will use the
methodologies in place at that time (i.e.,
the 2019 rule methodologies), resulting
in a $844 per week standard salary level
10 See
69 FR 22172–73.
at 22174.
12 84 FR 51250–51; 81 FR 32430; see also 69 FR
22164.
13 69 FR 22171; 84 FR 51251–52.
14 81 FR 32430.
11 Id.
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and a $132,964 HCE total annual
compensation threshold. Future updates
to the standard salary level and HCE
total annual compensation threshold
with current earnings data will begin 3
years after the date of the initial update
(July 1, 2027), and every 3 years
thereafter, using the methodologies in
place at the time of the updates. The
Department anticipates that, by the time
the first triennial update under the
updating mechanism occurs, assuming
the Department has not engaged in
further rulemaking, the new
methodologies for the standard salary
level and HCE total annual
compensation requirement established
by this final rule will have become
effective and the triennial update will
employ these new methodologies. The
new updating mechanism will allow for
the timely, predictable, and efficient
updating of the earnings thresholds.
The Department estimates that in Year
1, approximately 1 million employees
who earn at least $684 per week but less
than $844 per week will be impacted by
the initial update applying current wage
data to the standard salary level
methodology from the 2019 rule, and
approximately 3 million employees who
earn at least $844 per week but less than
the new standard salary level of $1,128
per week will be impacted by the
subsequent application of the new
standard salary level. See Table 25. As
explained in section V.B.4.ii, for 1.8
million of the affected employees
(including the 1 million impacted by the
initial update), this rule will restore
overtime protections that they would
have been entitled to under every rule
prior to the 2019 rule. The Department
also estimates that 292,900 employees
who are currently exempt under the
HCE test, but do not meet the standard
test for exemption, will be affected by
the proposed increase in the HCE total
annual compensation level. Absent an
employer increasing these employees’
pay to at or above the new HCE level,
the exemption status of these employees
will turn on the standard duties test
(which these employees do not meet)
rather than the minimal duties test that
applies to employees earning at or above
the HCE threshold. The economic
analysis quantifies the direct costs
resulting from this rule: (1) regulatory
familiarization costs; (2) adjustment
costs; and (3) managerial costs. The
Department estimates that total
annualized direct employer costs over
the first 10 years will be $803 million
with a 7 percent discount rate. This rule
will also give employees higher earnings
in the form of transfers of income from
employers to employees. The
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Department estimates annualized
transfers will be $1.5 billion, with a 7
percent discount rate.
II. Background
A. The FLSA
The FLSA generally requires covered
employers to pay employees at least the
federal minimum wage (currently $7.25
an hour) for all hours worked and
overtime premium pay of at least one
and one-half times the employee’s
regular rate of pay for all hours worked
over 40 in a workweek.15 However,
section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA, codified at
29 U.S.C. 213(a)(1), provides an
exemption from both minimum wage
and overtime pay for ‘‘any employee
employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity
. . . or in the capacity of [an] outside
salesman (as such terms are defined and
delimited from time to time by
regulations of the Secretary [of Labor],
subject to the provisions of [the
Administrative Procedure Act] . . .).’’
The FLSA does not define the terms
‘‘executive,’’ ‘‘administrative,’’
‘‘professional,’’ or ‘‘outside salesman,’’
but rather directs the Secretary to define
those terms through rulemaking.
Pursuant to Congress’s grant of
rulemaking authority, since 1938 the
Department has issued regulations at 29
CFR part 541 to define and delimit the
scope of the section 13(a)(1)
exemption.16 Because Congress
explicitly gave the Secretary authority to
define and delimit the specific terms of
the exemption, the regulations so issued
have the binding effect of law.17
The exemption for executive,
administrative, or professional
employees was included in the original
FLSA legislation passed in 1938.18 It
was modeled after similar provisions
contained in the earlier National
Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and
state law precedents.19 As the
Department has explained in prior rules,
the EAP exemption is premised on two
policy considerations. First, the type of
work exempt employees perform is
difficult to standardize to any time
frame and cannot be easily spread to
other workers after 40 hours in a week,
15 See
29 U.S.C. 206(a), 207(a).
Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v.
Hewitt, 143 S.Ct. 677, 682 (2023) (‘‘Under [section
13(a)(1)], the Secretary sets out a standard for
determining when an employee is a ‘bona fide
executive.’’’).
17 See Batterton v. Francis, 432 U.S. 416, 425 n.9
(1977).
18 See Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Pub. L.
75–718, 13(a)(1), 52 Stat. 1060, 1067 (June 25,
1938).
19 See National Industrial Recovery Act, Pub. L.
73–67, ch. 90, title II, 206(2), 48 Stat 195, 204–5
(June 16, 1933).
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making enforcement of the overtime
provisions difficult and generally
precluding the potential job expansion
intended by the FLSA’s time-and-a-half
overtime premium.20 Second, exempt
workers typically earn salaries well
above the minimum wage and are
presumed to enjoy other privileges to
compensate them for their long hours of
work. These include, for example,
above-average fringe benefits and better
opportunities for advancement, setting
them apart from nonexempt workers
entitled to overtime pay.21
Section 13(a)(1) exempts covered EAP
employees from both the FLSA’s
minimum wage and overtime
requirements. However, because of their
long hours of work, its most significant
impact is its exemption of these
employees from the Act’s overtime
protections, as discussed in section
VII.C.4. An employer may employ such
exempt employees for any number of
hours in the workweek without paying
an overtime premium. Some state laws
have stricter standards to be exempt
from state minimum wage and overtime
protections than those which exist
under federal law, such as higher salary
levels or more stringent duties tests. The
FLSA does not preempt any such
stricter state standards.22 If a state
establishes a higher standard than the
provisions of the FLSA, the higher
standard applies in that state.
B. Regulatory History
The Department’s part 541 regulations
have consistently looked to the duties
performed by the employee and the
salary paid by the employer in
determining whether an individual is
employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity.
Since 1940, the Department’s
implementing regulations have
generally required each of the following
three prongs to be satisfied for the
exemption to apply: (1) the employee
must be paid a predetermined and fixed
salary that is not subject to reduction
because of variations in the quality or
quantity of work performed (the salary
basis test); (2) the amount of salary paid
must meet a minimum specified amount
(the salary level test); and (3) the
employee’s job duties must primarily
involve executive, administrative, or
professional duties as defined by the
regulations (the duties test).
20 See Report of the Minimum Wage Study
Commission, Volume IV, pp. 236 and 240 (June
1981).
21 See id.
22 See 29 U.S.C. 218(a).
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1. The Part 541 Regulations From 1938
to 2004
The Department’s part 541 regulations
have always included earnings criteria.
From the first Part 541 regulations, there
has been ‘‘wide agreement’’ that the
amount paid to an employee is ‘‘a
valuable and easily applied index to the
‘bona fide’ character of the employment
for which [the] exemption is
claimed[.]’’ 23 Because EAP employees
‘‘are denied the protection of the
[A]ct[,]’’ they are ‘‘assumed [to] enjoy
compensatory privileges’’ which
distinguish them from nonexempt
employees, including substantially
higher pay.24 Additionally, the
Department has long recognized that the
salary level test is a useful criterion for
helping identify bona fide EAP
employees and provides a practical
guide for employers and employees,
thus tending to reduce litigation and
ensure that nonexempt employees
receive the overtime protection to which
they are entitled.25 These benefits
accrue to employees and employers
alike, which is why, despite
disagreement over the appropriate
magnitude of the part 541 earnings
thresholds, an ‘‘overwhelming majority’’
of stakeholders have supported the
retention of such thresholds in prior
part 541 rulemakings.26
The Department issued the first
version of the part 541 regulations in
October 1938.27 The Department’s
initial regulations included a $30 per
week compensation requirement for
executive and administrative
employees. It also included a duties test
that prohibited employers from claiming
the EAP exemption for employees who
performed ‘‘[a] substantial amount of
work of the same nature as that
performed by nonexempt employees of
the employer.’’ 28
23 ‘‘Executive, Administrative, Professional . . .
Outside Salesman’’ Redefined, Wage and Hour
Division, U.S. Department of Labor, Report and
Recommendations of the Presiding Officer [Harold
Stein] at Hearings Preliminary to Redefinition (Oct.
10, 1940) (Stein Report) at 19.
24 Id.; see Report of the Minimum Wage Study
Commission, Volume IV, p. 236 (‘‘Higher base pay,
greater fringe benefits, improved promotion
potential and greater job security have traditionally
been considered as normal compensatory benefits
received by EAP employees, which set them apart
from non-EAP employees.’’).
25 See 84 FR 51237; see also Report and
Recommendations on Proposed Revisions of
Regulations, Part 541, by Harry Weiss, Presiding
Officer, Wage and Hour and Public Contracts
Divisions, U.S. Department of Labor (June 30, 1949)
(Weiss Report) at 8.
26 84 FR 51235; see also Stein Report at 5, 19;
Weiss Report at 9.
27 3 FR 2518 (Oct. 20, 1938).
28 Id.
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The Department issued the first
update to its part 541 regulations in
October 1940,29 following extensive
public hearings.30 Among other
changes, the 1940 update newly applied
the salary level requirement to
professional employees; added the
salary basis requirement to the tests for
executive, administrative, and
professional employees; and introduced
a 20 percent cap on the amount of
nonexempt work that executive and
professional employees could perform
each workweek, replacing language
which prohibited the performance of a
‘‘substantial amount’’ of nonexempt
work.31
The Department conducted further
hearings on the part 541 regulations in
1947 32 and issued revised regulations in
December 1949.33 The 1949 rulemaking
updated the salary levels set in 1940
and introduced a second, less stringent
duties test for higher paid executive,
administrative, and professional
employees.34 Thus, beginning in 1949,
the part 541 regulations contained two
tests for the EAP exemption. These tests
became known as the ‘‘long’’ test and
the ‘‘short’’ test. The long test paired a
lower earnings threshold with a more
rigorous duties test that generally
limited the performance of nonexempt
work to no more than 20 percent of an
employee’s hours worked in a
workweek. The short test paired a
higher salary level and a less rigorous
duties test, with no specified limit on
the performance of nonexempt work.
From 1958 until 2004, the regulations in
place generally set the long test salary
level at a level designed to exclude from
exemption approximately the lowestpaid 10 percent of salaried white-collar
employees who performed EAP duties
in lower-wage areas and industries and
set the short test salary level
significantly higher.35 The salary and
duties components of each test
complemented each other, and the two
tests worked in combination to
determine whether an individual was
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity.
Lower-paid employees who met the
29 5
FR 4077 (Oct. 15, 1940).
Stein Report.
31 5 FR 4077.
32 See Weiss Report.
33 See 14 FR 7705 (Dec. 24, 1949).
34 Id. at 7706.
35 See Report and Recommendations on Proposed
Revision of Regulations, Part 541, Under the Fair
Labor Standards Act, by Harry S. Kantor, Assistant
Administrator, Office of Regulations and Research,
Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions,
U.S. Department of Labor (Mar. 3, 1958) (Kantor
Report) at 6–7. Under the two-test system, the ratio
of the short test salary level to the long test salary
levels ranged from approximately 130 percent to
180 percent. See 81 FR 32403.
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long test salary level but did not meet
the higher short test salary level were
subject to the long duties test which
ensured that these employees were
employed in an EAP capacity by
limiting the amount of time they could
spend on nonexempt work. Employees
who met the higher short test salary
level were considered to be more likely
to meet the requirements of the long
duties test and thus were subject to a
short-cut duties test for determining
exemption status.
Additional changes to the regulations,
including salary level updates, were
made in 1954,36 1958,37 1961,38 1963,39
1967,40 1970,41 1973,42 and 1975.43 The
Department revised the part 541
regulations twice in 1992 but did not
update the salary thresholds at that
time.44 None of these updates changed
the basic structure of the long and short
tests.
The Department described the salary
levels adopted in the 1975 rule as
‘‘interim rates,’’ intended to ‘‘be in effect
for an interim period pending the
completion of a study [of worker
earnings] by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics . . . in 1975.’’ 45 However,
those salary levels remained in effect
until 2004. The utility of the salary
levels in helping to define the EAP
exemption decreased as wages rose
during this period. In 1991, the federal
minimum wage rose to $4.25 per hour,46
which for a 40-hour workweek exceeded
the lower long test salary level of $155
per week for executive and
administrative employees and equaled
the long test salary level of $170 per
week for professional employees. In
1997, the federal minimum wage rose to
$5.15 per hour,47 which for a 40-hour
workweek not only exceeded the long
test salary levels, but also was close to
the higher short test salary level of $250
per week.
36 19
FR 4405 (July 17, 1954).
FR 8962 (Nov. 18, 1958).
38 26 FR 8635 (Sept. 15, 1961).
39 28 FR 9505 (Aug. 30, 1963).
40 32 FR 7823 (May 30, 1967).
41 35 FR 883 (Jan. 22, 1970).
42 38 FR 11390 (May 7, 1973).
43 40 FR 7091 (Feb. 19, 1975).
44 The Department first created a limited
exception from the salary basis test for public
employees. 57 FR 37677 (Aug. 19, 1992). The
Department also implemented a 1990 law requiring
it to promulgate regulations permitting employees
in certain computer-related occupations to qualify
as exempt under section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA. 57
FR 46744 (Oct. 9, 1992); see Pub. L. 101–583, sec.
2, 104 Stat. 2871 (Nov. 15, 1990).
45 40 FR 7091.
46 See Pub. L. 101–157, sec. 2, 103 Stat. 938 (Nov.
17, 1989).
47 See Pub. L. 104–188, sec. 2104(b), 110 Stat
1755 (Aug. 20, 1996).
37 23
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2. Part 541 Regulations From 2004 to
2019
The Department published a final rule
in April 2004 (the 2004 rule) 48 that
updated the part 541 salary levels for
the first time since 1975 and made
several significant changes to the
regulations. Most significantly, the
Department eliminated the separate long
and short tests and replaced them with
a single standard test. The Department
set the standard salary level at $455 per
week, which was equivalent to the 20th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region (the South) and in
the retail industry nationally. The
Department paired the new standard
salary level test with a new standard
duties test for executive, administrative,
and professional employees,
respectively, which was substantially
equivalent to the short duties test used
in the two-test system.49
In the 2004 rule, the Department
acknowledged that the switch to the
single standard test for exemption was
a significant change in the regulatory
structure,50 and noted that the shift to
setting the salary level based on ‘‘the
lowest 20 percent of salaried employees
in the South, rather than the lowest 10
percent’’ of EAP employees was made,
in part, ‘‘because of the proposed
change from the ‘short’ and ‘long’ test
structure[.]’’ 51 The Department asserted
that elimination of the long duties test
was warranted because ‘‘the relatively
small number of employees currently
earning from $155 to $250 per week,
and thus tested for exemption under the
‘long’ duties test, will gain stronger
protections under the increased
minimum salary level which . . .
guarantees overtime protection for all
employees earning less than $455 per
week[.]’’ 52 The Department
acknowledged, however, that the new
standard salary level was comparable to
the lower long test salary level used in
the two-test system (i.e., if the
Department’s long test salary level
methodology had been applied to
contemporaneous data).53 Thus,
48 69
FR 22122.
id. at 22192–93 (acknowledging ‘‘de
minimis differences in the standard duties tests
compared to the . . . short duties tests’’).
50 See id. at 22126–28.
51 Id. at 22167.
52 Id. at 22126.
53 Id. at 22171. The Department last set the long
and short test salary levels in 1975. Throughout this
preamble, when the Department refers to the
relationship of salary levels set in this rule and the
2004, 2016, and 2019 rules to equivalent long or
short test salary levels, it is referring to salary levels
based on contemporaneous (at the relevant point in
time) data that, in the case of the long test salary
49 See
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employees who would have been
subject to the long duties test with its
limit on the amount of time spent on
nonexempt work if the two-test system
had been updated were subject to the
equivalent of the short duties test under
the new standard test. For example,
under the 2004 rule’s standard test, an
employee who earned just over the
rule’s standard salary threshold of $455
in weekly salary, and who met the
standard duties test, was exempt even if
they would not have met the previous
long duties test because they spent more
than 20 percent of their time performing
nonexempt work. If the Department had
instead retained the two-test system and
updated the long test salary level to
$455, that same employee would have
been nonexempt because they would
have been subject to the long test’s more
rigorous duties analysis due to their
lower salary.
In the 2004 rule, the Department also
created a new test for exemption for
certain highly compensated
employees.54 The HCE test paired a
minimal duties requirement—
customarily and regularly performing at
least one of the exempt duties or
responsibilities of an EAP employee—
with a high total annual compensation
requirement of $100,000, a threshold
that exceeded the annual earnings of
approximately 93.7 percent of salaried
workers nationwide.55 The Department
also ended the use of special salary
levels for Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands, as they had become
subject to the federal minimum wage
since the Department last updated the
part 541 salary levels in 1975, and set
a special salary level only for American
Samoa, which remained not subject to
the federal minimum wage.56 The
Department also expressed its intent ‘‘in
the future to update the salary levels on
a more regular basis, as it did prior to
1975.’’ 57
In May 2016, the Department issued
a final rule (the 2016 rule) that retained
the single-test system introduced in
2004 but increased the standard salary
level and provided for regular updating.
Specifically, the 2016 rule (1) increased
the standard salary level from the 2004
salary level of $455 to $913 per week,
the 40th percentile of weekly earnings
level, would exclude the lowest-paid 10 percent of
exempt EAP employees in low-wage industries and
areas and, in the case of the short test salary level,
would be 149 percent of a contemporaneous long
test salary level. The short test salary ratio of 149
percent is the simple average of the 15 historical
ratios of the short test salary level to the long test
salary level. See 81 FR 32467 & n.149.
54 69 FR 22172.
55 See id. at 22169 (Table 3).
56 Id. at 22172.
57 Id. at 22171.
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of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region (the
South); 58 (2) increased the HCE test
total annual compensation amount from
$100,000 to $134,004 per year; 59 (3)
increased the special salary level for
EAP workers in American Samoa; 60 (4)
allowed employers, for the first time, to
credit nondiscretionary bonuses,
incentive payments, and commissions
paid at least quarterly towards up to 10
percent of the standard salary level; 61
and (5) added a mechanism to
automatically update the part 541
earnings thresholds every 3 years.62 The
Department did not change any of the
standard duties test criteria in the 2016
rule,63 opting instead to adopt a
standard salary level set at the low end
of the historical range of short test salary
levels used in the pre-2004 two-test
system.64 The 2016 rule was scheduled
to take effect on December 1, 2016.
On November 22, 2016, the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of
Texas issued an order preliminarily
enjoining the Department from
implementing and enforcing the 2016
rule.65 On August 31, 2017, the district
court granted summary judgment to the
plaintiff challengers, holding that the
2016 rule’s salary level exceeded the
Department’s authority and invalidating
the rule.66 On October 30, 2017, the
Department of Justice appealed to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit, which subsequently granted the
Department’s motion to hold that appeal
in abeyance while the Department
undertook further rulemaking.
Following an NPRM published on
March 22, 2019,67 the Department
published a final rule on September 27,
2019 (the 2019 rule),68 which formally
rescinded and replaced the 2016 rule.
The 2019 rule (1) raised the standard
salary level from the 2004 salary level
of $455 to $684 per week, the equivalent
of the 20th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region (the
South) and/or in the retail industry
nationally; (2) increased the HCE total
annual compensation threshold from
$100,000 to $107,432, the equivalent of
58 81
FR 32404–05.
at 32428.
60 Id. at 32422.
61 See id. at 32425–26.
62 See id. at 32430.
63 Id. at 32444.
64 In the 2016 rule, the Department estimated the
historical range of short test salary levels as from
$889 to $1,231 (based on contemporaneous earnings
data). Id. at 32405.
65 See Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor, 218
F. Supp. 3d 520 (E.D. Tex. 2016).
66 See Nevada, 275 F.Supp.3d 795.
67 See 84 FR 10900 (March 22, 2019).
68 See 84 FR 51230.
59 Id.
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the 80th percentile of annual earnings of
full-time salaried workers nationwide;
(3) allowed employers to credit
nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive
payments (including commissions) paid
at least annually to satisfy up to 10
percent of the standard salary level; and
(4) established special salary levels for
all U.S. territories.69 The 2019 rule did
not make changes to the standard duties
test.70 While using the same
methodology used in the 2004 rule to
set the salary threshold, the Department
did not assert that this methodology
constituted the outer limit for defining
and delimiting the salary threshold.
Rather, the Department reasoned the
2004 methodology was well-established,
reasonable, would minimize uncertainty
and potential legal challenge, and
would address the concerns of the
district court that the 2016 rule overemphasized the salary level.71 The
Department acknowledged that the new
standard salary level was, unlike the
salary level set in the 2004 rule, below
the long test salary level used in the pre2004 two-test system.72 As in its 2004
rule, the Department ‘‘reaffirm[ed] its
intent to update the standard salary
level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold more regularly
in the future using notice-and-comment
rulemaking.’’ 73 The 2019 rule took
effect on January 1, 2020.74
C. Overview of Existing Regulatory
Requirements
The part 541 regulations contain
specific criteria that define each
category of exemption provided for in
section 13(a)(1) for bona fide executive,
administrative, professional, and
outside sales employees, as well as
teachers and academic administrative
personnel. The regulations also define
exempt computer employees under
sections 13(a)(1) and 13(a)(17). The
employer bears the burden of
establishing the applicability of any
exemption.75 Job titles and job
descriptions do not determine
69 The Department established special salary
levels of $455 per week for Puerto Rico, Guam, the
U.S. Virgin Islands, and the CNMI (effectively
continuing the 2004 salary level); it also maintained
the 2004 rule’s $380 per week special salary level
for employees in American Samoa. Id. at 51246.
70 See id. at 51241–43.
71 See id. at 51242.
72 Id. at 51244.
73 Id. at 51251.
74 A lawsuit challenging the 2019 rule was filed
in August 2022. The district court upheld the rule
and an appeal of that decision was pending at the
time the Department issued this final rule. See
Mayfield v. U.S. Department of Labor, 2023 WL
6168251 (W.D. Tex. Sept. 20, 2023), appeal
docketed, No. 23–50724 (5th Cir. Oct. 11, 2023).
75 See, e.g., Idaho Sheet Metal Works, 383 U.S. at
209; Walling, 330 U.S. at 547–48.
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exemption status, nor does merely
paying an employee a salary rather than
an hourly rate.
As previously indicated, to satisfy the
EAP exemption, employees must meet
certain tests regarding their job duties 76
and generally must be paid on a salary
basis at least the amount specified in the
regulations.77 Some employees, such as
doctors, lawyers, teachers, and outside
sales employees, are not subject to
salary tests.78 Others, such as academic
administrative personnel and computer
employees, are subject to special,
contingent earning thresholds.79 The
standard salary level for the EAP
exemption is currently $684 per week
(equivalent to $35,568 per year), and the
total annual compensation level for
highly compensated employees under
the HCE test is currently $107,432.80 A
special salary level of $455 per week
currently applies to employees in Puerto
Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and
the CNMI; 81 a special salary level of
$380 per week applies to employees in
American Samoa; 82 and employers can
pay a special weekly ‘‘base rate’’ of
$1,043 per week to employees in the
motion picture producing industry.83
Nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive
payments (including commissions) paid
on an annual or more frequent basis
may be used to satisfy up to 10 percent
of the standard or special salary levels.84
Under the HCE test, employees who
currently receive at least $107,432 in
total annual compensation are exempt
from the FLSA’s overtime requirements
if they customarily and regularly
perform at least one of the exempt
duties or responsibilities of an
executive, administrative, or
professional employee identified in the
standard tests for exemption.85 The HCE
test applies only to employees whose
primary duty includes performing office
76 For a description of the duties that are required
to be performed under the EAP exemption, see
§§ 541.100 (executive employees); 541.200
(administrative employees); 541.300, 541.303–.304
(teachers and professional employees); 541.400
(computer employees); 541.500 (outside sales
employees).
77 Alternatively, administrative and professional
employees may be paid on a fee basis for a single
job regardless of the time required for its
completion as long as the hourly rate for work
performed (i.e., the fee payment divided by the
number of hours worked) would total at least the
weekly amount specified in the regulation if the
employee worked 40 hours. See § 541.605.
78 See §§ 541.303(d); 541.304(d); 541.500(c);
541.600(e). Such employees are also not subject to
a fee basis test.
79 See § 541.600(c)–(d).
80 See §§ 541.600(a); 541.601(a)(1).
81 See §§ 541.100; 541.200; 541.300.
82 See §§ 541.100; 541.200; 541.300.
83 See § 541.709.
84 § 541.602(a)(3).
85 § 541.601.
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or non-manual work.86 Employees
considered exempt under the HCE test
must currently receive at least the $684
per week standard salary portion of
their pay on a salary or fee basis without
regard to the payment of
nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive
payments.87
D. The Department’s Proposal
On September 8, 2023, consistent
with its statutory authority to define and
delimit the EAP exemption, the
Department published a Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise
the part 541 regulations.88 The
Department proposed to increase the
standard salary level to the 35th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region (currently the
South), equivalent to $1,059 per week
based on earnings data used in the
NPRM.89 The Department also proposed
to apply this updated standard salary
level to the four U.S. territories that are
subject to the federal minimum wage—
Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, and the CNMI—and to update
the special salary levels for American
Samoa and the motion picture industry
in relation to the new standard salary
level.90 The Department additionally
proposed raising the HCE test’s total
annual compensation requirement to the
annual equivalent of the 85th percentile
of weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers nationally, equivalent to
$143,988 per year based on earnings
data used in the NPRM. Finally, the
Department proposed a new mechanism
to update the standard salary level and
the HCE total annual compensation
threshold every 3 years to ensure that
they remain effective tests for
exemption.
The public comment period for the
NPRM concluded on November 7, 2023.
The Department received approximately
33,300 comments in response to the
NPRM during the 60-day comment
86 § 541.601(d).
87 See
§ 541.601(b)(1); see also 84 FR 51249.
88 FR 62152.
89 The Department noted that the final rule would
use the most recent earnings data available to set
the standard salary level, which would change the
dollar amount of the resulting threshold. See 88 FR
62152–53 n. 3.
90 In this final rule the Department is not
finalizing its proposal in section IV.B.1 and B.2 of
the NPRM to apply the standard salary level to the
U.S. territories subject to the federal minimum wage
and to update the special salary levels for American
Samoa and the motion picture industry. The
Department will address these aspects of its
proposal in a future final rule. While the
Department is not finalizing its proposal, it is
making nonsubstantive changes in provisions
addressing the territories as a result of other
changes in this final rule.
88 See
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32847
period.91 Comments came from a
diverse array of stakeholders, including
employees, employers, trade
associations, small business owners,
labor unions, advocacy groups,
nonprofit organizations, law firms,
academics, educational organizations
and representatives, religious
organizations, economists, members of
Congress, state and local government
officials, tribal representatives, and
other interested members of the public.
All timely received comments may be
viewed on the https://
www.regulations.gov website, docket ID
WHD–2023–0001.
Commenter views on the merits of the
NPRM varied widely. Some of the
comments the Department received
were general statements of support or
opposition, while many others
addressed the Department’s proposal in
considerable detail. As with previous
part 541 rulemakings, a majority of the
total comments came from comment
campaigns using similar or identical
template language. Such campaign
comments expressed support or
opposition to the proposed salary level,
and sometimes addressed other issues
including applying the salary level to
teachers,92 and concerns from nonprofit
agencies. However, the Department also
received thousands of unique
comments. Significant issues raised in
the comments are discussed in this final
rule. Comments germane to the need for
this rulemaking are discussed in section
III, comments about the NPRM’s
proposals are discussed in section V,
and comments about the potential costs,
benefits, and other impacts of this
rulemaking are discussed in section VII.
The Department has carefully
considered the timely submitted
comments about the Department’s
proposal.
The Department received a number of
comments on topics that are beyond the
scope of this rulemaking. A significant
number of commenters (including a
large comment campaign) urged the
Department to newly apply the part 541
salary criteria to teachers. The
Department did not solicit comment
about the exemption criteria for teachers
in the NPRM and, as many commenters
on this issue recognized, addressing this
issue would require a separate
rulemaking. Other topics outside the
91 In regulations.gov, the number of comments
received is listed as 33,310 and the number of
posted comments is 26,280. This difference is
because one commenter, WorkMoney, attached
thousands of comments to their one submission.
92 As noted above, teachers are among the
employees for whom there is no salary level
requirement under the part 541 regulations. See
§ 541.303(d).
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scope of this rulemaking include, for
example, a request that the Department
extend the right to overtime pay to
medical residents, create exemptions
from the salary level test, allow
employers to credit the value of board
and lodging towards the salary level,
clarify issues related to the fluctuating
workweek method of calculating
overtime pay, or create a ‘‘safe harbor’’
provision for restaurant franchisors. The
Department is not addressing these
issues in its final rule.
Several stakeholders such as Catholic
Charities USA and the National Council
of Nonprofits expressed concern about
funding and reimbursement rates to
meet potential new overtime expenses.
The Department appreciates the
concerns conveyed in these comments
and the challenges of adjusting public
funding. As discussed in section
V.B.4.iv, however, the Department’s
EAP regulations have never had special
rules for nonprofit or charitable
organizations and employees of these
organizations are subject to the EAP
exemption if they satisfy the same salary
level, salary basis, and duties tests as
other employees.
III. Need for Rulemaking
The goal of this rulemaking is to set
effective earnings thresholds to help
define and delimit the FLSA’s EAP
exemption. To achieve this goal, the
Department is not only updating the
single standard salary level to account
for earnings growth since the 2019 rule,
but also to build on the lessons learned
in its most recent rulemakings to more
effectively define and delimit
employees employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity. To this end, the Department is
finalizing its proposed changes to the
standard salary level and the HCE test’s
total annual compensation requirement
methodologies. Additionally, to
maintain the effectiveness of these tests,
the Department is finalizing an updating
mechanism that will update these
earnings thresholds to reflect current
wage data, initially on July 1, 2024 and
every 3 years thereafter. The
Department’s response to commenter
feedback on the specific proposals
included in the NPRM is provided in
section V. This section explains the
need for the Department to update the
part 541 earnings thresholds and
addresses commenter feedback on
whether the earnings thresholds
established in the 2019 rule should be
increased.
As the Department explained in the
NPRM, there is a need for the
Department to update the salary level to
fully restore the salary level’s screening
function and to account for the shift to
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a one-test system in the 2004 rule,
which broadened the exemption by
placing the entire burden of this shift on
employees who historically were
entitled to the FLSA’s overtime
protection because they performed
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
and earned between the long and short
test salary levels, but became exempt
because they passed the more lenient
standard duties test. Since switching
from a two-test to a one-test system for
defining and delimiting the EAP
exemption in 2004, the Department has
followed different approaches to set the
standard salary level. In 2004, the
Department used a methodology that
produced a salary level amount that was
equivalent to the lower long test salary
level under the two-test system.93 This
approach continued to perform the
historical screening function of the long
salary test—providing overtime
protection to employees who earned
less than the long test salary level. But
it broadened the exemption to include
employees earning between the long
and short test salary levels who
historically had not met the long duties
test (and therefore were not considered
bona fide EAP employees) and now
became exempt if they met the less
rigorous standard duties test.94 The
Department followed this same
methodology to set the standard salary
level in 2019, but applying the 2004
rule’s methodology to contemporaneous
data in 2019 resulted in a salary level
that was lower than what would have
been the equivalent of the long test
salary level and thus did not fulfill the
historical screening function for lowpaid employees.95 This broadened the
EAP exemption even further by, for the
first time, exempting a group of whitecollar employees earning below the
equivalent of the long test salary level.
To address the concern that the 2004
rule did not provide overtime
compensation for lower-salaried whitecollar employees performing large
amounts of nonexempt work, in 2016
the Department set the standard salary
level using a methodology that
produced a salary at the low end of the
historical range of short test salary
levels.96 This approach restored
overtime protection to lower-salaried
white-collar employees who performed
substantial amounts of nonexempt
work, but it also made nonexempt some
employees paid below the new salary
93 See
69 FR 22168–69.
at 22214.
95 See 84 FR 51260 (Table 4) (showing that the
salary level derived from the Department’s long test
methodology would have been $724 per week
rather than the finalized $684 per week amount).
96 81 FR 32405.
94 Id.
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level who performed only a limited
amount of nonexempt work and would
have been exempt under the long duties
test.97 In the challenge to the 2016 rule,
the district court expressed concern that
the 2016 rule conferred overtime
eligibility based on salary level alone to
a substantial number of employees who
would otherwise be exempt.98
As explained in greater detail in
section V.B, setting the standard salary
level at the 35th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region ($1,128
per week, $58,656 annually), which is
below the midpoint between the long
and short tests, will work effectively
with the standard duties test to better
define and delimit the EAP exemption,
in part by more effectively accounting
for the switch from a two-test to a onetest system, and will reasonably
distribute the impact of the shift by
ensuring overtime protection for some
lower-salaried employees without
excluding from exemption too many
white-collar employees solely based on
their salary level.99 The new standard
salary level will also account for
earnings growth since the 2019 rule and
fully restore the historical screening
function of the salary level test. At the
same time, the duties test will continue
to determine exemption status for a
large majority of all salaried white-collar
employees subject to the part 541
regulations.
As the Department has explained,100
earnings thresholds in the part 541
regulations gradually lose their
effectiveness as the salaries paid to
nonexempt employees rise over time.
These impacts grow in the absence of
increases to the salary threshold that
keep pace with wage growth. Moreover,
the longer it takes for the Department to
implement such increases, the larger the
increases must be to restore earning
thresholds to maintain their
effectiveness. More than 4 years have
passed since the 2019 final rule
established the current earnings
thresholds. In the intervening years,
salaried workers in the U.S. economy
have experienced a rapid growth in
their nominal wages, such that the
current $684 per week salary level now
corresponds to approximately the 12th
percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage
Census Region and retail nationally. The
longer the Department waits to update
these earnings thresholds, the less
effective they become in helping define
97 See
84 FR 10908; 84 FR 51242.
Nevada, 275 F.Supp.3d. at 806.
99 See section V.A.3.
100 See, e.g., 84 FR 51250–51.
98 See
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and delimit the EAP exemption. For
example, applying the 2019 standard
salary level methodology to current
earnings data will result in a new
threshold of $844 per week—a 23
percent ($160 per week) increase over
the current $684 salary level. Earnings
for full-time wage and salary workers
nationally have increased even more
rapidly, rising by 24 percent during this
period.101
The Department is also increasing the
HCE total annual compensation
threshold to the annualized weekly
earnings amount of the 85th percentile
of full-time salaried workers nationally
($151,164). Similar to the standard
salary level, nominal wage growth
among higher-wage workers has eroded
the effectiveness of the HCE threshold;
data shows that the $107,432 threshold
now corresponds to the 70th percentile
of annual earnings of full-time salaried
workers nationwide. Reapplying the
2019 methodology (annualized weekly
earnings of the 80th percentile of fulltime salaried workers nationally) to
current earnings data would result in a
threshold of $132,964 per year—a 24
percent increase over the current
threshold of $107,432. Increasing the
HCE test’s total annual compensation
threshold equivalent to the 85th
percentile of salaried worker earnings
nationwide will result in an HCE
threshold reserved for employees at the
top of today’s economic ladder and,
unlike a lower threshold, not risk the
unintended exemption of large numbers
of employees in high-wage regions.
Finally, the Department is adopting a
mechanism to regularly update the
thresholds for earnings growth, which
will ensure that the thresholds continue
to work effectively to help identify EAP
employees. As noted above, the history
of the part 541 regulations shows
multiple, significant gaps during which
the salary levels were not updated and
their effectiveness in helping to define
the EAP exemption decreased as wages
increased. While the Department has
generally increased its part 541 earnings
thresholds every 5 to 9 years in the 37
years between 1938 and 1975, more
recent decades have included long
periods without raising the salary level,
resulting in significant erosion of the
real value of the threshold levels
followed by unpredictable increases.
Routine updates of the earnings
thresholds to reflect wage growth will
101 Estimate based on the change in median usual
weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary
workers from Q3 2019 to Q4 2023. BLS, Median
usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary
workers by sex, quarterly averages, seasonally
adjusted. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/
wkyeng.t01.htm.
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bring certainty and stability to
employers and employees alike.
The Department received many
comments addressing the adequacy of
the current salary and compensation
thresholds set in the 2019 rule and the
need for this rulemaking. Generally,
employees and affiliated commenters,
including labor unions, worker
advocacy groups, plaintiff-side law
firms, and others, supported the
rulemaking as an overdue effort to
restore FLSA protections that have
eroded in recent decades, though a
number of commenters urged the
Department to adopt higher threshold
increases than those proposed in the
NPRM. By contrast, most employers and
affiliated stakeholders opposed the main
aspects of the proposal, with many
urging the Department to withdraw the
NPRM altogether. Some employers
supported the proposal, or stated that
they would support, or not oppose,
some change to the current thresholds.
Many commenters agreed with the
Department’s assessment that the
current salary level is too low.102 See,
e.g., Coalition of Gender Justice and
Civil Rights Organizations; Coalition of
State Attorneys General; Economic
Policy Institute (EPI); Schuck Law LLC;
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid; United
Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber,
Manufacturing, Energy, Allied
Industrial and Service Workers
International Union (United
Steelworkers). Several commenters
asserted that the current standard salary
level ‘‘fails to provide a true incentive
for employers to balance the additional
hours they ask of their workers with the
costs of . . . overtime pay[,]’’ which
they stated in turn undermines the
FLSA’s policy goals of providing ‘‘extra
pay for extra work . . . [and] spreading
employment.’’ See, e.g., Center for Law
and Social Policy (CLASP); Caring
Across Generations; Family Values @
Work; Jobs to Move America; North
Carolina Justice Center; Workplace
Justice Project. Opining that the
standard salary level ‘‘has been
increased too infrequently—and by too
little[,]’’ Business for a Fair Minimum
Wage asserted that the ‘‘current
outdated overtime threshold is ripe for
abuse and fosters unfair pay, worker
burnout, poorer health and safety, and
increased employee turnover.’’
American Federation of Labor and
Congress of Industrial Organizations
(AFL–CIO) asserted that the $684 per
week salary level is ‘‘so low that it risks
becoming irrelevant[.]’’
102 Commenter views on the adequacy of the
current HCE threshold are addressed in section V.C.
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Finally, some supportive commenters
provided reasons why, in their opinion,
this rulemaking is timely. A joint
comment submitted by 10 Democratic
members of the House of
Representatives asserted that
‘‘[o]vertime standards are long overdue
for a meaningful update.’’ See also
AFL–CIO (asserting that setting the
salary level below the long test level in
the 2019 rule ‘‘led to the faster
irrelevance of the current level’’). The
Coalition of State AGs commented that
‘‘[r]egardless of whether [the $684 per
week standard salary] level was
appropriate in 2019, economic trends in
the intervening years have rendered that
level obsolete . . . [as] $684 in January
2020 has the same buying power as
$816.90 in September 2023.’’ Sanford
Heisler Sharp LLP (Sanford Heisler
Sharp) invoked ‘‘the explosion of
remote work since 2020’’ as support for
the rulemaking, asserting that the
significant increase in telework since
2020 has meant that employers are ‘‘no
longer constrained by the practical
limitation of the worker leaving the
workplace.’’
Many employer trade associations
that were neutral or opposed to the
NPRM’s specific proposals for
increasing the compensation levels
expressed openness or support for a
rulemaking to change the existing part
541 earnings thresholds. See, e.g.,
Alliance for Chemical Distribution;
Growmark Comment Campaign
(GROWMARK); National Cotton Ginners
Association; National Golf Course
Owners Association. Reporting on the
results of a survey taken of its members,
Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM) stated that its
members ‘‘support a reasonable increase
to the rule’s minimum salary threshold
. . . as only 4% of the total number of
respondents indicated that they would
not support any increase.’’ Independent
Sector remarked that ‘‘a healthy and
equitable nonprofit workforce requires
an increase in the salary threshold
beyond $35,568.’’ See also North
Carolina Center for Nonprofits (‘‘The
Center recognizes that a higher salary
level threshold would benefit people
served by nonprofits and many
nonprofit employees, and we encourage
the Department to move forward with a
final rule that increases the [current]
salary level threshold[.]’’). National
Association of Convenience Stores
commented that it ‘‘acknowledges that
the minimum salary level should be
revisited occasionally, and it support[s]
USDOL’s approach in 2019 of doing so
approximately every four years[.]’’ See
also Retail Industry Leaders Association
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(RILA) (‘‘We recognize that the DOL
committed itself in 2019 to engage in
more regular reviews of the salary
threshold level for the [EAP]
exemptions and that the DOL now is
following up on that commitment.’’).
Other employer stakeholders disputed
the need for this rulemaking. Many of
these commenters, including the
American Bus Association, Americans
for Prosperity Foundation, Construction
Industry Round Table, and National
Restaurant Association, asserted that
increases to the part 541 earnings
thresholds were unnecessary at this
time because the last update took effect
on January 1, 2020. A number of
commenters stated that prior salary
level updates have occurred less
frequently. See, e.g., National
Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
(never less than 5 years); National
Demolition Association (on average
every 9 to 10 years); National
Association of Wholesale Distributors
(NAW) (historically 7 to 9 years).
National Retail Federation (NRF)
commented that ‘‘[t]here has been no
increase of the federal minimum wage
since 2019, and therefore, there is no
need to adjust the minimum salary
threshold.’’ NRF further asserted that
there was no need to increase the part
541 earnings thresholds because
‘‘market forces have already increased
the compensation of lower-level exempt
employees’’ since 2019, echoing the
sentiment from several individual
employers that markets should
determine employee wages rather than
government regulation. See also, e.g.,
Casa Del Mar Beachfront Suites
(opposing changes to the regulations
and stating that the wages it pays ‘‘are
based on free enterprise and competitive
business plans’’); Individual Small
Business Commenter (asking the
Department to ‘‘let the market take care
of the situation’’). Numerous
commenters also asserted that the
Department should refrain from
amending the part 541 regulations at
this time due to current conditions in
specific industries or the broader
economy. See, e.g., Asian American
Hotel Owners Association, Inc.;
American Hotel and Lodging
Association (AHLA); College and
University Professional Association for
Human Resources (CUPA–HR); Food
Marketing Institute (FMI); Indiana
Chamber of Commerce; National
Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Finally, a small number of
commenters opposed this rulemaking
on the grounds that the Department
lacks the legal authority to use any
salary criteria to define and delimit the
EAP exemption. See, e.g., America First
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Policy Institute (AFPI); National
Federation of Independent Business
(NFIB); Pacific Legal Foundation.103
However, the overwhelming majority of
commenters did not oppose the use of
salary criteria in the part 541 regulations
or address the Department’s authority,
and a number of employer
representatives expressed general
support for the use of earnings
thresholds. See, e.g., AHLA (‘‘[M]oving
to a duties-only test would undoubtedly
result in a more rigid duties test . . .
[and] likely result in excessive burdens
on the hospitality industry, including
new and onerous recordkeeping
requirements and increased litigation
costs.’’); National Restaurant
Association (‘‘[S]alary levels save
investigators and employers time by
giving them a quick, short-hand test[.]’’);
Transportation Intermediaries
Association (‘‘Implementing a dutiesonly test without considering salary
would be overly complex[.]’’). This
sentiment is consistent with stakeholder
feedback provided in earlier part 541
rulemakings.104
Having reviewed the comments
received, the Department remains of the
view that the earnings criteria in the
part 541 regulations must be increased
and disagrees with commenters that
urged the Department to withdraw its
proposal. In addition to updating the
salary level to account for wage growth
since 2019, an update is needed in part
because the current standard salary
level is too low to fully perform its
screening role, as it is now significantly
below the contemporary equivalent of
the historical long test salary level ($942
per week).105 Moreover, as the
Department explained in the NPRM,
there is a need for the Department to
update the salary level to account for
the shift to a one-test system in the 2004
rule, which broadened the exemption by
placing the entire burden of this shift on
employees who historically were
entitled to the FLSA’s overtime
protection because they performed
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
and earned between the long and short
test salary levels, but are now exempt
because they pass the more lenient
standard duties test. This effect would
continue to grow over time in the
absence of an increase to the current
$684 per week standard salary level.
The Department disagrees with the
criticism from some commenters that
this rulemaking is premature due to the
relative recency of the 2019 rule. In that
rule, the Department ‘‘reaffirm[ed] its
103 See
discussion in section V.A.
supra note 23.
105 See sections V.B. and VII.C.8.
104 See
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intent to update the standard salary
level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold more regularly
in the future’’ than it has in the past,
noting that ‘‘long periods without
updates . . . diminish the usefulness of
the salary level test and cause future
increases to be larger and more
challenging for businesses to
absorb.’’ 106 Notably, the Department
initially proposed in the 2019 NPRM to
codify a commitment to update the part
541 earnings thresholds on a
quadrennial basis (i.e., once every 4
years) through notice and comment
rulemaking.107 While that proposed
commitment was not adopted in the
2019 final rule, the Department
reaffirmed the importance of, and its
commitment to, regular updates in its
2019 final rule. The Department’s 2019
final rule in no way suggested that
increases to the part 541 earnings
thresholds should occur only after some
longer period of time.
Relatedly, the fact that employee
salaries have grown substantially since
2019 underscores the need for this
rulemaking. Commenter assertions to
the contrary, including that the federal
minimum wage has not increased since
the salary level was last updated,
misunderstand the purpose of the part
541 earnings thresholds, which are
intended to assist in the identification of
EAP employees based on the wages
employees presently receive.108 To the
extent that employers have already been
providing raises to exempt EAP workers
since January 1, 2020 (the effective date
of the 2019 final rule), as some
commenters contended, those increases
should be appropriately reflected in the
earnings thresholds to ensure their
effectiveness.
The Department is sensitive to
commenter concerns about the potential
impact of this rulemaking on affected
employers. However, as discussed in
greater detail in the regulatory impact
analysis in section VII, the costs of this
rule, while significant, are a necessary
byproduct of ensuring a salary level that
works effectively with the duties tests
both now and in the future.
IV. Effective Date
The Department proposed that all
aspects of the proposed rule would
become effective 60 days after
publication of the final rule. This
proposed effective date was consistent
106 84
FR 51251–52.
FR 10914–15.
108 The Department ‘‘is not authorized to set
wages or salaries for executive, administrative, and
professional employees . . . [and] improving the
conditions of such employees is not the objective
of the [part 541] regulations.’’ Weiss Report at 11.
107 84
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with the 60 days mandated for a ‘‘major
rule’’ under the Congressional Review
Act and exceeded the 30-day minimum
required under the Administrative
Procedure Act (APA).109 The
Department recognized that the 60-day
proposed effective date was shorter than
the effective dates for the 2004, 2016,
and 2019 rules, which were between
approximately 90 and 180 days. The
Department stated that a 60-day
effective date was appropriate, however,
in part because employers and
employees are familiar with the
procedures in the current regulations
from the 2019 rulemaking and changed
economic circumstances have caused a
strong need to update the standard
salary level. The Department also sought
comments on whether to apply different
effective dates to different provisions of
the proposed rule. The Department is
finalizing an effective date of July 1,
2024. The change to the standard salary
level methodology and the change to the
HCE total annual compensation
methodology will have a delayed
applicability date of January 1, 2025.110
Accordingly, the standard salary level
and HCE total annual compensation
requirement will increase at the initial
update on the effective date July 1, 2024
(to $844 and $132,964, respectively),
again on the applicability date for the
new methodologies on January 1, 2025
(to $1,128 and $151,164, respectively),
and then every 3 years after the initial
update on July 1 (using the methodology
in effect at the time of each update).
The Department specifically asked for
comments on whether the effective date
for the increase of the standard salary
level should be 60 days after publication
as proposed or instead if the increase
should be made effective at a later date,
such as 6 months or 1 year after
publication of the final rule. If the
effective date were longer than 60 days,
the Department sought comments on
‘‘whether it should initially adjust the
salary level to reflect recent wage
growth (for example, making an initial
adjustment for wage growth 60 days
after publication of a final rule and
having the final rule standard salary
level be effective 6 months or a year
after publication).’’ 111 Were it to follow
such an approach, the Department
sought comments on the methodology it
should use for an initial update,
specifically ‘‘whether to implement an
initial update to the standard salary
level, effective 60 days after publication
of a final rule, that uses the current
109 See
5 U.S.C. 801(a)(3)(A); 5 U.S.C. 553(d).
January 1, 2025 applicability date is six
months after the effective date of the rule.
111 88 FR 62180.
110 The
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salary level methodology (the 20th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime nonhourly workers in the lowestwage Census Region and retail
nationally) and applies it to the most
recent data available[.]’’ 112
The Department did not specifically
request comment on delaying the
effective date of the proposed HCE
compensation threshold beyond 60 days
or on making an initial update using
current data and the existing HCE
compensation methodology if it were to
delay the effective date of the new total
annual compensation threshold. The
Department stated that it believed a 60day effective date was appropriate for
the proposed increase to the HCE
compensation threshold because only a
relatively small number of employees
earning between the current and
proposed HCE compensation thresholds
would not meet the standard duties test
and be affected by the proposed change.
The Department sought comment on the
proposed effective date for the HCE
compensation threshold.
Lastly, the Department proposed that
the first automatic update to the new
compensation levels be effective 3 years
after the proposed 60-day effective date.
The Department sought comments on
whether the date for the first automatic
update should be adjusted if it were to
make an initial adjustment to any of the
compensation levels.
Many commenters that objected to the
proposed rule also objected to the
proposed 60-day effective date should
the Department go forward with a final
rule. Commenters addressed their
comments to the single 60-day effective
date and generally did not suggest
different effective dates for different
provisions. Several commenters
suggested effective dates between 90
and 180 days, which the NPRM noted
was the range for recent rules. See, e.g.,
HR Policy Association (minimum of 90
days); International Foodservice
Distributors Association (IFDA)
(minimum of 90 days); American
Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) (90
to 180 days); RILA (at least 120 days);
NAIS/NBOA (at least 120 days). Several
commenters suggested a 180-day
effective date. See, e.g., AASA/AESA/
112 Id. Commenters generally did not address the
Department’s suggestion that a delay in the effective
date for the proposed standard salary level increase
be combined with an initial update to the existing
salary level to reflect wage growth. An individual
commenter acknowledged the Department’s
suggestion but ‘‘defer[ed] to the economists and
statisticians to comment as to whether, if the
effective date is later than 60 days, the Department
should initially adjust the salary level to reflect
recent wage growth, and if so, the methodology for
doing so.’’ See also Ho-Chunk, Inc., a subsidiary of
the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.
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ASBO; CUPA–HR; LeadingAge; NRF.
The National Council of Young Men’s
Christian Associations of the United
States of America (YMCA) suggested an
effective date of at least 6 to 9 months.
The United States Chamber of
Commerce (Chamber), National
Association of Convenience Stores, and
NAFCU suggested an effective date of 12
months. Commenters including the U.S.
Small Business Administration Office of
Advocacy (SBA Advocacy), National
Automobile Dealers Association, and
Partnership to Protect Workplace
Opportunity (PPWO) suggested an
effective date of 12 to 18 months.
Commenters including Seyfarth Shaw
LLP (Seyfarth Shaw) and Credit Union
National Association (CUNA) suggested
an effective date of 150 days to align
with the proposed notice period for
future update amounts. A number of
commenters suggested tying the
effective date to the beginning of the
next calendar year (January 1, 2025).
See, e.g., Seyfarth Shaw; SHRM; RILA;
YMCA. Some commenters suggested a
longer time period between the
publication and effective date of the
final rule for specific industries or types
of employers. See, e.g., Boy Scouts of
America (requesting at least 12 months
of lead time for nonprofit employers);
Small Business Majority (180 days for
small businesses with fewer than 50
employees). A few commenters linked
the need for a longer effective date with
what they asserted was uncertainty as to
the final salary amount caused by the
Department’s projections in footnote 3
of the NPRM, with NRF asserting that
‘‘[t]he brevity of the implementation
period is particularly problematic given
the Department’s . . . lack of clarity
about the dollar value of the proposed
threshold.’’ See also HR Policy
Association; RILA.
Several commenters suggested
phasing in any increase in the salary
level, often in addition to an initial
extension of the proposed effective date.
Commenters advocating for a phase-in
suggested a range of steps or timeframes.
See, e.g., ASTA (not less than 3 years);
Chamber (3 years in even or
incrementally larger steps); North
Carolina Center for Nonprofits
(‘‘multiple years’’); National Council of
Nonprofits (two or more steps); PPWO
(a period of years), Safe Journeys (6
years); Washington Farm Labor
Association (‘‘multi-year’’); YMCA
(proportional increases over 5 years).
Most commenters supporting the
Department’s proposal did not
specifically address the effective date
for the Department’s proposed changes.
Commenters including American
Federation of Teachers (AFT), National
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Partnership for Women & Families
(National Partnership), and National
Women’s Law Center (NWLC) urged the
Department to finalize the rule ‘‘without
delay.’’ American Federation of State,
County, and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME) specifically supported the
60-day effective date as proposed. A
number of commenters in the home and
community-based health services sector,
that were generally supportive of the
Department’s intent but expressed
concerns with its proposal, advocated
for a longer effective date. ANCOR
suggested a 2-year delayed effective date
followed by a 3-to-5-year phase-in of the
new salary level. See also Advancing
States (18-month to 2-year effective
date); National Association of State
Directors of Developmental Disabilities
Services (NASDDDS) (18- to 24-month
effective date for providers of services to
individuals with intellectual and
developmental disabilities); United
Cerebral Palsy (phase-in or transition
period for the Department to work with
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services and the Administration for
Community Living to minimize impact
on access to services). BrightSpring
Health Services urged the Department to
delay the effective date for 2 years and
to consider an enforcement delay for the
sector as it did in 2016.
As discussed below, the Department
believes it is important to update the
standard salary level in part to account
for substantial earnings growth since the
Department last updated the salary level
in the 2019 rule. It has been more than
4 years since the Department updated
the salary level, and economic
conditions have changed significantly
since then as evidenced by the salary
increase that would result by applying
current data to the 2019 salary level
methodology ($844 per week, an
increase of $160 per week over the
existing salary level). These economic
conditions have also impacted
employees subject to the HCE
exemption. Applying current data to the
2019 HCE compensation methodology
would result in an annual compensation
threshold of $132,964 (an increase of
$25,551 over the existing compensation
threshold).
At the same time, the Department is
also mindful of the desire expressed by
multiple commenters to extend the
effective date of the new standard salary
and annual compensation
methodologies from the proposed 60day period to 6-to-12 months (or more).
A longer effective date for the new
standard salary level and HCE
compensation methodologies would
provide employers with more time to
make adjustments after they are
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informed of the exact levels of the
thresholds set in this final rule.
After considering the comments, the
Department has determined that the
final rule will be effective on July 1,
2024, but the new standard salary level
methodology and the new HCE total
annual compensation methodology will
not be applicable until January 1, 2025.
The Department is setting the effective
date on July 1, 2024 rather than a set
number of days after publication in the
Federal Register because it will further
administrability for employers to have
the effective date coincide with the first
of a month and some employers’ budget
years also begin on that date.113 While
the rule will be effective on July 1, 2024,
the Department is extending by an
additional 6 months the time for
employers to comply with the new
standard salary level methodology and
the HCE total annual compensation
methodology. Accordingly, the
applicability date for § 541.600(a)(2),
which sets out the new standard salary
level of the 35th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time nonhourly workers
in the lowest-wage Census Region, and
§ 541.601(a)(2), which sets out the new
HCE total annual compensation level of
the annualized earnings amount of the
85th percentile of full-time nonhourly
workers nationally, will be January 1,
2025. The Department decided to delay
application of the new HCE total annual
compensation methodology so that the
new methodologies for both the
standard salary level and the HCE
compensation level take effect at the
same time. The delayed applicability
date will allow employers 6 additional
months beyond the proposed 60-day
effective date in which to evaluate
employees who will be affected by the
new standard salary level methodology
and the new HCE compensation level
methodology and make any
adjustments.
New § 541.607, Regular updates to
amounts of salary and compensation
required, will be applicable on the
effective date July 1, 2024. Because the
current standard salary and HCE annual
compensation levels have not been
updated in more than 4 years, and
economic conditions have changed
markedly during that time, the first
update will occur on that same date
(§ 541.607(a)). Subsequent updates will
occur every 3 years after this date
starting on July 1, 2027 (§ 541.607(b)).
As discussed in section V.A, regular
updating of the standard salary and HCE
annual compensation levels to reflect
current wage data is imperative to
113 Future updates will occur every three years on
July 1.
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ensure that they continue to work
effectively in combination with the
duties tests in defining bona fide EAP
employees. In light of the approximately
8-month delay in applicability of the
new standard salary and HCE total
compensation methodologies, the initial
update will use the current
methodologies from the 2019 rule,
which result in a salary level of $844
per week and an HCE total annual
compensation threshold of $132,964.
Accordingly, the requirement that an
exempt employee be compensated on a
salary basis at a salary level of at least
$844 per week, set forth in
§ 541.600(a)(1), and that an employee
receive total annual compensation of at
least $132,964 per year to qualify for the
HCE exemption, set forth in
§ 541.601(a)(1), will apply on July 1,
2024. The Department believes that this
date for the initial update is appropriate
because it will use methodologies that
employers are familiar with. Subsequent
triennial updates will apply the most
recent four quarters of data to the
standard salary and HCE total annual
compensation levels in effect at the time
of the updates. The Department
anticipates that at the time of the first
triennial update, the salary and
compensation methodologies that are in
effect will be the methodologies
described in §§ 541.600(a)(2) and
541.601(a)(2) of this final rule. The
Department notes that the standard
salary and HCE compensation levels
need to be updated regularly based on
up-to-date earnings data to ensure that
they continue to function effectively
regardless of the methodology used to
set the levels.
Except for the specific provisions
discussed in this section that will
become applicable on January 1, 2025,
all other provisions of this final rule
will be applicable on the effective date
on July 1, 2024.
V. Discussion of Final Regulatory
Revisions
Consistent with its statutory duty to
define and delimit the EAP exemption,
the Department is making several
changes to the earnings thresholds
provided in the part 541 regulations. As
explained in greater detail below, the
Department is setting the standard
salary level at the 35th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region (currently the South). The
Department additionally is raising the
HCE test’s total annual compensation
requirement to the annualized
equivalent of the 85th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers nationally. Finally, the
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Department is adopting a new
mechanism to update the standard
salary level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold, initially on
July 1, 2024 and every 3 years thereafter
to ensure that they remain effective tests
for exemption. The Department is not
making substantive changes to any
provisions related to the salary basis or
job duties tests.
The primary changes to the existing
regulations are in §§ 541.5, 541.600,
541.601, and newly added § 541.607. In
addition, the Department is making
conforming changes throughout part 541
to update references to the applicable
salary level requirements.114 The
discussion below begins with the new
updating provision (§ 541.607), which
will make an initial update to the salary
and compensation thresholds on July 1,
2024, followed by discussion of changes
to the standard salary level methodology
(§ 541.600(a)(2)) and HCE total annual
compensation threshold methodology
(§ 541.601(a)(2)), which will become
applicable on January 1, 2025. As noted
in these sections, the Department
intends for the changes in this final rule
to be severable. Severability is
addressed more fully at the end of the
discussion of final revisions with a
discussion of the new severability
provision (§ 541.5).
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A. Updating the Standard Salary Level
and Total Annual Compensation
Threshold
As the Department stated in the
NPRM, it has long recognized the need
to regularly update the earnings
thresholds to ensure that they remain
useful in helping differentiate between
exempt and nonexempt white-collar
employees. In each of its part 541
rulemakings since 2004, the Department
has observed that a salary level that is
not kept up to date becomes obsolete as
114 The Department is also revising §§ 541.100,
541.200, and 541.300 to reflect that an executive,
administrative, or professional employee must be
compensated on a salary or fee basis at not less than
the level set forth in § 541.600 (rather than
referencing a specific salary level amount).
Similarly, it is revising § 541.204 and § 541.400 to
reflect that an employee employed in a bona fide
administrative capacity and a computer employee
may qualify for the section 13(a)(1) exemption if
they are compensated on a salary or fee basis at not
less than the level set forth in § 541.600 (rather than
referencing a specific salary level amount). The
Department is also updating cross-references to
§ 541.600(a) in §§ 541.602 and 541.605 to reference
§ 541.600(a)–(c). Finally, the Department is revising
§ 541.604, which explains the circumstances under
which an employer may provide an exempt
employee with additional compensation without
violating the salary basis requirement, and
§ 541.605, which sets forth the conditions under
which an administrative or professional employee
may be compensated on a fee basis, with examples
that reflect the new standard salary level amount of
$1,128 per week.
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wages for nonexempt workers increase
over time.115 Long intervals between
rulemakings have resulted in eroded
earnings thresholds based on outdated
earnings data that were ill-equipped to
help identify bona fide executive,
administrative, and professional
employees. This problem was most
clearly illustrated by the stagnant salary
levels in the regulations from 1975 to
2004, during which period increases in
the federal minimum wage meant that
by 1991, earnings of a worker paid the
federal minimum wage exceeded the
long test salary level for a 40-hour
workweek and came close to equaling
the short test salary level.116
The Department proposed in the
NPRM a mechanism to regularly update
the earnings thresholds to maintain
their effectiveness. In a new
§ 541.607(a)(1) and (b)(1), the
Department proposed to update the
standard salary level and the HCE total
annual compensation requirement every
3 years to reflect current earnings data.
The Department proposed in
§ 541.607(a)(2) and (b)(2) to make the
triennial updates using the
methodologies proposed to set the
thresholds in the NPRM—i.e., the 35th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime nonhourly workers in the lowestwage Census Region (currently the
South) for the standard salary level and
the annualized weekly earnings of the
85th percentile of full-time nonhourly
workers nationally for the HCE total
annual compensation requirement.117
The NPRM also outlined in proposed
§ 541.607(c) the manner in which the
Department would publish advance
notice of the updated thresholds and
included a pause mechanism in
proposed § 541.607(d) that could be
triggered to delay a scheduled update
under certain circumstances.
The Department proposed to make the
first update under its proposed updating
mechanism 3 years after the effective
date of the final rule. The effective date
of the final rule was in turn proposed to
be 60 days after publication and to
apply to all aspects of the proposed rule,
including the proposed methodologies
115 84 FR 51250–51; 81 FR 32430; 69 FR 22164.
See also, 88 FR 62176.
116 See section II.B.1.
117 Observing that the proposed special salary
level for American Samoa and the base rate for the
motion picture industry are set in relation to the
standard salary level, the Department also proposed
that those earnings thresholds reset at the time the
standard salary level was updated. The Department
is not finalizing its proposal to apply the standard
salary level to the U.S. territories subject to the
federal minimum wage and to update the special
salary levels for American Samoa and the motion
picture industry. See supra note 9. Therefore, the
updating mechanism finalized in this rule will not
apply to the special salary levels at this time.
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for the standard salary level and the
HCE total annual compensation
threshold. As discussed in section IV,
the Department specifically sought
comments on whether the effective date
for the proposed change to the standard
salary level methodology (to the 35th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region) should be 60 days
after publication as proposed or if the
change should be made effective at
some later date, such as 6 months or 1
year after publication of the final
rule.118 If the effective date were longer
than 60 days, the Department sought
comments on ‘‘whether it should
initially adjust the salary level to reflect
recent wage growth (for example,
making an initial adjustment for wage
growth 60 days after publication of a
final rule and having the final rule
standard salary level be effective 6
months or a year after publication).’’ 119
The Department also sought comments
on what methodology to use for the
initial update, were it to follow such an
approach. In particular, the Department
invited comments on ‘‘whether to
implement an initial update to the
standard salary level, effective 60 days
after publication of a final rule, that uses
the current salary level methodology
(the 20th percentile of weekly earnings
of full-time nonhourly workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region and retail
nationally) and applies it to the most
recent data available ($822 per week
based on current data).’’ 120
The Department received numerous
comments on its proposed updating
mechanism. Many organizations
representing employee interests as well
as some employers generally supported
the updating mechanism, while most
organizations representing employer
interests opposed it. Many of the
commenters opposing the proposed
updating mechanism asserted that the
Department lacked the authority to
institute such a mechanism. After
considering the comments received, the
Department is finalizing the updating
mechanism, with some modifications as
discussed below, to keep the salary and
compensation thresholds up to date
with current data and maintain their
effectiveness.
The first update under new § 541.607
will occur on July 1, 2024. As discussed
in section IV, the new standard salary
level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold methodologies
will not be applicable until January 1,
2025 (a total of approximately 8 months
118 88
FR 62180
119 Id.
120 Id.
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after publication of this final rule).
Accordingly, § 541.607(a) establishes an
initial update on July 1, 2024 to the
standard salary level and the HCE total
annual compensation threshold using
the methodologies in place at that time
(i.e., the 2019 rule methodologies),
which results in a $844 per week
standard salary level and a $132,964
HCE total annual compensation
threshold. Section 541.607(b) further
establishes future updates to the
standard salary level and HCE total
annual compensation threshold with
current earnings data beginning 3 years
after the date of the initial update, and
every 3 years thereafter, using the
methodologies in place at the time of
the updates. The Department anticipates
that by the time the first triennial
update under the updating mechanism
occurs on July 1, 2027, assuming the
Department has not engaged in further
rulemaking, the new methodologies for
the standard salary level and HCE total
annual compensation requirement
established by this final rule will be
effective and the triennial update would
employ these new methodologies. In
response to commenter concerns, the
Department is also adding clarifying
language from the NPRM preamble to
the final regulatory text of the delay
provision.
1. The Department’s Authority To
Adopt a Salary Level Test
The updating mechanism in new
§ 541.607 will maintain the
effectiveness of the salary and
compensation thresholds set in
§§ 541.600 and 541.601 by adjusting
them regularly to reflect current
economic data. At the outset, a small
number of commenters contended the
Department lacked authority under
section 13(a)(1) to even include a salary
level test in the regulations, advocating
for the Department to withdraw this
rulemaking. See, e.g., AFPI; Job Creators
Network Foundation; NFIB; Pacific
Legal Foundation. These commenters
asserted that the express terms of
section 13(a)(1) do not permit the
Department to include any
compensation-based requirements.
The Department maintains its
longstanding position that the
Secretary’s express authority to
‘‘define[ ]’’ and ‘‘delimit[ ]’’ the terms of
the EAP exemption includes the
authority to use a salary level test as one
criterion for identifying employees who
are employed in a ‘‘bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional
capacity.’’ The Department has used a
salary level test since the first part 541
regulations in 1938. From the FLSA’s
earliest days, stakeholders have
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generally favored the use of a salary
test,121 and the Department’s authority
to use a salary test has been repeatedly
upheld,122 including recently in
Mayfield v. U.S. Dept. of Labor.123
Despite numerous amendments to the
FLSA over the past 85 years, Congress
has not restricted the Department’s use
of the salary level tests in the
regulations. Significant regulatory
changes involving the salary
requirements since 1938 include adding
a separate salary level for professional
employees in 1940, adopting a two-test
system with separate short and long test
salary levels in 1949, and creating a
single standard salary level test and
establishing a new HCE exemption test
in 2004. These changes were all made
through regulations issued pursuant to
the Secretary’s authority to define and
delimit the exemption. Despite having
amended the FLSA numerous times
over the years, Congress has not
amended section 13(a)(1) to alter these
regulatory compensation requirements.
The FLSA gives the Secretary power
to ‘‘define[]’’ and ‘‘delimit[]’’ the terms
‘‘bona fide executive, administrative, or
professional capacity’’ through
regulation. Congress thus ‘‘provided that
employees should be exempt who fell
within certain general classifications’’—
those employed in a bona fide
executive, administrative, or
professional capacity—and authorized
the Secretary ‘‘to define and delimit
those classifications by reasonable and
rational specific criteria.’’ 124 Therefore,
the Department ‘‘is responsible not only
121 See Stein Report at 5, 19. As discussed in
section V.B.4.i, the vast majority of employer
commenters in this rulemaking, whether favoring
no increase or a smaller increase, presumed the
salary level test’s continued existence and utility,
with some, such as the National Restaurant
Association, expressly referencing their support for
the 2019 rule’s salary level increase. Many
commenters acknowledged the salary level’s
longstanding function of screening obviously
nonexempt employees from the exemption. See
section V.B.4.ii. Other commenters that opposed the
proposal nonetheless cited benefits of having a
salary level test, including helping to ensure that
the EAP exemption is not abused, see, e.g., AASA/
AESA/ASBO, Bellevue University, and ‘‘sav[ing]
investigators and employers time by giving them a
quick, short-hand test[.]’’ See National Restaurant
Association.
122 See, e.g., Wirtz v. Miss. Publishers Corp., 364
F.2d 603, 608 (5th Cir. 1966); Fanelli v. U.S.
Gypsum Co., 141 F.2d 216, 218 (2d Cir. 1944);
Walling v. Yeakley, 140 F.2d 830, 832–33 (10th Cir.
1944).
123 2023 WL 6168251 (W.D. Tex. Sept. 20, 2023),
appeal docketed, No. 23–50724 (5th Cir. Oct. 11,
2023).
124 Walling, 140 F.2d at 831–32; see Ellis v. J.R.’s
Country Stores, Inc., 779 F.3d 1184, 1199 (10th Cir.
2015) (approvingly quoting Walling); see also Auer
v. Robins, 519 U.S. 452, 456 (1997) (‘‘The FLSA
grants the Secretary broad authority to ‘defin[e] and
delimi[t]’ the scope of the exemption for executive,
administrative, and professional employees.’’).
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for determining which employees are
entitled to the exemption, but also for
drawing the line beyond which the
exemption is not applicable.’’ 125
2. Initial Update to the Standard Salary
Level and Total Annual Compensation
Threshold To Reflect the Change in
Earnings Since the 2019 Rule
The Department received many
comments regarding its proposed
regulatory mechanism for updating the
standard salary level and the HCE total
annual compensation requirement to
maintain their effectiveness. While
commenters disagreed on how and
when the salary and total annual
compensation thresholds should be
updated, commenters generally did not
dispute that the earnings thresholds
need to be periodically updated to
reflect current economic conditions.
Many commenters that opposed the
proposed updating mechanism
nonetheless agreed that the thresholds
in the regulations need to be
periodically updated. See, e.g., ASTA;
FMI; SBA Advocacy; SHRM; TechServe
Alliance; World Floor Covering
Association (WFCA).
In the context of addressing the
Department’s proposed standard salary
level methodology, several commenters
generally expressed support for—or in
opposing the salary level suggested in
the alternative—an increase to the salary
level using the 2019 methodology. See,
e.g., Bellevue University; Center for
Workplace Compliance (CWC); RILA;
YMCA. CWC noted that the 2019
methodology is well-established and
already familiar to employees and
employers, and Bellevue University
similarly stated that this methodology
‘‘has been previously field-tested on the
U.S. economy[.]’’ As noted in section IV,
commenters generally did not address
applying the 2019 methodology through
the updating mechanism.
The Department remains convinced
that effective salary and compensation
thresholds must use up-to-date earnings
data. This position is long-standing.
When the Department updated its salary
level tests in 1949, for example, it
explained that the ‘‘relative
ineffectiveness of these tests in recent
years is the result of changed economic
conditions rather than any inherent
weakness in the tests[,]’’ and that the
‘‘increase in wage rates and salary levels
gradually weakened the effectiveness of
the present salary tests as a dividing line
between exempt and nonexempt
employees.’’ 126 The principle that
effective tests for exemption must use
125 Stein
Report at 2.
Report at 8.
126 Weiss
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up-to-date earnings data remains as true
today as it was 75 years ago.
The Department’s need to update the
standard salary level and HCE total
annual compensation requirement for
current data in this rulemaking is
distinct from its decision to establish
new methodologies for setting those
thresholds. The current salary and
compensation levels have been in place
for more than 4 years and need to be
updated to reflect current wage data to
maintain their effectiveness.127 Since
the Department’s last rulemaking in
2019, there has been significant change
in salaried worker earnings.128 The $684
standard salary level is far below what
constitutes the 20th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the South and/or in the retail industry
nationally using current data, which
greatly undermines the utility of the
threshold as a means of helping
distinguish exempt from nonexempt
employees. The same is true for the HCE
total annual compensation threshold.
Updating the existing thresholds to
reflect current earnings data is
consistent with the intent the
Department has expressed repeatedly in
its past part 541 rulemakings, including
in the 2019 rule, to periodically update
the thresholds.
For these reasons, the Department is
revising final § 541.607(a) to provide for
an initial update to the standard salary
level and HCE total annual
compensation requirement with current
earnings data on July 1, 2024.
Specifically, the standard salary level
will be updated to the 20th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the South and/or in the retail
industry nationally using the most
recent data, resulting in a standard
salary level of $844 per week. The HCE
total annual compensation threshold
will be updated to the 80th percentile of
full-time salaried worker earnings
nationwide using the most recent data,
resulting in an annual compensation
threshold of $132,964. The Department
believes that the July 1, 2024 effective
date provides sufficient time for
employers to adjust to this initial update
because the methodology used for the
initial update to the standard salary
level has been used since 2004 and is
familiar to the regulated community.
The size of the initial increase to the
standard salary level, which is $160 per
week, is also less (in nominal terms)
127 The standard salary level and HCE total
annual compensation threshold in the 2019 rule
were set using pooled data for July 2016 to June
2019, adjusted to reflect 2018/2019. 84 FR 51250.
128 See section VII.
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than the $229 per week change that
resulted from the 2019 rule.129
The initial update on July 1, 2024 and
the change in the standard salary level
and HCE total annual compensation
methodologies on January 1, 2025 will
result in two increases in the
compensation thresholds within a 12month period. The Department
recognizes that for some employers both
changes to the compensation thresholds
may occur in the same budget year.
Because both the amount of the initial
update and the subsequent increase to
the thresholds are set forth in this final
rule, some employers may choose to
make a single adjustment at the first
date that encompasses both the initial
update and the impending change to the
standard salary level and the HCE total
annual compensation threshold.130
The Department intends for the initial
update of the standard salary level and
the HCE total annual compensation
requirement, using current earnings data
applied to the 2019 rule methodologies,
to be severable from future triennial
updates to the thresholds under
§ 541.607(b), as well as from the
revision to the methodologies for the
standard salary level and the HCE total
annual compensation threshold
discussed in section V.B and section
V.C. In implementing the initial update,
the Department intends to account for
changes in earnings since the 2019 rule.
In changing the methodology for the
standard salary level, the Department
further intends to fully restore the salary
level’s historic screening function and
account for the shift in the 2004 rule
from a two-test to a one-test system for
defining and delimiting the EAP
exemption.131 Lastly, in changing the
methodology for the HCE total annual
compensation threshold, the
Department intends to ensure the HCE
threshold’s role as a streamlined
alternative for those employees most
likely to meet the standard duties test by
excluding all but those employees ‘‘at
the very top of [the] economic
ladder[.]’’ 132 These are independent
objectives of this rulemaking and the
provisions implementing them can each
129 Consistent with the 2019 rule, the Department
used pooled data for the most recent 3 years (2021,
2022, 2023), adjusting them to reflect 2023, for the
initial updates to both the standard salary level and
HCE total annual compensation threshold. See 84
FR 51250.
130 Although the Department’s approach is not a
phase-in, the effect of increasing the salary level
twice in 8 months is, from a timing perspective, not
altogether different from the request from some
commenters to phase in the salary level in more
than one step. See, e.g., Argentum & ASHA;
Associated General Contractors; SBA Advocacy.
131 See section V.B.
132 See section V.C.
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stand alone. Therefore, the Department
intends for the initial update to remain
in force even if the methodologies for
the standard salary level and/or the HCE
total annual compensation threshold
established by this final rule are stayed
or do not take effect. Similarly, the
Department intends for the initial
update to remain in effect even if future
triennial updates under § 541.607(b) are
stayed or do not take effect.
The initial update will take effect
approximately 60 days after the
publication of the final rule,
immediately coming out of this notice
and comment rulemaking. As such, the
notice procedures set forth in
§ 541.607(b)(3) will not apply. As
discussed below, future triennial
updates will be preceded by advance
publication of a notice of the updated
salary level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold in the Federal
Register. For the initial update, this
final rule provides notice of the updated
salary and compensation levels.133
3. Future Triennial Updates To Keep the
Standard Salary Level and Total Annual
Compensation Threshold Up to Date
As the Department previously
explained, the earnings thresholds are
only an effective indicator of exempt
status if they are kept up to date. Left
unchanged, the thresholds become
substantially less effective in helping
identify exempt EAP employees as
wages for workers increase over time.
To that end, the Department proposed to
triennially update the standard salary
level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold by applying the
most recent earnings data to the
methodologies set forth in proposed
§ 541.600(a)(1) and § 541.601(a)(1),
while any change to the methodologies
used to set the standard salary level and
HCE annual compensation threshold
would be effectuated through future
rulemaking.
The Department received many
comments on its proposed triennial
updating mechanism for keeping the
thresholds up to date in the future,
which are addressed below. The
comments were sharply divided on this
aspect of the NPRM. After considering
the comments received, the Department
concludes that establishing a
mechanism for resetting the standard
salary level and HCE total annual
compensation requirement based on
133 The NPRM included updating the 2019 rule
standard salary level and HCE annual compensation
threshold using 2022 data as a regulatory
alternative, stating that applying the methodologies
would result in a standard salary level of $822 per
week and a HCE annual compensation threshold of
$125,268. See 88 FR 62218.
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current earnings data, and on a regular
3-year schedule, will ensure that the
thresholds remain effective into the
future and thus better serve to help
define and delimit the EAP exemption.
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i. The Department’s Authority To
Update the Standard Salary Level and
Total Annual Compensation Threshold
With Current Data in the Future
The Department received many
comments regarding its authority to
update the earnings thresholds through
the proposed triennial updating
mechanism. A majority of the
commenters opposing the updating
mechanism challenged the Department’s
authority to adopt such a provision.
Most commenters that supported the
updating mechanism did not
specifically discuss the Department’s
authority to institute such a mechanism.
As to commenters supporting the
proposed triennial updating mechanism
that addressed the issue, they supported
the Department’s authority.
Commenters favoring automatic
updating, such as AFL–CIO and EPI,
agreed with the Department that just as
the Department has authority to set
salary thresholds for the EAP
exemption, it also has authority to
provide for regular updates to ensure
the thresholds do not erode over time.
Some supportive commenters further
emphasized that future updates would
make no change to the standard (i.e.,
methodology) by which the Department
implements the FLSA, but rather merely
ensure that the standard accounts for
current economic conditions. See, e.g.,
Administrative Law Professors;
Democracy Forward Foundation; EPI.
The Administrative Law Professors
similarly asserted that automatic
adjustments to the earnings thresholds
fall within the Secretary’s authority to
define and delimit ‘‘what it means to
function in a ‘bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional
capacity[.]’ ’’ Observing that even a socalled ‘‘static’’ salary threshold
expressed in ‘‘non-indexed dollar
terms’’ is constantly changing as a
matter of economic value, the
Administrative Law Professors asserted
that ‘‘if a non-indexed salary threshold
is lawful, as nobody seriously questions,
so too is a standard pegged to income
percentile.’’ The Administrative Law
Professors observed ‘‘it is arguably more
rational’’ for the Department to ‘‘proffer
a regulation that expressly accounts for
the inevitably dynamic nature of every
salary threshold . . . rather than to
permit arbitrarily fluid macroeconomic
conditions to dictate the threshold’s true
economic worth.’’
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On the other hand, many commenters
opposing the proposed updating
mechanism asserted that the
Department lacks statutory authority to
update the thresholds in this manner.
Some of these commenters contended
that since the FLSA does not expressly
authorize the Department to index the
earnings thresholds unlike, for example,
the Social Security Act or the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act, it
follows that the FLSA does not
authorize the Department to
automatically update the thresholds.134
See, e.g., CUPA–HR; International Dairy
Foods Association (IDFA); PPWO; RILA;
Seyfarth Shaw. Several commenters
pointed out that Congress did not
provide for automatic updating of any of
the earnings requirements under the
FLSA, such as the minimum wage
under section 6, the tip credit wage
under section 3(m), or the hourly wage
for exempt computer employees under
section 13(a)(17). See, e.g., AFPI; FMI.
Commenters including National
Restaurant Association and PPWO
further asserted that Congress never
amended the FLSA to grant the
Department explicit authority to index
the salary level despite knowing that the
Department has updated the salary level
on an irregular schedule.
As the Department stated in the
NPRM, the Department’s authority to
update the salary level tests for the EAP
exemption by regularly resetting them
based on existing methodologies is
grounded in section 13(a)(1), which
expressly gives the Secretary broad
authority to define and delimit the
scope of the exemption. Using this
broad authority, the Department
established the first salary level tests by
regulation in 1938. Despite numerous
amendments to the FLSA over the past
85 years, Congress has not restricted the
Department’s use of the salary level
tests. As just discussed, significant
134 In contrast, the Administrative Law Professors
highlighted that ‘‘[a]utomatic updating is a common
feature of regulations pegged to monetary values,
even when the relevant authorizing statutes make
no specific reference to indexing or automatic
adjustment.’’ Some of the examples cited by the
Administrative Law Professors to illustrate this
point include: 79 FR 63317 (2014) (establishing
automatic inflationary adjustments to the minimum
amount set by the regulation to define ‘‘adverse
credit history’’); 76 FR 23110 (2011) (establishing
automatic adjustments to the amount of ‘‘Denied
Boarding Compensation’’ airlines must pay affected
passengers); 88 FR 35150 (2023) (adopting onceevery-five year inflation adjustments to the revenue
threshold for defining a ‘‘small business’’); and
Amusement & Music Operators Ass’n v. Copyright
Royalty Tribunal, 676 F.2d 1144 (7th Cir. 1982),
cert. denied, 103 S. Ct. 210 (1982) (upholding a rule
promulgated by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal
establishing a $50 compulsory royalty fee to be paid
by jukebox operators, and which would be subject
to future inflationary adjustments).
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changes involving the salary
requirements made through regulations
issued pursuant to the Secretary’s
authority to define and delimit the
exemption include adding a separate
salary level for professional employees
in 1940, adopting the two-test system in
1949, and switching to the single
standard test and adding the new HCE
test in 2004. Despite having amended
the FLSA numerous times over the
years, Congress has not amended
section 13(a)(1) to alter these regulatory
salary requirements.
Unlike the statutes some of the
commenters referenced explicitly
providing for indexing, or the statutory
FLSA wage rates—i.e., the minimum
wage under section 6, the tip credit
wage under section 3(m), or the hourly
wage for exempt computer employees
under section 13(a)(17)—the part 541
earnings thresholds are established in
the regulations. Therefore, it is not
surprising that the FLSA contains no
specific reference to the indexing or
automatic adjustments of these
thresholds. The Department agrees with
the Administrative Law Professors and
other commenters that stated that the
Department has the authority to
establish a mechanism to automatically
adjust the earnings thresholds to ensure
their continued effectiveness, using a
process established through notice and
comment rulemaking, just as it has the
authority to initially set them. The
Department believes the updating
mechanism in this final rule fulfills its
statutory obligation to define and
delimit the EAP exemptions by
preventing the thresholds from
becoming obsolete and providing
predictability and clarity for the
regulated community.
Many of the commenters opposed to
the updating mechanism also asserted
that automatically updating the earnings
thresholds would violate the APA’s
rulemaking requirements expressly
incorporated by reference in section
13(a)(1). See, e.g., AFPI; FMI; National
Club Association; and Wage and Hour
Defense Institute. These and other
commenters claimed that the
Department cannot lawfully update the
salary level without engaging in notice
and comment rulemaking for each
update. See, e.g., AASA/AESA/ASBO;
Competitive Enterprise Institute; CWC;
RILA. IFDA, for example, asserted that
notice and comment rulemaking needs
to precede each future update so that
stakeholders have the opportunity to
comment on and adequately prepare for
any changes that will affect them. AHLA
commented that the proposal to update
the thresholds triennially without a
preceding opportunity for comment is
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‘‘drastic and troublesome’’ and that
‘‘notice and comment will help ensure
that the knowledge, expertise, and vital
input of interested stakeholders will be
considered before moving forward with
increases.’’
Relatedly, AFPI, NRF, and SBA
Advocacy asserted that automatic
updating would violate the directive
under section 13(a)(1) that the
Department define and delimit the EAP
exemption ‘‘from time to time’’ by
regulations. NRF, for example, noted
that Congress asked the Department to
revisit the EAP exemptions from time to
time ‘‘expecting the Department to use
its deep knowledge of the U.S. economy
in general, and labor market in
particular, to establish appropriate
parameters for the exemptions’’ and
contended that by implementing
automatic updates the Department
evades that decision-making process.
AFPI similarly asserted that the
‘‘directive, ‘from time to time,’ does not
allow the Department to set it and forget
it.’’
The Department disagrees with the
assertion that triennial updates using
the compensation methodologies
adopted in the regulations improperly
bypass the APA’s—and section 13(a)(1)
by reference—requirements for notice
and comment rulemaking. The
Department is adopting an updating
mechanism in this rulemaking after
publishing a notice of the proposed rule
and providing opportunity for
stakeholders to comment in accordance
with the APA’s notice and comment
requirements. The Department has
received and considered numerous
comments on the proposed updating
mechanism. Future updates under the
triennial updating mechanism would
simply reset the thresholds by applying
current data to a standard already
established by notice and comment
regulation, providing clarity for the
regulated community as to future
changes in the thresholds. Therefore,
the Department disagrees with
commenters that claimed that notice
and comment rulemaking must precede
each future update made through the
updating mechanism even where the
methodology for setting the
compensation levels and the mechanism
for updating those levels would remain
unchanged.135 The updating mechanism
135 Some commenters, such as Independent
Electrical Contractors, RILA, and U-Haul, further
asserted that automatic updates improperly bypass
the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act
(‘‘RFA’’) and executive orders requiring the
Department to undertake a detailed economic and
cost analysis. The Department disagrees. Pursuant
to the RFA, the Department has included in this
final rule as well as in the NPRM detailed estimates
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will not alter the Department’s ability to
engage in future rulemaking to change
the updating mechanism or any other
aspect of the part 541 regulations at any
point.
The Department also disagrees with
commenters that claimed section
13(a)(1)’s ‘‘time to time’’ language
precludes the Department from adopting
an updating mechanism. The updating
mechanism would only ensure the
standard salary level and total annual
compensation threshold remain at the
percentiles established through
rulemaking. This does not preclude the
Department from engaging in future
rulemaking ‘‘from time to time’’ if it
determines that there is a need to
change the underlying methodologies
for setting the standard salary level or
HCE total annual compensation
threshold, the updating mechanism, or
any other substantive change to part
541, as the Department did, for instance,
in 1940, 1949, 1958 1975, 2004, 2016,
and 2019.
Many commenters opposing the
updating mechanism referenced the
Department’s prior statements to further
support their assertion that the
Department lacks authority to
implement automatic updating. In
particular, commenters pointed to the
Department’s decision not to institute
an automatic updating mechanism in
the 2004 rule and its statement that ‘‘the
Department finds nothing in the
legislative or regulatory history that
would support indexing or automatic
increases.’’ See, e.g., NAM; NFIB; SBA
Advocacy. Others, like PPWO, further
asserted that automatic updates are
contrary to the Department’s statement
in the 2004 rule that ‘‘[t]he salary levels
should be adjusted when wage survey
data and other policy concerns support
such a change.’’
As stated in the NPRM, the
Department’s decision not to institute
an automatic updating mechanism in
the 2004 and 2019 rulemakings in no
way suggests that it lacks the authority
to do so. In its 2004 rule, the
Department stated that it found nothing
in the legislative or regulatory history
for the future costs of updates under the updating
mechanism. See section VII and VIII; 88 FR 62224.
Similarly, as relevant here, Executive Order 13563
directs agencies to take certain steps when
promulgating regulations, including using the ‘‘best
available techniques to quantify anticipated present
and future benefits and costs as accurately as
possible’’ and adopting regulations ‘‘through a
process that involves public participation.’’ 76 FR
3821 (Jan. 18, 2011). The current rulemaking fully
satisfies all aspects of Executive Order 13563. See
section VII; 88 FR 62182. The RFA and Executive
Order 13563 do not require notice and comment
rulemaking to precede future triennial updates
made through the updating mechanism established
in this rulemaking.
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that would support indexing or
automatic increases.136 As the
Department elaborated in its 2016
rulemaking, there was likewise no such
authority prohibiting automatic
updating.137 The 2004 rule did not
discuss the Department’s statutory
authority to promulgate an updating
mechanism through notice and
comment rulemaking or explore in
detail whether automatic updates to the
salary levels posed a viable solution to
problems created by lapses between
rulemakings. As the Department
explained in the 2016 rule, the
Department’s reference in the 2004 rule
to automatic updating simply reflected
the Department’s conclusion at that time
that an inflation-based updating
mechanism, such as one based on
changes in the prices of consumer
goods, that unduly impacts low-wage
regions and industries, would be
inappropriate. Such concerns are not
implicated here, where the mechanism
will update the salary level to keep it at
the same percentile of earnings of fulltime salaried workers. As for concerns
that the salary level should be updated
only when wage data warrants it, the
updating mechanism does just that—as
the earnings thresholds will change only
to the extent earnings data in the
relevant data sets have changed,
whether upward or downward as
conditions dictate.
Similarly, the Department declined to
adopt automatic updating in the 2019
rule because it ‘‘believe[d] that it is
important to preserve the Department’s
flexibility to adapt to different types of
circumstances,’’ 138 and not because it
lacked authority to do so. While the
Department decided not to institute an
updating mechanism in its 2019 rule, it
never said that it lacked the statutory
authority to do so. Upon further
consideration, the Department
concludes that the best way to ensure
the standard salary level and HCE total
compensation threshold remain up to
date is a triennial updating mechanism
that maintains the Department’s
flexibility to adapt to different
circumstances and change course as
necessary.
ii. Rationale for Continuing To Update
the Standard Salary Level and Total
Annual Compensation Threshold With
Current Data in the Future
The Department explained in the
NPRM that its proposed updating
136 69
FR 22171.
81 FR 32432–33 (noting that ‘‘instituting
an automatic updating mechanism . . . is an
appropriate modernization and within the
Department’s authority.’’).
138 84 FR 51252.
137 See
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mechanism would allow for regular and
more predictable updates to the
earnings thresholds, which would
benefit both employers and employees
and would better fulfill the
Department’s statutory duty to define
and delimit the EAP exemption by
preventing the erosion of those levels
over time. The Department noted that its
regulatory history, marked in many
instances by lengthy gaps between
rulemakings, underscored the difficulty
with updating the earnings thresholds
as quickly and regularly as necessary to
keep pace with changing employee
earnings and to maintain the full
effectiveness of the thresholds. Through
the proposed updating mechanism, the
Department explained it would be able
to timely and efficiently update the
standard salary level and the HCE total
annual compensation requirement by
using the same methodologies as
initially proposed and adopted through
notice and comment rulemaking to set
the thresholds. The Department noted
that updating the thresholds in this
manner would prevent the more drastic
and unpredictable increases associated
with less frequent updates and ensure
that future salary level increases occur
at a known interval and in more gradual
increments. The Department received
many comments on the rationale for
implementing the proposed triennial
updating mechanism.
Several organizations representing
employee interests as well as a handful
of employers agreed with the
Department that an updating
mechanism would ensure the thresholds
keep pace with wages and retain their
usefulness. See, e.g., Coalition of Gender
Justice and Civil Rights Organizations;
National Partnership; National
Education Association (NEA); National
Employment Lawyers Association
(NELA); National Employment Law
Project (NELP); Uncommon Goods; W.S.
Badger Company. Nichols Kaster, PLLP
(Nichols Kaster) noted the updating
mechanism protects the thresholds from
becoming outdated and irrelevant,
although it believed that annual updates
would better reflect the economy. NELA
commented that ‘‘indexing represents
the only simple and accurate’’ way to
preserve the real value of the standard
salary level and the HCE total
compensation threshold through time,
although they contended that the
proposed methodologies should be
higher earnings percentiles.
Many commenters supportive of the
updating mechanism also asserted that
regular updates would provide greater
predictability for employers and
employees alike. See, e.g., AFL–CIO;
Center for WorkLife Law at University
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of California Law and Partner
Organizations (Family Caregiving
Coalition); Justice at Work; NEA. Small
Business Majority expressed support for
the proposed updating mechanism
noting that smaller, predictable
increases that are known well in
advance—as opposed to ‘‘large and
sudden’’ increases—would allow small
business owners to be better prepared
for any staffing or compensation
changes they need to make. Nineteen
Democratic Senators commented that an
updating mechanism is the most
effective way to provide consistency
and stability for both workers and
businesses. See also, e.g., EPI;
Washington State Department of Labor
and Industries. CLASP similarly noted
the proposed updating provision would
enable employers to know exactly what
to expect and when to expect it.
In contrast, many organizations
representing employer interests
disagreed with the Department’s
rationale for the proposed updating
mechanism. Several of these
commenters criticized the Department
for stating that the updating mechanism
is a more ‘‘viable and efficient’’ means
of updating the thresholds by asserting
that the Department is trying to avoid its
obligation to engage in notice and
comment rulemaking simply because
such rulemaking is resource-intensive.
See, e.g., IDFA; National Restaurant
Association; PPWO. The Chamber
similarly commented that the
Department’s history of long gaps in
rulemaking is not an adequate
justification for adopting what it
characterized as ‘‘a historically
unprecedented change.’’
Commenters including AHLA, FMI,
the National Beer Wholesalers
Association, and Seyfarth Shaw,
asserted automatic updating would lead
to uncertainty that would pose
administrative and compliance burdens
on employers. Some commenters, such
as HR Policy Association and PPWO,
asserted the proposed mechanism
would make it difficult to ascertain
exactly what the threshold will be every
3 years. Other commenters, including
CUPA–HR, FMI, IDFA, and SHRM,
asserted triennial updates would have a
significant financial impact on
employers as they would need to
account for the cost of salaries or
potential overtime as well as the cost of
conducting reclassification analysis and
implementing the necessary changes
every 3 years. Some nonprofit
organizations and providers of home
and community-based health services
expressed concern that future updates
would be difficult for the nonprofit
sector because of their funding sources.
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See, e.g., Allegheny Children’s
Initiative; ANCOR.
Some commenters opposing the
updating mechanism claimed automatic
updates would hinder the Department
from considering economic
circumstances when making updates.
Ten Republican Senators asserted
automatic updates ‘‘blind the
administration to critical considerations
about the state of the economy and the
workforce, including the unemployment
rate, inflation, job vacancies, or whether
employers are in a position to adjust to
the increases without shedding jobs.’’
Some commenters, including Illinois
College, ISSA, and the Society of
Independent Gasoline Marketers of
America, expressed concern that the
proposed mechanism could lead to
updates happening at a time of
economic downturn or a recession and
could further exacerbate those economic
conditions. Others expressed concern
that the updating mechanism would
hinder future rulemaking to change the
earnings thresholds. See, e.g., Chamber;
National Association of Convenience
Stores.
The Department continues to believe
that the updating mechanism will
ensure the earnings thresholds keep
pace with changes in earnings and
remain useful in the future in helping to
delineate EAP employees from non-EAP
employees. Whereas a fixed salary level
threshold becomes less effective over
time as the data used to set it grows
outdated, a fixed methodology remains
relevant if applied to contemporaneous
data. The Department agrees with the
commenters that stated that the
updating mechanism’s triennial updates
would provide greater certainty and
predictability for the regulated
community. Unlike irregular updates to
the earnings thresholds, which may
result in drastic changes to the
thresholds, regular updates on a predetermined interval and using an
established methodology will produce
more predictable and incremental
changes. For this reason, the
Department disagrees with the assertion
by some commenters that regular
updates will lead to unpredictable
adjustments and ongoing uncertainty.
The Department also disagrees with
commenters like HR Policy Association
that claimed the proposed mechanism
will make it difficult to ascertain what
exactly the threshold will be every 3
years. Through the updating
mechanism, the Department will reset
the standard salary level and total
annual compensation threshold using
the most recent, publicly available, U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on
earnings for salaried workers. Therefore,
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stakeholders will be able to track where
the thresholds would fall on a quarterly
basis by looking at the BLS data 139 and
can estimate the changes in the
thresholds even before the Department
publishes the notice with the adjusted
thresholds in the Federal Register. The
Department believes that, compared to
the irregular updates of the past,
stakeholders will be better positioned to
anticipate and prepare for future
updates under the updating mechanism.
Moreover, the Department does not
agree with the assertion that routine
updates would lead to undue increases
at a time of economic downturn or
recession. If anything, the Department’s
new updating mechanism will ensure
that the thresholds match the earnings
data as they exist at the time of the
update, whether by increasing or
decreasing the earnings thresholds as
warranted by the data. As discussed
below, the Department’s decision to
deviate from the 2016 rule by adopting
a mechanism for pausing future updates
further guards against such concerns.
Similarly, nothing about the updating
mechanism precludes the Department
from revisiting the standard salary level
and HCE total annual compensation
methodologies in the future when
conditions warrant. Having considered
the comments received, the Department
remains convinced that an updating
mechanism providing for regular
updates on a triennial basis is the best
means of ensuring that the salary and
compensation tests continue to provide
an effective means, in tandem with the
duties tests, to distinguish between EAP
and non-EAP employees.
iii. Specific Features of the Updating
Mechanism
The Department received many
comments regarding the various aspects
of the proposed updating mechanism,
including the updating frequency,
methodology, notice period, and pause
mechanism. The Department proposed
in § 541.607(a) and (b) to update the
earnings thresholds every 3 years by
using the same methodology used in the
regulations to set the thresholds.
Specifically, proposed § 541.607(a)(2)
and (b)(2) stated that the methodologies
for setting the standard salary level and
HCE annual compensation threshold in
the NPRM would be used for future
updates.
Many commenters that supported the
proposed updating mechanism
expressed a preference for more
frequent updates. See, e.g., Coalition of
State AGs; Jobs to Move America; NEA;
139 See https://www.bls.gov/cps/research/
nonhourly/earnings-nonhourly-workers.htm.
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NELP. Commenters including AFL–CIO,
National Partnership, and Nichols
Kaster asserted annual updates,
compared to triennial updates, offered
better predictability and would ensure
that the salary threshold keeps pace
with the changes in wages. EPI similarly
observed that annual updates would
ensure that the salary threshold more
closely adheres to the chosen percentile
‘‘rather than slipping further and further
behind in between triennial updates[.]’’
Most commenters that opposed
updating did not separately comment on
the updating frequency, but some
addressed it in the context of discussing
the impact of the updating mechanism
on employers. Many of these
commenters claimed triennial updates
would impose substantial financial and
compliance burdens on employers as
they would need to engage in
reclassification analysis and implement
necessary changes to adjust to the
updated thresholds every 3 years. See,
e.g., ABC; CUPA–HR; HR Policy
Association; NAM. Most of the
commenters opposing the updating
mechanism did not suggest an
alternative updating frequency.
Notwithstanding their objection to
automatic updating, however, a few
commenters, including AHLA, ASTA,
WFCA, and YMCA, suggested a longer
updating frequency ranging from 4 to 6
years.
The Department agrees with the
commenters that stated annual updates
would keep the salary level more up to
date given that employee earnings are
constantly changing. However, as stated
in the NPRM, the Department is also
mindful of the potential burden that
possible changes to the tests for
exemption on an annual basis would
impose on employers, including costs
associated with evaluating the
exemption status of employees on an
annual basis. Conversely, the
Department is not convinced by
commenter claims that triennial updates
would impose an undue financial and
compliance burden on employers. Many
of these commenters did not address the
fact that the alternative to automatic
updating is not a permanent fixed
earnings threshold, but instead larger
changes to the threshold that could
occur during irregular future updates.
Since the updating mechanism will
change the thresholds regularly and
incrementally, and based on actual
earnings of salaried workers, the
Department predicts that employers will
be in a better position to be able to
adjust to the changes resulting from
triennial updates. The Department
remains persuaded that triennial
updates are frequent enough to ensure
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that the part 541 earnings thresholds are
kept up to date—and continue to serve
the purpose of helping to identify
exempt employees—while not being
overly burdensome for employers. The
final rule, therefore, adopts an updating
frequency of 3 years as proposed.
The comments regarding the method
through which the Department’s
proposed updating mechanism would
reset the salary and compensation
thresholds were also divided.
Commenters favoring routine updates
also supported the proposal to update
the thresholds using the fixed percentile
approach—to keep the thresholds at the
same percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried worker as established by the
regulations. NELA, for example,
asserted that updating the thresholds
using a fixed percentile of earnings ‘‘is
the fairest way to maintain consistency
in workers’ FLSA eligibility in light of
inevitable economic change.’’ EPI
similarly noted updating the thresholds
through the proposed methodology
ensures that the standard under the
Department’s rule ‘‘is simply
preserved—neither strengthened nor
weakened.’’
Commenters that opposed automatic
updating opposed the proposed
updating methodology. Several of these
commenters reiterated an assertion from
comments on the 2016 rulemaking that
the proposed updating mechanism—
tied to a fixed percentile—would result
in the salary level being ‘‘ratcheted’’
upward over time due to the resulting
actions of employers. See, e.g.,
Chamber; NAM; NRF (including a report
by Oxford Economics); SBA Advocacy.
The commenters contended that in
response to each automatic update, most
employers would either reclassify
employees earning below the new salary
level to hourly status or raise the
salaries of those employees to keep their
exempt status. These responses, the
commenters claimed, would skew the
relevant data for future updates in favor
of substantial increases because those
employees who were reclassified as
hourly would fall out of the data pool
causing the data pool to be smaller and
skew towards higher-paid workers. See,
e.g., Chamber; National Association of
Convenience Stores; National
Restaurant Association; NRF. While
expressing a strong preference that
automatic updates be abandoned
altogether, some of the commenters
concerned about this possible effect
suggested that the Department adopt an
updating mechanism tied to an
inflation-related index. See Seyfarth
Shaw; SHRM.
The Department notes that very
similar comments concerning an alleged
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‘‘ratcheting’’ effect were received during
the 2016 rulemaking, which also
proposed an updating mechanism based
on earnings percentiles. In response to
those comments, the Department
examined historical data to determine
the impact of its previous salary
increase.140 Specifically, the
Department looked at the share of fulltime white-collar workers paid on an
hourly basis before and after the 2004
rule (January–March 2004; January–
March 2005) both below and above the
standard salary level. The Department
found that following the 2004 rule, the
share of full-time white-collar workers
being paid hourly actually decreased
marginally in the group below the
standard salary level and increased
slightly in the group above the standard
salary level.141
The Department finds the claim that
updating with a fixed percentile
methodology would lead to the
‘‘ratcheting’’ upward of the thresholds
to be unsubstantiated. The ‘‘ratcheting’’
claim is almost entirely based on the
assumption that employers will respond
to an automatically updated salary level
by converting all or a large number of
newly nonexempt workers to hourly
status, thus removing them from the
data set of full-time salaried workers.
Yet none of the commenters advancing
this claim presented any tangible data or
evidence to support their assumption.
Even those few commenters that
provided economic analyses rested their
views on the same unsubstantiated
assumption that employers will
generally reclassify newly nonexempt
employees as hourly. See, e.g., NRF
(including a report by Oxford
Economics); PPWO (quoting a study by
Edgeworth Economics).142 The results of
the Department’s close examination of
the impact of the 2004 salary level
increase provide no evidence that salary
level increases due to regular triennial
updating will result in employers
converting significant numbers of
affected EAP workers to hourly pay
status and thus raising potential
concerns about skewing future updates.
Although many commenters made
nearly identical ratcheting claims in this
rulemaking, none of the commenters
addressed the Department’s analysis in
response to those same claims in the
2016 rule.
140 81
FR 32441.
id. at 32441, 32507–08.
142 The Edgeworth Economic study that was
quoted by PPWO and a few other commenters
seemed to assume, without any support, that all
affected workers or newly nonexempt workers who
earn between $684 and $1,059 per week will be
reclassified as hourly employees.
141 See
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Having found no merit in the
‘‘ratcheting’’ claim, the Department
declines to adopt the alternative
methodologies suggested such as an
updating mechanism tied to an
inflation-related index. As noted in the
NPRM, the fixed percentile approach, as
opposed to other methods such as
indexing the thresholds for inflation,
eliminates the risk that future levels will
deviate from the underlying salary
setting methodology established through
rulemaking. During the 2016 rule, the
Department extensively considered
whether to update the thresholds based
on changes in the Consumer Price Index
for All Urban Consumers (CPI–U)—a
commonly used economic indicator for
measuring inflation.143 The Department
chose to update the thresholds using the
same methodology used to initially set
them in that rulemaking (i.e., a fixed
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region), observing that the
objectives that justify setting the salary
level using a fixed percentile
methodology also supported updating
the thresholds using the same
methodology.144 The Department is
persuaded that updating the earnings
thresholds by applying the same
methodology used to originally set the
levels instead of indexing them for
inflation best ensures that the earnings
thresholds continue to fulfill their
objective of helping effectively
differentiate between bona fide EAP
employees and those who are entitled to
overtime pay and work appropriately
with the duties test.
New § 541.607 therefore establishes
triennial updates of the standard salary
level and the HCE total compensation
threshold using the same methodologies
used to set those thresholds. Assuming
the Department has not engaged in
further rulemaking, the Department
anticipates the second update under the
updating mechanism—which will occur
3 years after the date of the initial
update discussed in section V.A—will
use the methodologies established by
this final rule as those will become
effective before the second update.
Accordingly, the second update will
reset the standard salary level to the
35th percentile of weekly earnings of
full-time workers in the lowest-wage
Census Region and will reset the HCE
total annual compensation threshold to
the annualized weekly earnings of the
85th percentile of full-time salaried
workers nationally based on
contemporaneous data at that time.
143 See
144 See
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The Department further proposed to
publish in the Federal Register a notice
with the adjusted standard salary level
and the HCE total annual compensation
threshold at least 150 days before the
date the adjusted thresholds are set to
take effect and to publish the updated
thresholds on WHD’s website no later
than their effective date. The
Department proposed to update both
thresholds using the most recent
available 4 quarters of data, as
published by BLS, preceding the
publication of the Department’s notice
with the adjusted levels. The
Department received fewer comments
regarding these aspects of the proposal
than on the updating mechanism itself.
Most commenters supporting the
proposed updating mechanism did not
separately comment on the 150-day
notice period. Some commenters
opposing automatic updates asserted
that the 150-day notice period would
not be adequate time to prepare for
compliance with the new updated
thresholds. See, e.g., Association of
Public and Land-grant Universities
(APLU) (suggesting 180-day advance
notice); Chamber (suggesting at least 1
year notice); National Association of
Convenience Stores (same); The
American Association of Advertising
Agencies (The 4As) (same). Regarding
the data set, EPI suggested the
Department use the most recent quarter
of data asserting that the salary
threshold would be ‘‘suppressed’’ for 2
out of every 3 years if the Department
adopts triennial updates. On the other
hand, the National Association of
Convenience Stores, while opposing
automatic updating, recommended the
Department use the most recent 6
quarters of data, or those quarters minus
the 2 most recent, to account for
changes it claimed employers may make
preemptively to adjust to an upcoming
update for budgetary reasons.
After considering the comments
received, the Department is persuaded
that a notice period of not less than 150
days provides sufficient time for
employers to make the necessary
adjustments to comply with the updated
thresholds. This is especially true given
that employers will be able to access the
data set that will be used to make the
adjustments as published by BLS and
anticipate the extent of the adjustment
even before the Department publishes
the notice. A period substantially longer
than 150 days would hinder the
Department’s ability to ensure that the
thresholds that take effect are based on
the most up-to-date data. Similarly, the
Department believes that using the most
recent available 4 quarters of data will
account for the Department’s goal that
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the thresholds reflect prevailing
economic conditions while balancing
the concerns of commenters that wanted
a longer or shorter period for the data
set. Therefore, the final rule establishes
that for future updates under the
updating mechanism, the Department
will publish in the Federal Register a
notice with the adjusted thresholds not
fewer than 150 days before the date the
new adjusted thresholds are set to take
effect and will publish the updated
thresholds on the WHD website no later
than their effective date. The updates
will be based on the most recent
available 4 quarters of data as published
by BLS.
Lastly, the Department’s proposal
included a provision providing for the
delay of a scheduled update under the
updating mechanism while the
Department engages in notice and
comment rulemaking to change the
earnings requirements and/or updating
mechanism, where economic or other
conditions merit. The Department
explained that the delay would be
triggered if the Department publishes an
NPRM proposing to change the salary
level methodology and/or modify the
updating mechanism by the date on
which it publishes the notice of the
revised salary and compensation
thresholds. In that instance, the notice
with the adjusted thresholds must state
that the scheduled update will be
paused for 120 days from the day the
update was set to occur while the
Department engages in rulemaking, and
that the pause will be lifted on the 121st
day unless the Department finalizes a
rule changing the salary level
methodology and/or automatic updating
mechanism by that time. In the event
the Department does not issue a final
rule by the prescribed deadline, the
pause on the scheduled update will be
lifted and the new thresholds will take
effect on the 121st day after they were
originally scheduled to take effect. The
Department also explained the 120-day
pause would not affect the date for the
next scheduled triennial update given
the relative shortness of the delay and
so as not to disrupt the updating
schedule. The next update, therefore,
would occur 3 years from the date on
which the delayed update would have
originally been effective.
The Department received somewhat
mixed comments regarding its proposed
pausing mechanism. For example,
notwithstanding their objection to
automatic updating (and in some cases,
certain aspects of the pause
mechanism), some employer
organizations such as CUNA, AHLA,
and the National Association of
Professional Insurance Agents
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commended the Department for
recognizing that there may be
circumstances that may require
temporarily delaying a scheduled
update. Some commenters that
supported the updating proposal agreed.
For example, the Coalition of State AGs
described the delay provision as ‘‘a failsafe mechanism’’ that would provide
the Department flexibility to adjust to
changed circumstances as necessary. On
the other hand, Sanford Heisler Sharp,
while otherwise favoring the updating
mechanism, objected to the pause
feature asserting that it would ‘‘inject
uncertainty into the administration of
the threshold, undermining the stated
purpose of the NPRM to simplify
enforcement of overtime and minimum
wage protections.’’
Some commenters took issue with the
phrase ‘‘unforeseen economic or other
conditions’’ in the NPRM’s preamble
which generally described the
circumstances in which the Department
may trigger the pause mechanism.
AHLA, CUNA, and NAIS/NBOA
asserted it is not clear what
circumstances would constitute
‘‘unforeseen economic or other
conditions.’’ AFPI similarly pointed out
the phrase was found only in the
preamble and not in the proposed
§ 541.607. American Council of
Engineering Companies expressed
concern that the proposed pause
mechanism does not provide sufficient
flexibility for the Department to respond
to unexpected economic conditions and
recommended that the provision be
modified to allow the Secretary ‘‘to
suspend automatic updates if economic
conditions warrant.’’ RILA asserted the
pause feature is an inflexible process
asserting that if a catastrophic event
were to occur within 150 days of the
date of a scheduled update, the
Department would have no flexibility or
ability to delay or stop the update. A
few commenters claimed that the 120day pause period is not sufficient time
to provide the Department the flexibility
it needs to adjust to unforeseen
circumstances or complete a
rulemaking. See, e.g., National
Association of Convenience Stores;
NRF.
Most of the comments objecting to or
otherwise criticizing the pause
mechanism seem to assume the only
way the Department can alter a
scheduled update or change any other
aspect of the rule is through the
updating mechanism’s pause provision.
That is not correct. Nothing in the
proposed updating mechanism limits
the Department’s ability to engage in
future rulemaking to change any aspect
of the part 541 regulations at any time.
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The pause mechanism offers the
Department added flexibility—in
addition to its ability to engage in
rulemaking at any time to change the
rule—by allowing it the ability to delay
a scheduled update as it engages in
rulemaking. As the Department noted in
the NPRM, the pause mechanism offers
the Department 270 days—150 days
before, and 120 days after, the effective
date for the scheduled update—to
complete the rulemaking process. The
Department can still engage in
rulemaking outside of this period and
through that rulemaking can stop or
delay a scheduled update or change any
other aspect of the part 541 regulations.
This is true regardless of whether the
Department adopts the delay provision.
The Department believes that the pause
provision will provide additional
flexibility in the context of the triennial
updates and will not impact the
Department’s normal rulemaking
powers.
The Department recognizes that the
phrase ‘‘unforeseen economic or other
conditions’’ was not in proposed
§ 541.607 and agrees that the lack of this
language in the regulatory text creates
ambiguity about the standard for
pausing a triennial update. Therefore,
the Department is revising § 541.607(d)
to include similar language. The
Department believes this revision
clarifies the standard for when the
pause mechanism may be triggered but
does not impinge on the Department’s
normal authority to engage in
rulemaking for other reasons. The
Department is disinclined to further
define what circumstances would
trigger the pause mechanism, as some
commenters suggested. In proposing the
pause mechanism, the Department was
mindful of previous statements from
stakeholders, and the Department’s own
prior statements, about the need to
preserve flexibility to adapt to
unanticipated circumstances. As an
example, the Department referenced the
COVID pandemic and its widespread
impact on workplaces. However, it is
not feasible for the Department to
outline every possible circumstance that
could warrant a delay of a scheduled
update. Doing so would unduly limit
the Department’s flexibility to adjust to
truly unanticipated circumstances.
For these reasons, the Department has
concluded that the proposed pause
mechanism, with the modification
noted above, provides the Department
sufficient flexibility to adopt to
unforeseen circumstances where
necessary. Therefore, the new
§ 541.607(b)(4) establishes that the
Department can trigger the pause, where
unforeseen economic or other
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conditions warrant, by issuing an NPRM
proposing to change the salary level
methodology and/or modify the
updating mechanism by the date on
which it publishes the notice with the
adjusted salary and compensation
thresholds. Section 541.607(b)(4) further
clarifies that the notice with the
adjusted thresholds must state that the
scheduled update will be paused for 120
days from the day the update was set to
occur while the Department engages in
rulemaking, and that the pause will be
lifted on the 121st day unless the
Department finalizes a rule changing the
salary level methodology and/or
automatic updating mechanism by that
time.
Lastly, as discussed in more detail in
section V.D, the Department intends for
the triennial updates of the standard
salary level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold using current
earnings data to be severable from the
revision to those methodologies
discussed in section V.B and section
V.C. In implementing routine triennial
updates, the Department intends to
ensure that the salary and compensation
thresholds set in the regulations reflect
changes in earnings data and continue
to function effectively in helping
identify exempt white-collar employees.
As already noted, the Department has
different objectives for changing the
methodologies for setting the standard
salary level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold. Specifically, in
changing the methodology for the
standard salary level, the Department
intends to fully restore the salary level’s
historic screening function and account
for the shift in the 2004 rule from a twotest to a one-test system for defining and
delimiting the EAP exemption.145 In
changing the methodology for the HCE
total annual compensation threshold,
the Department intends to ensure the
HCE threshold’s role as a streamlined
alternative for those employees most
likely to meet the standard duties test by
excluding all but those employees ‘‘at
the very top of [the] economic
ladder[.]’’ 146 These are independent
objectives of this rulemaking and the
provisions implementing them can each
stand alone. Therefore, the Department
intends for the triennial updates to
remain in force even if the
methodologies for the standard salary
level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold established by
this final rule are stayed or do not take
effect. Similarly, the Department
intends for the triennial updates under
§ 541.607(b) to remain in force even if
145 See
146 See
section V.B.
section V.C.
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the initial update for wage growth in
§ 541.607(a) is stayed or does not take
effect.
B. Standard Salary Level
In its NPRM, the Department
proposed to update the salary level by
setting it equal to the 35th percentile of
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region (the
South), resulting in a proposed salary
level of $1,059 per week ($55,068 for a
full-year worker). The proposed salary
level methodology built on lessons
learned in the Department’s most recent
rulemakings to more effectively define
and delimit employees employed in a
bona fide EAP capacity. Specifically, the
Department’s intent in the NPRM was to
fully restore the salary level’s screening
function and account for the switch in
the 2004 rule from a two-test system to
a one-test system for defining the EAP
exemption, while also updating the
standard salary level for earnings
growth since the 2019 rule.
The Department is finalizing the
proposed standard salary level
methodology and applying it to the most
recent available earnings data, resulting
in a salary level of $1,128 per week
($58,656 for a full-year worker). Setting
the standard salary level at the 35th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region will, in
combination with the standard duties
test, better define and delimit which
employees are employed in a bona fide
EAP capacity in a one-test system.
Because the salary level is above the
equivalent of the long test salary level,
the final rule will (unlike the 2004 and
2019 rules) ensure that lower-paid
white-collar employees who perform
significant amounts of nonexempt work,
and were historically considered by the
Department not to be employed in a
bona fide EAP capacity because they
failed the long duties test, are not all
included in the exemption. At the same
time, by setting the salary level well
below the equivalent of the short test
salary level, the final rule will address
potential concerns that the salary level
test should not be determinative of EAP
exemption status for too many whitecollar employees. The combined result
will be a more effective test for
exemption. The final salary level will
also reasonably distribute between
employees and their employers what the
Department now understands to be the
impact of the 2004 shift from a two-test
to a one-test system on employees
earning between the long and short test
salary levels.
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1. History of the Salary Level
The FLSA became law in 1938 and
the first version of the part 541
regulations, issued later that year, set a
minimum compensation requirement of
$30 per week for executive and
administrative employees.147 Since
then, the Department has increased the
salary levels eight times—in 1940, 1949,
1958, 1963, 1970, 1975, 2004, and 2019.
In 1940, the Department maintained
the $30 per week salary level for
executive employees but established a
higher $200 per month salary level test
for administrative and professional
employees. In selecting these
thresholds, the Department used salary
surveys from Federal and state
government agencies, experience gained
under the National Industrial Recovery
Act, and Federal government salaries to
determine the salary level that was a
reasonable ‘‘dividing line’’ between
employees performing exempt and
nonexempt work.148
In 1949, recognizing that the
‘‘increase in wage rates and salary
levels’’ since 1940 had ‘‘gradually
weakened the effectiveness of the
present salary tests as a dividing line
between exempt and nonexempt
employees,’’ the Department calculated
the percentage increase in weekly
earnings from 1940 to 1949, and then
adopted new salary levels at a ‘‘figure
slightly lower than might be indicated
by the data’’ to protect small
businesses.149 In 1949, the Department
also established a short test for
exemption, which paired a higher salary
level with a less rigorous duties test.
The justification for this short test was
that employees who met the higher
salary level were more likely to meet all
the requirements of the exemption
(including the 20 percent limit on
nonexempt work), and thus a ‘‘short-cut
test of exemption . . . would facilitate
the administration of the regulations
without defeating the purposes of
section 13(a)(1).’’ 150 Employees who
met only the lower long test salary level,
and not the higher short test salary
level, were required to satisfy the long
duties test, which included a limit on
the amount of nonexempt work that an
exempt employee could perform. The
two-test system remained part of the
Department’s regulations until 2004. In
1958, the Department reiterated that
salary is a ‘‘mark of [the] status’’ of an
exempt employee and reinforced the
importance of salary as an enforcement
tool, adding that the Department had
147 3
FR 2518.
Stein Report at 20–21, 31–32.
149 Weiss Report at 8, 14.
150 Id. at 22–23.
148 See
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‘‘found no satisfactory substitute for the
salary tests.’’ 151 To set the salary levels,
the Department considered data
collected during 1955 WHD
investigations on the ‘‘actual salaries
paid’’ to employees who ‘‘qualified for
exemption’’ (i.e., met the applicable
salary and duties tests in place at the
time) and set the salary levels at $80 per
week for executives and $95 per week
for administrative and professional
employees.152 The Department set the
long test salary levels so that only a
limited number of employees
performing EAP duties (about 10
percent) in the lowest-wage regions and
industries would fail to meet the new
salary level and therefore become
entitled to overtime pay.153 In laying out
this methodology, often referred to as
the ‘‘Kantor’’ methodology and
generally referenced in this rule as the
‘‘long test’’ methodology, the
Department echoed its prior comments
stating that the salary tests ‘‘simplify
enforcement by providing a ready
method of screening out the obviously
nonexempt employees.’’ 154
The Department followed a similar
methodology when determining the
appropriate long test salary level in
1963, using data regarding salaries paid
to exempt workers collected in a 1961
WHD survey.155 The salary level for
executive and administrative employees
was increased to $100 per week, and the
professional exemption salary level was
increased to $115 per week.156 The
Department noted that these salary
levels approximated the methodology
used in 1958 to set the long test salary
levels.157
The Department continued to use a
similar methodology when it updated
the salary levels in 1970. After
examining data from 1968 WHD
investigations, 1969 BLS wage data, and
information provided in a report issued
by the Department in 1969 that included
salary data for executive, administrative,
and professional employees,158 the
Department increased the long test
salary level for executive and
administrative employees to $125 per
week and increased the long test salary
level for professional employees to $140
per week.159
In 1975, instead of following the
previous long test methodology, the
Department set the long test salary
151 Kantor
Report at 2–3.
at 6, 9.
153 Id. at 6–7.
154 Id. at 2–3; see Weiss Report at 8.
155 28 FR 7002 (July 9, 1963).
156 Id. at 7004.
157 Id.
158 See 34 FR 9934, 9935 (June 24, 1969).
159 35 FR 885.
152 Id.
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levels ‘‘slightly below’’ the amount
suggested by adjusting the 1970 salary
levels for inflation based on increases in
the Consumer Price Index.160 The long
test salary level for executive and
administrative employees was set at
$155, while the professional level was
set at $170. The salary levels adopted
were intended to be interim levels
‘‘pending the completion and analysis
of a study by [BLS] covering a six-month
period in 1975[,]’’ and were not meant
to set a precedent for future salary level
increases.161 The envisioned process
was never completed, however, and the
‘‘interim’’ salary levels remained
unchanged for the next 29 years.
The short test salary level increased in
tandem with the long test level
throughout the various rulemakings
between 1949 and 2004. Because the
short test was designed to capture only
those white-collar employees whose
salary was high enough to indicate a
stronger likelihood of being employed
in a bona fide EAP capacity and thus
warrant a less stringent duties
requirement, the short test salary level
was always set significantly higher than
the long test salary level (approximately
130 percent to 180 percent of the long
test level).
When the Department updated the
part 541 regulations in 2004, it created
a single standard test for exemption
instead of retaining the two-test system
from prior rulemakings. The Department
set the new standard salary level at $455
per week and paired it with a duties test
that was substantially equivalent to the
less rigorous short duties test. The
Department set a salary level that would
exclude from exemption roughly the
bottom 20 percent of full-time salaried
employees in each of two
subpopulations: (1) the South and (2)
the retail industry nationally. In setting
the salary level the Department looked
to earnings data for all white-collar
workers—exempt and nonexempt—and
looked to a higher percentile than the
long test methodology (10th percentile
of exempt workers in low-wage
industries and areas). The Department
acknowledged, however, that the salary
arrived at by this method was, at the
time, equivalent to the salary derived
from the long test method using
contemporaneous data.162
160 40
FR 7091.
at 7091–92.
162 See 69 FR 22168. The 2004 rule looked to the
20th percentile of a data set of all full-time salaried
workers and the long test methodology looked to
the lowest paid 10 percent of exempt salaried
workers. The two methodologies resulted in
equivalent salary levels because exempt salaried
workers generally have higher earnings than
nonexempt salaried workers.
161 Id.
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In the 2016 rule, the Department set
the standard salary level equal to the
40th percentile of weekly earnings of
full-time salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region (the South). This
resulted in a standard salary level of
$913 per week, which was at the low
end of the historic range of short test
salary levels. The Department explained
that the increase in the standard salary
level was needed because, in moving
from a two-test to a one-test system, the
2004 rule exempted lower-salaried
employees performing large amounts of
nonexempt work who had historically
been, and should continue to be,
covered by the overtime compensation
requirement.163 Since the standard
duties test was equivalent to the short
duties test, the Department asserted that
a salary level in the short test salary
range—traditionally 130 to 180 percent
of the long test salary level—was
necessary to address this effect of the
2004 rule. As explained earlier, the U.S.
District Court for the Eastern District of
Texas held the 2016 rule invalid.
In the 2019 rule, the Department
reapplied the methodology for setting
the standard salary threshold from the
2004 rule, setting the salary level equal
to the 20th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the South and/or in the retail sector
nationwide.164 This methodology
addressed concerns that had been raised
that the 2016 methodology excluded too
many employees from the exemption
based on their salary alone and
produced the current standard salary
level of $684 per week (equivalent to
$35,568 per year).165 Unlike in 2004,
however, where the 20th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the South and retail
nationally was essentially the same as
the long test, in 2019 this methodology
now produced a salary level amount
that was lower than the equivalent of
the long test salary level using
contemporaneous data ($724 per week,
$37,648 per year). Put another way, the
salary level set in the 2019 rule was $40
per week below the long test level (used
to validate the salary level in the 2004
rule) and $292 per week below the low
end of the short test range (used to set
the salary level in the 2016 rule).
2. Standard Salary Level Proposal
In its NPRM, the Department
proposed to update the salary level by
setting it equal to the 35th percentile of
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region (the
163 81
FR 32405.
84 FR 51260 (Table 4).
165 Id. at 51238.
164 See
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South), resulting in a proposed salary
level of $1,059 per week ($55,068 for a
full-year worker). The Department’s
proposal explained that fully restoring
the salary level’s screening function
required setting a salary level at least
equal to the long test salary level. The
Department elaborated that prior to the
2019 rule (when the Department set the
salary level $40 per week below the long
test level), employees who earned below
the long test salary level were screened
from the EAP exemption by virtue of
their pay—either by the long test salary
level itself or, in the case of the 2004
rule, a standard salary level set equal to
the long test salary level. The
Department stated that the long test
salary level provided what it believed
should be the lowest boundary of the
new salary level methodology because it
would ensure the salary level’s historic
screening function was restored.
In selecting the proposed salary level
methodology, the Department also
considered the impact of its switch in
2004 to a one-test system for
determining exemption status. The
Department explained that a single-test
system cannot fully replicate both the
two-test system’s heightened protection
for employees performing substantial
amounts of nonexempt work and its
increased efficiency for determining
exemption status for employees who are
highly likely to perform EAP duties.
Rather than reinstate the long duties test
with its limitation on nonexempt work,
the Department examined earnings
ventiles that would produce a salary
level between the long and short test
salary levels (which were, respectively,
equivalent to between the 26th and 27th
percentiles, and the 53rd percentile, of
full-time salaried worker earnings in the
lowest-wage Census Region). The
Department explained that the long and
short tests had served as the foundation
for nearly all the Department’s prior
rulemakings, either directly under the
two-test system, or indirectly as a means
of evaluating the Department’s salary
level methodology under the one-test
system, and therefore were useful
parameters. The Department concluded
that setting the salary level equal to the
35th percentile would, in combination
with the standard duties test, more
effectively identify in a one-test system
who is employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity in a manner that reasonably
distributes among employees earning
between the long and short test salary
levels and their employers the impact of
the Department’s move to a one-test
system.
After reviewing the comments
received, the Department is finalizing its
proposal to set the standard salary level
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equal to the 35th percentile of full-time
salaried worker earnings in the lowestwage Census Region (the South), which
is below the midpoint of the long and
short test salary levels. Applying this
methodology to data for calendar year
2023 results in a salary level of $1,128
per week ($58,656 annually for a fullyear worker). This approach will fully
restore the salary level’s function of
screening obviously nonexempt workers
from the EAP exemption, and account
for the switch in the 2004 rule to a onetest system in a way that reasonably
distributes the impact of this shift
among employees earning between the
long and short test salary levels and
their employers. The resulting salary
level will work effectively with the
standard duties test to better define who
is employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity.
3. Salary Level Test Function and
Effects
For 85 years, the Department’s
regulations have consistently looked at
both the duties performed by the
employee and the salary paid by the
employer in defining and delimiting
who is a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional
employee exempt from the FLSA’s
minimum wage and overtime
protections. From 1949 to 2004, the
Department determined EAP exemption
status using a two-test system
comprised of a long test (a lower salary
level paired with a more rigorous duties
test that limited performance of
nonexempt work to no more than 20
percent for most employees) and a short
test (a higher salary level paired with a
less rigorous duties test that looked to
the employee’s primary duty and did
not have a numerical limit on the
amount of nonexempt work). The twotest system facilitated the determination
of whether white-collar workers across
the income spectrum were employed in
a bona fide EAP capacity, and
employees who met either test could be
classified as EAP exempt.
In a two-test system, the long test
salary level screens from the exemption
the lowest-paid white-collar employees,
thereby ensuring their right to overtime
compensation. The Department has
often referred to many of the employees
who are screened from the exemption
by virtue of their earning below the
lower long test salary level as
‘‘‘obviously nonexempt
employees[.]’ ’’ 166 The long test salary
level helped distinguish employees who
were not employed in a bona fide EAP
166 See
id. at 51237 (quoting Kantor Report at 2–
3).
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capacity because the Department found
that employees who were screened from
exemption by the long test salary level
generally did not meet the other
requirements for exemption.167 Since
1958, the long test salary level was
generally set to exclude from exemption
approximately the lowest-paid 10
percent of salaried white-collar
employees who performed EAP duties
in the lowest-wage regions and
industries.168 The long test salary level
also served as a line delimiting the
population of white-collar employees
for whom the duties test determined
their exemption status. In the two-test
system, this duties analysis included an
examination of the amount of
nonexempt work performed by lowersalaried employees, which ensured that
these employees were employed in an
EAP capacity by limiting the amount of
time they could spend on nonexempt
work. The duties and salary level tests
worked in tandem to properly define
and delimit the exemption: lower-paid
workers had to satisfy a more rigorous
duties test with strict limits on
nonexempt work, and higher-paid
employees were subject to a less
rigorous duties test because they were
more likely to satisfy all the
requirements of the exemption
(including the limit on nonexempt
work).169
Because employees who met the short
test salary level were paid well above
the long test salary level, the short test
salary level did not perform the same
function as the long test salary level of
screening obviously nonexempt
employees. Instead, the short test salary
level was used to determine whether the
full duties test or the short-cut duties
test would be applied to determine EAP
exemption status. The exemption status
of employees paid more than the long
and less than the short test salary levels
was determined by applying the more
rigorous long duties test that ensured
overtime protections for employees who
performed substantial amounts of
nonexempt work. The exemption status
of employees paid at or above the higher
short test salary level was determined
by the less rigorous short duties test that
looked to the employee’s primary duty
and did not cap the amount of
nonexempt work an employee could
perform. The short test thus provided a
faster and more efficient duties test
based on the Department’s experience
167 See Kantor Report at 2–3; Weiss Report at 8
(‘‘In an overwhelming majority of cases, it has been
found by careful inspection that personnel who did
not meet the salary requirements would also not
qualify under other sections of the regulations[.]’’).
168 See 84 FR 51236.
169 Weiss Report at 22–23.
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that employees paid at the higher short
test salary level ‘‘almost invariably’’ met
the more rigorous long duties test,
including its 20 percent limit on
nonexempt work, and therefore a
shortened analysis of duties was a more
efficient test for exemption status.170
In 2004, rather than updating the twotest system, the Department chose to
establish a new, single-test system for
determining exemption status. The new
single standard test for exemption used
a duties test that was substantially
equivalent to the less rigorous short
duties test in the two-test system.171
Since the creation of the standard test,
the Department has taken two different
approaches to set the standard salary
level that pairs with the standard duties
test.
In 2004, as noted above, the
Department set the new salary level
roughly equivalent to the 20th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the South and
in the retail industry nationwide.172 The
Department acknowledged that the
salary level ($455 per week) was, in fact,
equivalent to the lower long test salary
level amount under the two-test system
using contemporaneous data.173
Because it was equivalent to the long
test salary level, the standard salary test
continued to perform the same initial
screening function as the long test salary
level: employees who historically were
entitled to overtime compensation
because they earned below the long test
salary level remained nonexempt under
the new standard test.
Without a higher salary short test,
however, all employees who met the
standard salary level were subject to the
same duties test. Since the single
standard duties test was equivalent to
the short duties test, some employees
who previously did not meet the long
duties test met the standard duties test.
As a result, the shift from a two-test to
a one-test system significantly
broadened the EAP exemption because
employees who historically had not
been considered bona fide EAP
employees were now defined as falling
within the exemption and would not be
eligible for overtime compensation. This
broadening specifically impacted lowerpaid, salaried white-collar employees
who earned between the long and short
test salary levels and performed
substantial amounts of nonexempt
work. Under the two-test system, these
employees had been entitled to overtime
compensation if their nonexempt duties
170 Id.
FR 22214.
id. at 22168–69.
173 See id.
exceeded the long test’s strict 20 percent
limit on such work. Under the 2004
standard test, these employees became
exempt because they met both the low
standard salary level and the less
rigorous standard duties test, which
does not have a numerical limit on the
amount of nonexempt work.
The Department’s discussion of the
elimination of the long duties test in the
2004 rule focused primarily on the
minimal role played by the long test at
that time due to the erosion of the long
salary level, and on the difficulties
employers would face if they were again
required to track time spent on
nonexempt work when the dormancy of
the long duties test meant that they had
generally not been performing such
tracking for many years.174 While
asserting that employees who were then
subject to the long test would be better
protected under the higher salary level
of the new standard test, the Department
in the 2004 rule did not compare the
protection lower salaried employees
would receive under the standard test
with the protection they would have
received under an updated long test
with a salary level based on
contemporaneous data and the existing
long duties test.
To address the concern that lowersalaried employees performing large
amounts of nonexempt work historically
were not considered bona fide EAP
employees and thus should be entitled
to overtime compensation, in 2016 the
Department set the standard salary level
at the 40th percentile of weekly earnings
of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region (the South).
This methodology produced a salary
level ($913 per week) that was at the
low end of the historical range of short
test salary levels, which had
traditionally been paired with the short
duties test, and above the midpoint
between the long and short test salary
levels.175 This approach restored
overtime protection for employees
performing substantial amounts of
nonexempt work who earned between
the long and short test salary levels, as
they failed the new salary level test.
However, this approach generated
potential concerns that the salary level
test should not be determinative of
exemption status for too many
individuals. Specifically, the 2016 rule’s
narrowing of the exemption prevented
employers from using the exemption for
employees who earned between the long
test salary level and the low end of the
short test salary range and would have
met the more rigorous long duties test.
171 69
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Prior to 2004, employers could use the
long test to exempt these employees,
and under the 2004 rule these
employees remained exempt under the
one-test system. Thus, while the 2016
rule accounted for the absence of the
long duties test by restoring overtime
protections to employees earning
between the long test salary level and
the low end of the short test salary range
who perform significant amounts of
nonexempt work, it also made a group
of employees who had been exempt
under the two-test system newly
nonexempt under the one-test system:
employees earning between the long test
level and the short test salary range who
perform only limited nonexempt work.
In its 2019 rule, the Department
determined that the 2016 rule had not
sufficiently considered the impact of the
increased standard salary level on
employers’ ability to use the exemption
for this group of lower-paid employees
who performed only limited amounts of
nonexempt work.176 The Department
emphasized that ‘‘[f]or most . . .
employees the exemption should turn
on an analysis of their actual functions,
not their salaries,’’ and that the 2016
rule’s effect of making nonexempt
lower-paid, white-collar employees who
traditionally were exempt under the
long test ‘‘deviated from the
Department’s longstanding policy of
setting a salary level that does not
‘disqualify[] any substantial number of’
bona fide executive, administrative, and
professional employees from
exemption.’’ 177 To address these
concerns, the Department simply
returned to the 2004 rule’s methodology
for setting the salary threshold.
Applying the 2004 method to the
earnings data available in 2019
produced a standard salary level of $684
per week, which was below the
equivalent of what the long test salary
level would have been using
contemporaneous data ($724 per
week).178 The 2019 rule was the first
time the Department paired the standard
duties test with a salary level that was
not at least equivalent to the long test
level.
The 2019 rule, like the 2004 rule,
exempted all employees who earned
between the long and short test salary
levels and performed too much
nonexempt work to meet the long duties
test, but passed the standard duties test
(equivalent to the short duties test). The
2019 rule also for the first time
permitted the exemption of a group of
low-paid white-collar employees (those
176 84
172 See
FR 10908.
(quoting Kantor Report at 5).
178 84 FR 51260.
174 See
69 FR 22126–27.
175 81 FR 32405, 32467.
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earning between $684 and $724 per
week) who had always been protected
by the salary level test’s initial screening
function—either under the long test or
under the 2004 rule salary level that was
equivalent to the long test salary level.
The Department stated that the standard
salary level’s ‘‘fairly small difference’’
from the long test level did not justify
using the long test methodology to set
the salary level and emphasized that its
approach preserved the salary level’s
principal function as a tool for screening
from exemption obviously nonexempt
employees.179 In response to commenter
concerns about the 2019 rule exempting
employees who traditionally earned
between the long and short test salary
levels and received overtime
compensation because they did not
meet the long duties test, the
Department cited the legal risks posed
by the 2016 methodology (drawing on
the district court’s decisions as
evidence) and explained that such
employees were already exempt in the
years leading up to 2004 because the
Department’s outdated salary levels had
rendered the long test with its more
rigorous duties requirement largely
dormant.180 As in the 2004 rule, the
Department did not address the
protection such lower salaried
employees would have received had the
Department updated the long test using
contemporary data.
As explained in the NPRM, the
Department’s experience with a one-test
system shows that it is less nuanced
than the two-test system, which allowed
for finer calibration in defining and
delimiting the EAP exemption. In a twotest system, there are four variables (two
salary levels and two duties tests) that
can be adjusted to define and delimit
the exemption. In a one-test system,
there are only two variables (one salary
level and one duties test) that can be
adjusted, necessarily yielding less
nuanced results. The loss in precision
does not impact the lowest-paid whitecollar employees, who were screened
from exemption by the long test salary
level, because they maintain their right
to overtime pay so long as the standard
salary level is set at least equivalent to
the lower long test salary level—a
condition that was met by the 2004
rule’s salary level but not by the 2019
rule’s salary level. Instead, the
Department’s experience shows that the
shift from a two-test system to a one-test
system impacts employees earning
between the long and short test salary
levels and, in turn, employers’ ability to
use the exemption for these employees.
179 Id.
180 Id.
at 51244.
at 51243.
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In the two-test system, employees
who earned between the long and short
test salary levels and performed large
amounts of nonexempt work were
protected by the long duties test, while
bona fide EAP employees in that
earnings range who performed only
limited amounts of nonexempt work
were exempt. Meanwhile, the short test
provided a time-saving short-cut test for
higher-earning employees who would
almost invariably pass the more
rigorous, and thus more time
consuming, long duties test. But the
more rigorous long duties test, with its
limitation on the amount of nonexempt
work that could be performed, was
always core to the two-test system, with
the higher short test salary level and less
rigorous short duties test serving as a
time-saving mechanism for employees
who would likely have met the more
rigorous long duties test.181
As explained in the NPRM, one way
in a one-test system to ensure
appropriate overtime protection to
lower-salaried employees earning
between the long and short test salary
levels who were historically entitled to
overtime compensation under the long
test would be to reinstate the long duties
test with its limitation on nonexempt
work. A one-test system with a more
rigorous duties test would appropriately
emphasize the important role of duties
in determining exemption status.
However, the Department did not
propose in this rulemaking to replace
the standard duties test with the long
duties test or to return to a two-test
system with the long duties test. The
Department has not had a one-test
system with a limit on nonexempt work
other than from 1940 to 1949,182 when
the Department replaced this approach
with its two-test system, and the twotest system was replaced 20 years ago.
Returning to the two-test system would
eliminate the benefits of the current
duties test, including having a single
test with which employers and
employees are familiar.
In light of these considerations, the
Department’s goal in this rulemaking is
not only to update the single standard
salary level to account for earnings
growth since the 2019 rule through the
use of the updating mechanism, but also
to build on the lessons learned in its
most recent rulemakings to more
effectively define and delimit
employees employed in a bona fide EAP
181 Numerous employer organizations supported
the Department’s decision in 2004 to move to a onetest system. See 69 FR 22126–27. Commenters
likewise opposed returning to the two-test structure
in the 2016 and 2019 rulemakings. See 84 FR
10905; 81 FR 32444.
182 See 5 FR 4077.
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capacity. Consistent with its broad
authority under section 13(a)(1), the
Department’s aim is to have a single
salary level test that will work
effectively with the standard duties test
to better define who is employed in a
bona fide EAP capacity and will both
fully perform the salary level’s initial
screening function and account for the
change to a single-test system.
4. Discussion of Comments and Final
Standard Salary Level
i. Overall Commenter Feedback
The Department received a significant
number of comments in response to its
proposal to set the standard salary level
equal to the 35th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region.
Numerous commenters supported the
Department’s proposed salary level.
Supporters included thousands of
individual employees, writing
separately or as part of comment
campaigns, and many groups
representing employees or employee
interests. See, e.g., American
Association of Retired Persons (AARP);
AFSCME; AFT; NEA; Restaurant
Opportunities Center United; United
Auto Workers Region 6; United
Steelworkers; WorkMoney. Many other
commenters, including advocacy
groups, academics, and State officials
also supported the Department’s
proposal. See, e.g., Administrative Law
Professors; CLASP; Coalition of Gender
Justice and Civil Rights Organizations;
Coalition of State AGs; Common Good
Iowa; EPI; The Leadership Conference
on Civil and Human Rights; National
Partnership; NWLC. A number of
supportive commenters urged the
Department to set a higher salary level
than the one it proposed. See, e.g., AFL–
CIO; Demos; Nichols Kaster; Sanford
Heisler Sharp; SEIU; Winebrake &
Santillo, LLC (Winebrake & Santillo). A
minority of employers, including most
notably a campaign of small business
commenters, also supported the
proposed salary level. See, e.g., Business
for a Fair Minimum Wage; Dr. Bronners;
Firespring; Small Business Majority.
Some members of Congress also
commented in support of the proposed
salary level. See 19 Democratic
Senators; 10 Democratic
Representatives; U.S. Representative
Maxwell Frost (D–FL).
Commenters that supported
increasing the salary level often
emphasized that the FLSA’s minimum
wage and overtime requirements are
fundamental employee protections,
intended to spread employment to more
workers and provide extra
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compensation (above the statutory
minimum) to employees who work
more than 40 hours in a week. See, e.g.,
AARP; AFL–CIO; Coalition of State
AGs; NELA; NELP; Nichols Kaster;
United Steelworkers. Some supportive
commenters, including Sanford Heisler
Sharp, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, and
Washington State Department of Labor
and Industries, stressed that the EAP
exemption was premised in part on the
expectation that exempt employees
received high salaries and other
privileges to compensate for their long
hours of work and lack of FLSA
protections. Other commenters similarly
stressed that the exemption is intended
for employees who, based on the nature
of their work and their compensation,
have sufficient bargaining power not to
need the Act’s protections. See, e.g.,
Business for a Fair Minimum Wage;
CLASP; NELP; NWLC.
Supportive commenters often also
emphasized that the salary level test has
an important and longstanding role in
helping define which employees are
employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity.
Some commenters, including AARP and
NELA, stressed that the salary level
provides an important ‘‘bright line’’ test
for helping determine exemption status,
and NWLC similarly stated that the
salary level provides a ‘‘clear, objective,
and straightforward’’ test that is ‘‘easy
for employers to apply and for
employees to understand[.]’’ NELP,
quoting testimony from EPI at a 2015
Congressional hearing on this issue,
stated that salary level tests have been
used since the Department’s earliest part
541 regulations because the ‘‘ ‘final and
most effective check on the validity of
the claim for exemption is the payment
of a salary commensurate with the
importance supposedly accorded the
duties in question.’ ’’ The Coalition of
State AGs stated that a salary level that
is too low ‘‘no longer accurately
delimits the boundaries of who is an
EAP’’ employee.
The vast majority of employers and
commenters supporting employer
interests opposed the proposed salary
level. As discussed in section III, many
employer representatives opposed any
salary level increase and urged the
Department to withdraw its proposal.
See, e.g., AHLA; Americans for
Prosperity; Chamber; CUPA–HR; FMI;
NAM; National Restaurant Association;
Oregon Restaurant and Lodging
Association; PPWO; Wisconsin Bankers
Association. Some Members of Congress
also opposed the proposed salary level
and urged that the proposal be
withdrawn. See 10 Republican Senators;
16 Republican Representatives; U.S.
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Senator Mike Braun (R–IN). Some
commenters opposed to the proposal,
writing separately or as part of comment
campaigns, expressed general
opposition to the rule but did not
specifically address what, if any, salary
level increase they would support in a
final rule. See, e.g., American Dental
Association; Humane Society of
Manatee County; National Sporting
Goods Association. Others that opposed
or questioned any salary level change
stated, in the alternative, what method
they preferred if the Department
updated the salary level in the final
rule. Most such commenters favored
applying the methodology that the
Department used to set the salary level
in its 2004 and 2019 rulemakings (the
20th percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the South and in the
retail industry nationally) or updating
for inflation the current salary level,
which was set using that methodology.
See, e.g., ABC; CWC; NAM; National
Restaurant Association. A handful of
employer commenters supported, or
stated that they did not oppose, an
increase based on the 2004/2019
methodology (resulting in a salary level
of $822 per week based on data used in
the NPRM), citing, for example, that this
approach promoted predictability, see
RILA, and accounted for regional and
industry-specific differences, see
YMCA. See also, e.g., SHRM; WFCA.
Others supported or suggested a salary
level that was higher, but below the
Department’s proposed level. See, e.g.,
American Society of Association
Executives; Ho-Chunk, Inc.; University
System of Maryland.
Commenters that opposed the
Department’s proposal almost always
objected to the size and/or timing of the
proposed salary level increase rather
than to the existence of the salary test
itself. Most employer commenters,
whether favoring no increase or a
smaller increase, presumed the salary
level test’s continued existence and
lawfulness, with some, such as National
Restaurant Association, expressly
referencing their support for the 2019
rule’s salary level increase. As discussed
in detail below, many commenters
acknowledged the salary level’s
longstanding function of screening
obviously nonexempt employees from
the exemption. See section V.B.4.ii.
Other commenters that opposed the
proposal nonetheless cited benefits of
having a salary level test, including
helping to ensure that the EAP
exemption is not abused, see, e.g.,
AASA/AESA/ASBO, Bellevue
University, and ‘‘sav[ing] investigators
and employers time by giving them a
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32867
quick, short-hand test[.]’’ See National
Restaurant Association. APLU
recognized ‘‘DOL’s mission and
responsibility to update the Fair Labor
Standards Act overtime regulations and
ensure a baseline of protections for our
nation’s workers, including periodic
updates to the minimum salary
threshold for overtime exemptions.’’ In
rather stark contrast, AFPI asserted that
employee ‘‘[c]ompensation is no more
helpful than would be a dress code test’’
in determining exemption status. AFPI
was one of only a small number of
commenters, as previously discussed in
section V.A.1, that asserted the
Department lacks authority under
section 13(a)(1) to adopt a salary level
test. See, e.g., Job Creators Network
Foundation; NFIB; Pacific Legal
Foundation.
As the Department stated in its 2019
rule, an employee’s salary level ‘‘is a
helpful indicator of the capacity in
which an employee is employed,
especially among lower-paid
employees.’’ 183 The amount an
employee is paid is also a ‘‘valuable and
easily applied index to the ‘bona fide’
character of employment for which
exemption is claimed,’’ as well as the
principal ‘‘delimiting requirement . . .
prevent[ing] abuse’’ of the exemption.184
As the Department has explained, if an
employee ‘‘is of sufficient importance
. . . to be classified’’ as a bona fide
executive employee, for example, and
‘‘thereby exempt from the protection of
the [A]ct, the best single test of the
employer’s good faith in attributing
importance to the employee’s services is
the amount [it] pays for them.’’ 185
Employee compensation is a relevant
indicator of exemption status given that,
as many commenters observed, the EAP
exemption is premised on the
understanding that individuals who are
employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity
typically earn higher salaries and enjoy
other privileges to compensate them for
their long hours of work, setting them
apart from nonexempt employees
entitled to overtime pay.186
183 84 FR 51239 (internal quotation marks
omitted).
184 Stein Report at 19, 24; see also 81 FR 32422.
185 Stein Report at 19; see also id. at 26 (‘‘[A]
salary criterion constitutes the best and most easily
applied test of the employer’s good faith in claiming
that the person whose exemption is desired is
actually of such importance to the firm that he is
properly describable as an employee employed in
a bona fide administrative capacity.’’).
186 See Report of the Minimum Wage Study
Commission, Vol. IV, at 236, 240; see also, e.g.,
Stein Report at 19 (explaining that the ‘‘term
‘executive’ implies a certain prestige, status, and
importance’’ denoted by pay ‘‘substantially higher
than’’ the federal minimum wage).
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Accordingly, the Department agrees
with the overwhelming majority of
commenters that, explicitly or
implicitly, supported the salary level
continuing to have a role in helping
determine whether employees are
employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional
capacity.187
The Department nonetheless
recognizes that commenters had a wide
range of views about the salary level test
and that no salary level methodology
can satisfy all stakeholders. As
discussed below, competing commenter
views were often grounded in differing
opinions about the salary level test’s
role in defining the EAP exemption.
Broadly speaking, commenters that
opposed the proposal generally favored
a far more limited role for the salary
level test and emphasized perceived
negative effects on employers of the
proposed increase, while commenters
that supported the proposal or urged the
Department to set a higher salary level
often deemed the proposal modest by
historical standards and emphasized
perceived positive effects on employees
of the proposed increase. Against this
backdrop, the Department has reviewed
the comments received on its proposed
methodology, with particular focus on
feedback on the NPRM’s rationale that
the proposed methodology will better
define and delimit the EAP exemption
by fully restoring the salary level’s
screening function and accounting for
the switch from a two-test to a one-test
system.
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ii. Fully Restoring the Salary Level’s
Screening Function
Some employer advocates that
opposed the Department’s proposal
emphasized the salary level’s limited
function of screening obviously
nonexempt employees from the EAP
exemption. See, e.g., Independent
Community Bankers of America; IFDA;
National Council of Farmer
Cooperatives (NCFC); SHRM. Many
employer representatives stated that the
proposed salary level exceeded this
purpose by excluding from the
exemption too many employees who
pass the duties test, particularly in lowwage regions and industries. See, e.g.,
Chamber; NAW; PPWO; RILA; Seyfarth
Shaw. AFPI quoted the statement in the
187 Consistent with its longstanding practice, the
Department declines requests from commenters,
including Defiance College, International
Bancshares Corporation, Rachel Greszler, and
WFCA, that suggested the Department adopt
multiple salary level tests for different regions,
industries, and/or small businesses, rather than a
single salary level that applies to all entities
nationwide. See 84 FR 51239; 81 FR 32411; 69 FR
22171.
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Department’s 2019 rule that any salary
level increase must ‘‘have as its primary
objective the drawing of a line
separating exempt from nonexempt’’
employees, and the Chamber asserted
that to the extent employee ‘‘protection
or fairness’’ concerns motivated the
proposed increase, such considerations
exceed the Department’s statutory
authority.
Employer representatives that focused
on the salary level’s screening function
often contrasted the Department’s
proposal with prior rules that they
stated met this objective. CWC
referenced the Department’s 1958 and
2004 rules as such examples, while
AHLA stated more broadly that the
Department historically set a salary
level that was ‘‘intentionally low’’ to
screen out nonexempt employees, and
that the Department’s proposed
methodology ‘‘is objectively not the low
end of the salary range as that has been
understood since 2004[.]’’ Other
commenters similarly cited the 2004
and 2019 rules as fulfilling the salary
level test’s screening function, with
National Restaurant Association, for
example, emphasizing the salary level’s
screening function when explaining that
the ‘‘2004 methodology’s chief virtue is
its consistency with historical practice.’’
See also, e.g., Bellevue University. Some
commenters, including NCFC and
PPWO, stated that the proposed salary
level would change the salary level from
a ‘‘screening device’’ to a ‘‘de facto sole
test’’ for exemption, while others
cautioned that the salary level set in the
2016 rule was declared invalid for
exceeding this screening function. See
also, e.g., Argentum & ASHA; NAM.
Though some employee
representatives addressed the salary
level’s screening function, they
generally emphasized other
considerations that they believed
justified setting a salary level equal to or
higher than what the Department
proposed. A number of commenters
stated that, along with the duties test,
the salary level ‘‘is intended to set a
guardrail so that employers do not
incorrectly classify lower-paid salaried
employees as’’ exempt. See, e.g.,
AFSCME; Family Values @ Work; North
Carolina Justice Center; United
Steelworkers; Yezbak Law Offices.
Similarly alluding to the salary level’s
screening function, AFL–CIO
emphasized that until 2019 the
Department had never set the salary
level below the long test level and that
as a result more than half of the
employees affected by the proposed
salary level would have been
nonexempt under every prior rule
(because they earned below the long test
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or long test-equivalent salary level). EPI
similarly stated that the 2019 rule set a
salary level ‘‘that was even lower than
what the long-test methodology would
have yielded.’’ See also Coalition of
State AGs (referencing the salary level’s
screening function).
The Department has considered
commenter feedback about the salary
level test’s screening function. The
Department agrees with all commenters
that emphasized the salary level test’s
function of screening obviously
nonexempt employees from the
exemption, a principle that, as the
Department observed in the 2019 rule
and in the NPRM, ‘‘has been at the heart
of the Department’s interpretation of the
EAP exemption for over 75 years.’’ 188
Fully effectuating the salary level’s
screening function is a key part of
ensuring that the salary level sets an
appropriate dividing line separating
exempt and nonexempt employees. In
response to the Chamber’s concern
about the motivations underlying the
proposed salary level, the Department
notes that while its proposal protects
employees and promotes fairness (by
helping ensure that only employees
employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity
are deprived of the FLSA’s minimum
wage and overtime protections), these
beneficial effects are a byproduct of any
higher salary level, not a basis for the
proposed salary level.
As the Department explained in its
NPRM, the concept of the salary level’s
screening function dates back to the
two-test system, when the lower long
test salary level provided ‘‘a ready
method of screening out the obviously
nonexempt employees, making an
analysis of duties in such cases
unnecessary.’’ 189 When the Department
updated the long test in 1958, it
reaffirmed the long test salary’s function
as a screening tool.190 When the
Department moved to a one-test system
in 2004, the standard salary test had to
perform the initial screening function
that the long test salary level performed
in the two-test system. In the 2004 rule,
the Department reaffirmed its historical
statements emphasizing the salary
level’s critical screening function and,
most significantly, used the long test
salary level methodology to validate its
new salary level of $455 per week.191
The Department stressed in its final rule
that both the 2004 rule standard salary
level methodology and the long test
salary level methodology ‘‘are capable of
188 88
FR 62165 (citing 84 FR 51241).
Report at 8.
190 Kantor Report at 2–3.
191 69 FR 22165–22166.
189 Weiss
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reaching exactly the same endpoint’’
and demonstrated that the two methods,
in fact, produced equivalent salary
levels using contemporaneous data.192
By setting a salary level equivalent to
the long test level, the Department
ensured that employees earning at levels
that would have entitled them to
overtime compensation under the twotest system because they earned below
the long test salary level remained
screened from the exemption by the
new standard salary test, regardless of
whether they met the less rigorous
standard duties test. The Department
rejected requests from commenters that
supported a salary level that was $30 to
$95 lower than the level the Department
ultimately adopted,193 thus maintaining
the historic screening function by
declining to set a salary level lower than
the long test level.
In its 2019 rule, the Department
reemphasized the salary level’s
screening function.194 The Department
distinguished the 2016 rule, which was
invalidated because it ‘‘ ‘untethered the
salary level test from its historical
justification’ of ‘[s]etting a dividing line
between nonexempt and potentially
exempt employees’ by screening out
only those employees who, based on
their compensation level, are unlikely to
be bona fide executive, administrative,
or professional employees.’’ 195 In
contrast, the Department explained,
reapplying the 2004 methodology to
contemporaneous data was likely to
pass muster because the district court
that invalidated the 2016 rule ‘‘endorsed
the Department’s historical approach to
setting the salary level’’ and ‘‘explained
that setting ‘the minimum salary level as
a floor to screen[ ] out the obviously
nonexempt employees’ is ‘consistent
with Congress’s intent.’ ’’ 196
In its NPRM, the Department
explained that it needed to set a salary
level at least equal to the long test—
$925 per week, equating to between the
26th and 27th percentiles of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
192 See id. at 22167–71 (showing that for all fulltime salaried employees, $455 in weekly earnings
corresponded to just over the 20th percentile in the
South and the 20th percentile in retail, and that for
employees performing EAP duties, $455 in weekly
earnings corresponded to just over the 8th
percentile in the South and the 10th percentile in
retail). AFPI commented that in the 2003 NPRM the
Department ‘‘acknowledged that ‘equivalency to
either the current long or short test salary levels is
not appropriate’ because of the switch to a one-test
system.’’ (quoting 68 FR 15560, 11570 (Mar. 31,
2003)). However, the Department shifted in its final
rule and validated its chosen methodology using
the long test salary level.
193 See 69 FR 22164.
194 84 FR 51237.
195 Id. at 51231 (quoting 84 FR 10901).
196 Id. at 51241 (quoting 275 F. Supp.3d at 806).
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the South—to fully restore the salary
level’s screening function. As noted
above, employer commenters that
emphasized the salary level’s screening
function generally viewed this function
(which they often construed narrowly)
as a justification for limiting the size of
any potential salary increase. However,
such commenters did not directly
address the NPRM’s explanation of the
long test salary level’s key role in the
salary level’s screening function or the
relationship between the 2004/2019
methodology and the long test. Other
commenters that endorsed the screening
function as embodied in the 2004 rule
did not grapple with the fact that in the
2019 rule, that methodology did not
fully fulfill that function because it no
longer arrived at the same endpoint as
prior rules (i.e., a long test or long-test
equivalent salary level).
The Department’s position remains
that a core function of the salary level
test is to screen from the EAP exemption
employees who, based on their low pay,
should receive the FLSA’s overtime
protections. For decades under the
Department’s two-test system, the long
test salary level performed this
screening function. In the 2004 rule, the
Department used a different approach to
reach the same outcome—setting a
single salary level test that was
equivalent to, and thus set the same line
of demarcation as, the long test salary
level. The Department deviated from
this approach in 2019, setting a salary
level that was $40 per week below the
level produced using the long test
methodology.197 In doing so, the
Department for the first time expanded
the exemption to include employees
who were paid below the equivalent of
the long test salary level.
The Department reaffirms its position
stated in the NPRM that the salary level
test must equal at least the long test
salary level in order to fulfill its
historical screening function. From 1938
to 2019, all salaried white-collar
employees paid below the long test
salary level were entitled to the FLSA’s
protections, regardless of the duties they
performed. This was true from 1938 to
1949 under the salary level test that
became the long test; 198 from 1949 to
2004 under the long test; and from 2004
to 2019 under the standard salary level
test that was set equivalent to the long
test level—a key fact that commenters
that opposed the Department’s proposal
generally did not address. Setting the
salary level below the long test level as
197 Id.
at 51244.
198 During this period the Department used a onetest system that paired a lower salary level with a
more rigorous duties test. See, e.g., 5 FR 4077.
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was done in the 2019 rule—because the
2004 methodology no longer matched
the long test salary level based on
contemporaneous data—departed from
this history by enlarging the exemption
to newly include employees who earned
less than the long test salary level. As
an initial step, the new salary level
methodology must fully restore the
salary level’s screening function by
ensuring that employees who were
nonexempt because they earned less
than the long test or long test-equivalent
salary level are also nonexempt under
the standard test. Achieving this
objective requires a standard salary level
amount at least equal to the long test
level ($942 per week using current data,
which equates to approximately the
25th percentile of full-time salaried
worker earnings in the South).
As discussed in section V.B.5.iii, fully
restoring the salary level’s screening
function would affect 1.8 million
employees. These are currently exempt
employees who earn between $684 (the
current salary level) and $942 per week
(the long test level calculated using
current data) and would become
nonexempt absent intervening action by
their employers. In every rule prior to
2019, employees who earned below the
long test or long-test equivalent salary
level have always been excluded from
the exemption based on their salary
alone—even if they passed the standard
duties test or (prior to 2004) the more
rigorous long duties test. The
Department’s approach does not, as
commenters asserted, create an
impermissible ‘‘de facto’’ salary-only
test or make nonexempt too many
employees who pass the duties test, and
is compatible with the district court
decision’s emphasis on the salary level
test’s historic screening function.199
iii. Accounting for the Shift to a OneTest System
In addition to fully restoring the
salary level test’s screening function, the
Department’s proposed salary level
methodology also accounted for the
shift from a two-test to a one-test system
for determining who is employed in a
bona fide executive, administrative, or
professional capacity. Commenters that
supported the proposed salary level and
specifically addressed this rationale
agreed with it. A group of
Administrative Law Professors stated
that the Department’s move to a one-test
system in 2004 ‘‘significantly expanded
the number of relatively low-income
199 The district court was principally concerned
with the 2016 rule exceeding the salary level’s
screening function and making too many employees
nonexempt based on salary alone. See Nevada 275
F.Supp.3d at 806 & n.6.
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workers who might fall within the
exemption . . . despite engaging in
substantial nonexempt work[,]’’ and
concluded that the Department’s
proposal was ‘‘reasonably geared’’ to
restoring nonexempt status to this class
of workers. The Coalition of State AGs
similarly stated that the proposal ‘‘does
more to take into account the shift to a
one-test system in 2004 and establishes
more of a middle ground between . . .
the previous short- and long-test
methodologies.’’ They elaborated that
‘‘the balance struck is a more
appropriate one’’ because most salaried
white-collar employees paid less than
the proposed standard salary level do
not meet the duties test, whereas a
substantial majority of salaried whitecollar employees earning above the
proposed standard salary level meet the
duties test. Some commenters asserted
that this aspect of the Department’s
rationale supported setting a salary level
higher than proposed. For example,
AFL–CIO stated that the proposed salary
level captures only ‘‘a portion of
workers who have been wrongly
excluded from nonexempt status since
the 2004 elimination of the long and
short test in favor of a single test,’’ and
Sanford Heisler Sharp stated that the
proposal ‘‘does not go far enough
towards meeting [the] goal’’ of
‘‘‘ensur[ing] that fewer white-collar
employees who perform significant
amounts of nonexempt work and earn
between the long and short test salary
levels are included in the
exemption.’ ’’ 200 NELA similarly urged
the Department to adopt its 2016
methodology to more fully account for
the shift to a one-test system.
Employer commenters that directly
addressed the shift to a one-test system
generally rejected the premise that any
adjustment for this change was
warranted or appropriate. Some
commenters emphasized that the long
test’s limit on nonexempt work became
inoperative in 1991 and/or that the
Department fully accounted for the
move to the standard duties test in its
2004 rule. See Bellevue University;
Chamber; NAM; RILA. The National
Association of Convenience Stores,
which likewise emphasized that the
short and long tests have not existed
since 2004, stated that to ‘‘the extent the
two-test system still has any limited
relevancy to the current inquiry, it is
that the salary level should be closer to
what the pre-2004 long test would have
produced’’ rather than ‘‘to what the pre2004 ‘short’ test would have produced’’
today. AFPI asserted that ‘‘[a]ny salary
level that excludes employees who are
200 Quoting
88 FR at 62158.
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not ‘obviously nonexempt’ is invalid[,]’’
that the long test salary level is a ‘‘madeup concept[,]’’ and that the ‘‘ ‘long test’
and the ‘short test’ are terms [that have
not been] considered since the
Department’s regulatory changes in
2004 . . . [and] should have no place in
determining an appropriate increase to
the minimum salary level for exemption
today.’’ 201
The Department agrees with
commenters that supported the NPRM’s
objective of updating the salary level in
part to account for the move to a onetest system. As previously explained in
detail in the NPRM and in section V.B.3
of this preamble, the Department
traditionally considered employees
earning between the long and short test
salary levels to be employed in a bona
fide EAP capacity only if they were not
performing substantial amounts of
nonexempt work. With the adoption of
a duties test based on the less rigorous
short duties test, the shift to a single-test
system significantly decreased the
examination of the amount of
nonexempt work employees performed.
Following this shift, the Department has
taken two approaches to setting the
salary level to pair with the standard
duties test. The approach taken in the
2004 rule permitted the exemption of all
employees earning above the long test
salary level who met the standard duties
test—including many employees who
performed substantial amounts of
nonexempt work and traditionally were
protected by the long duties test. The
approach taken in the 2016 rule was
challenged and criticized as making
employees earning between the long test
salary level and the low end of the short
test salary range nonexempt—including
employees who performed very little
nonexempt work and would have been
exempt under the long duties test.
The Department recognizes that a
single-test system cannot fully replicate
both the two-test system’s heightened
protection for employees performing
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
and its increased efficiency for
determining exemption status for
employees who are highly likely to
perform EAP duties. Inevitably, any
attempt to pair a single salary level with
the current duties test will result in
some employees who perform
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
being exempt, and some employees who
201 NRF included an Oxford Economics report
that questioned the Department’s long test figure
($925 per week), and, observing that the long test
methodology varied over time, stated that a ‘‘more
reasonable’’ approach for replicating the long test
would be to adjust the 1975 long test level for
inflation (which it concluded would result in a
salary level of $843 per week in 2022 dollars).
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perform almost exclusively exempt
work being nonexempt.202 But such a
result is inherent in setting any salary
level. The Department continues to
believe that it can better identify which
employees are employed in a bona fide
EAP capacity by, in combination with
the current duties test, using a salary
level methodology that accounts for the
shift to a one-test system, and that doing
so will both restore overtime eligibility
for many individuals who perform
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
and historically would have been
protected by the long duties test, and
address potential concerns that the
salary level test should not be
determinative of exemption status for
too many individuals. Such a salary
level will also more reasonably
distribute between employees and their
employers what the Department now
understands to be the impact of the shift
to a one-test system on employees
earning between the long and short test
salary levels.
The Department disagrees with
commenters that disputed this aspect of
the NPRM based on their view that the
only valid salary level function is to
screen from exemption obviously
nonexempt employees. Section
13(a)(1)’s broad grant of statutory
authority for the Department to define
and delimit the EAP exemption
provides the Department a degree of
latitude in determining an appropriate
salary level for identifying individuals
who are employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity. As discussed in section V.B.3,
for decades, the short test salary level
did not perform a screening function,
but rather was used to determine
whether the full duties test or the shortcut duties test would be applied to
determine EAP exemption status. In a
one-test system, the Department can
change the duties test, the salary level,
or both, to ensure that the test for
exemption appropriately distinguishes
bona fide EAP employees from
nonexempt workers. As discussed at
length in the NPRM,203 while
acknowledging that it could lessen the
salary level test’s role by returning to a
duties test that explicitly limited the
amount of nonexempt work that could
be performed, the Department
ultimately declined to propose changes
202 See Stein Report at 6 (‘‘In some instances the
rate selected will inevitably deny exemption to a
few employees who might not unreasonably be
exempted, but, conversely, in other instances it will
undoubtedly permit the exemption of some persons
who should properly be entitled to benefits of the
act.’’).
203 88 FR 62164–65. Although some commenters
addressed changes to the duties test, see, e.g., AFL–
CIO, AHLA, NELA, FMI, such changes are beyond
the scope of the current rulemaking.
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to the duties test in this rulemaking.
Given that decision, it is appropriate for
the Department to choose to better
define the EAP exemption by
accounting for the shift to a one-test
system, and to select a salary level
methodology that excludes from
exemption some employees who
historically were nonexempt because of
the more rigorous long duties test. The
2004 and 2019 rules’ significant
broadening of the statutory exemption (a
fact employer commenters generally did
not address) to permit all salaried
employees earning between the long
and short tests who passed the standard
duties test to be exempt was not
unlawful, but it leaves room for
refinement. Section 13(a)(1) does not
require the Department to forever
maintain the regulatory choice it made
20 years ago to pair the current duties
test with a salary level that places the
entire burden of the move to a one-test
system on employees who historically
were entitled to the FLSA’s overtime
protection because they performed
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
and earned between the long and short
test salary levels.
The Department continues to believe
that the long and short tests provide
useful parameters for determining the
new salary level test methodology in
this rulemaking. The Department
disagrees with AFPI that variations in
the long test methodology render it a
‘‘made-up concept’’ or that the long and
short tests have ‘‘no place’’ in
determining the new salary level. The
long test salary level has played a
crucial role in defining the EAP
exemption for the better part of a
century, either directly under the twotest system or indirectly under the onetest system. As the Department
explained in detail in its 2004 rule, the
long test salary level ‘‘regulatory history
reveals a common methodology used,
with some variations, to determine
appropriate salary levels[,]’’ and (with
the exception of the 1975 rule)
beginning in 1958 ‘‘the Department set
the [long test] salary levels to exclude
approximately the lowest-paid 10
percent of exempt salaried employees’’
in low-wage areas and industries.204
The Department ‘‘[u]se[d] this
regulatory history as guidance’’ in its
2003 NPRM and, most importantly,
validated its chosen methodology in the
2004 rule by showing that it produced
the same salary level as the long test
methodology—a critical fact employer
representatives generally did not
address in their comments.205 While the
Department agrees with AFPI and the
Oxford Economics report that the data
set used to set the long test salary level
was not exactly the same in each
regulatory update, just as in 2004, minor
historical variations do not deprive the
long test of its usefulness in helping
determine an appropriate salary level
now. The Oxford Economics report’s
suggestion to calculate the long test by
updating the 1975 long test salary level
for inflation would not faithfully
replicate the long test because it would
produce a salary level below the 10th
percentile of exempt workers in lowwage regions and industries and would
conflict with the Department’s historical
practice of avoiding the use of inflation
indicators in updating the salary
level.206
The Department also disagrees with
commenters who asserted that no
adjustment is needed to account for the
shift to a one-test system because the
long test became largely dormant in
1991. In the 2004 rule, the Department
acknowledged this dormancy resulting
from its outdated salary levels and
asserted that employees who were then
subject to the long test would be better
protected under the higher salary level
of the new standard test.207 But as
previously explained, section V.B.3, in
the 2004 rule the Department did not
compare the overtime protection lowersalaried employees would receive under
the standard test with the protection
they would have received had the
Department updated the long test with
a salary level based on
contemporaneous data and kept the
existing long duties test. Instead, the
Department’s discussion of the
elimination of the long duties test in the
2004 rule focused primarily on the
minimal role played by the long test at
that time due to the erosion of the long
salary level, and on the difficulties
employers would face if they were again
required to track time spent on
nonexempt work when the dormancy of
the long duties test meant that they had
generally not been performing such
tracking for many years.208
The Department also disagrees with
commenters that asserted that the 2004
rule fully accounted for the move to the
standard duties test. Because the 2004
rule did not fully account for the
lessened overtime protection for
employees who would have been
nonexempt under an updated long test
(as just described), it created a group of
employees with lessened protection
under the standard test—those who
206 See,
204 69
FR 22166.
205 See id. at 22166–70; see also section V.B.3.
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e.g., 84 FR 51245; 69 FR 22167.
69 FR 22126.
208 See id. at 22126–27.
207 See
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32871
earned between the long and short test
salary levels. These employees were
traditionally nonexempt because they
failed the long duties test, but were
exempt under the 2004 rule because
they passed the more lenient standard
duties test.209 By setting the standard
salary level equivalent to the long test
salary, the 2004 rule in effect created a
group of employees who bore the
impact of the change from the two-test
to the one-test system.
iv. Selecting the Salary Level
Methodology
In its NPRM, the Department
explained that fully restoring the salary
level’s screening function and
accounting for the move to a one-test
system supported setting the salary level
at the 35th percentile of full-time
salaried worker earnings in the lowestwage Census Region (the South)—
resulting in a proposed salary level of
$1,059 per week. Commenters provided
competing views on this proposed
increase. Employers and employer
representatives that opposed the
proposed salary level often
characterized it as ‘‘too much, too
soon’’—stating that an increase of 54.8
percent (or 69.3 percent, based on the
$60,209 projected salary level figure
included in footnote 3 of the NPRM) 210
less than 4 years after the most recent
increase was unnecessary and
unprecedented. See, e.g., Air
Conditioning Contractors of America;
Americans for Prosperity; Joint
Comment from Argentum and American
Seniors Housing Association; CUPA–
HR; International Sign Association;
NRF. Some commenters, including
American Association of Community
Colleges and Associated Builders and
Contractors, observed that, by contrast,
prior salary level updates have ranged
from 5 to 50 percent, and others
commented that the proposed increase
greatly exceeded the rate of inflation
since the 2019 rule, see Independent
Community Bankers of America, Ohio
209 The Chamber asserted that the Department’s
decision to adjust the salary level to account for the
shift to a one-test system ‘‘fails to appreciate the
continued importance of the ‘primary duty’
principles, the application of which includes an
analysis of non-exempt work performed and its
relation to the employee’s exempt work.’’ Although
the Chamber is correct that the standard duties test
accounts for nonexempt work, it does so in a less
rigorous manner than the long duties test, resulting
in some lower-paid white-collar employees who
pass the standard duties test but (due to their
nonexempt work) would have failed the long duties
test.
210 Several commenters criticized the Department
for providing projected salary level figures in
footnote 3. See, e.g., PPWO; NRF. NAM stated that
footnote 3 was ‘‘inconsistent’’ with the
Administrative Procedure Act.
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Township Association. Many employer
organizations asserted that the
Department was trying to resurrect a
methodology akin to the invalidated
2016 rule and that, like that rule, the
proposed salary level (which many
stressed is a higher dollar figure than
the level set in the 2016 rule) would
unlawfully supplant the duties test. See,
e.g., Americans for Prosperity; National
Restaurant Association; PPWO.
Commenters that opposed the
proposed salary level were particularly
concerned about the impact of this
change on specific industries and on
businesses in low-wage regions. Some
commenters, such as the American
Outdoors Association, CUPA–HR,
NAHB, and SHRM, provided
information from internal surveys to
support how the proposal would
negatively affect their members. SBA
Advocacy similarly summarized
concerns received from small
businesses. See also, e.g., NFIB. Some
commenters emphasized the proposal’s
impact on particular occupations in
their industries, including first-line
supervisors, see, e.g., AHLA, NAHB,
and entry-level managers, see, e.g.,
NAM, NRF. Emphasizing the proposed
salary level’s geographic impact,
National Restaurant Association and
PPWO warned that the proposal would
exclude from exemption a high
percentage of employees who pass the
duties test in lower-wage regions, and
could result in employees in the same
job classification being treated
differently based on where they live. A
number of educational institutions
opposed the proposed increase due to
cost-related concerns specific to the
educational sector. See, e.g., American
Association of Community Colleges;
Association of Independent Colleges
and Universities of Ohio; National
Association of Independent Colleges
and Universities. The National
Association of Counties raised similar
concerns about the impact of the
increased salary level on local
governments. Nonprofit sector feedback
was more mixed, with the National
Council of Nonprofits characterizing the
industry response as one of ‘‘moral
support’’ and ‘‘operational anxiety.’’
Some nonprofit organizations opposed
the proposal, see, e.g., Children’s
Alliance of Kentucky, U.S. Public
Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG),
some supported it, see, e.g., CLASP,
Justice at Work, and some agreed with
the Department’s intent but raised cost
and other concerns, see, e.g., Catholic
Charities, Open Roads Bike Program.
Commenters had different suggestions
for how the Department should account
for such regional and industry-specific
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differences. For example, RILA urged
the Department to include the retail
industry in its data set, AFPI suggested
setting the salary level equal to the 20th
percentile of non-hourly employee
earnings in the ten lowest-wage states,
and Seyfarth Shaw recommended using
the East South Central Census Division.
The Chamber asked the Department to
focus on data from the lowest-wage
types of entities (such as small
businesses, small nonprofits or small
public employers), in the lowest-wage
industries, in rural areas, in the lowestwage Census Region. The Chamber and
National Association of Convenience
Stores favored excluding nonexempt
workers from the data set (and using a
lower earnings percentile) and
questioned the Department’s use of
Current Population Survey (CPS)
Merged Outgoing Rotation Group
(MORG) data for nonhourly earnings for
full-time workers as a proxy for salaried
worker earnings.
Commenters that supported
increasing the salary level viewed the
Department’s proposal very differently
than employer representatives. Whereas
many employer representatives focused
on specific regions or industries to
assert that the proposed salary level was
too high, supportive commenters
focused on the national impact to assert
that the salary level was appropriate or
too low. Many supportive commenters
considered it ‘‘modest.’’ See, e.g.,
AFSCME; CLASP; Family Caregiving
Coalition; National Partnership. Others
stated that the salary level ‘‘could have
reasonably been significantly higher and
still within historical precedent.’’ See,
e.g., Common Good Iowa; Jobs to Move
America; Louisiana Budget Project;
Maine Center for Economic Policy;
North Carolina Justice Center. The
statistic most often cited to support that
the proposal was conservative by
historical standards was that whereas
62.8 percent of full-time salaried
workers earned less than the short test
salary level in 1975, 28.2 percent of fulltime salaried workers earned less than
the proposed standard salary level (and
several of these commenters noted that
only approximately 9 percent earned
less than the current salary level). See,
e.g., EPI; National Center for Law and
Economic Justice; Worker Justice Center
of New York; Workplace Justice Project.
AFL–CIO and others highlighted that
the proposed salary level was 19 percent
lower than the inflation-adjusted value
of the 1975 short test salary level, and
EPI stated that, on average, the proposed
salary level was 16 percent lower than
inflation-adjusted short test salary levels
set from 1949 and 1975. Some
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supportive commenters stressed that a
significant salary level increase was
needed in part to account for the 2004
rule’s elimination of the long duties test,
see, e.g., EPI, NELP, while NWLC stated
that the proposed methodology would
‘‘not eclipse the role of the duties test’’
and instead would ‘‘restore[] a
reasonable balance between the strength
of the duties test and the height of the
salary threshold.’’
Some commenters advocated for a
much higher salary level than the
Department proposed, and a number of
commenters specifically proposed
alternate methodologies for the
Department to adopt in the final rule.
For example, NELA stated that the
proposed level was ‘‘too low from a
historical perspective’’ and, favoring
‘‘[b]older federal action[,]’’ asked the
Department to (like in the 2016 rule) set
the salary level equal to the 40th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region (which would
produce a salary level of $1,196 per
week based on the data used in this
final rule). Winebrake & Santillo
similarly favored a return to that
methodology. AFL–CIO supported
setting the salary level higher—at the
historical average short test salary level
(which would result in a salary level of
$1,404 per week based on current data).
Other commenters sought a salary level
that they stated would exclude from
exemption the same proportion of fulltime salaried workers as under the 1975
salary level test. For example, Demos
urged the Department to set the salary
level at the 55th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers
nationwide to meet this ‘‘high-water’’
mark, and Nick Hanauer supported a
salary level of at least $83,000 to
‘‘restore the overtime threshold’’ to a
time ‘‘when the American middle class
was strongest[.]’’ Commenters that
sought a higher salary level than the
Department proposed often expressed
their disagreement with the district
court’s decision invalidating the 2016
rule. See, e.g., NELA; Sanford Heisler
Sharp; Winebrake & Santillo.
After considering the comments
received, the Department is finalizing
the salary level methodology as
proposed, setting it equal to the 35th
percentile of full-time salaried worker
earnings in the lowest-wage Census
Region (the South)—which produces a
salary level of $1,128 per week using
calendar year 2023 data. Consistent with
the Department’s responsibility to ‘‘not
only . . . determin[e] which employees
are entitled to the exemption, but also
[to] draw[] the line beyond which the
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exemption is not applicable[,]’’ 211 this
salary level will, in combination with
the standard duties test, effectively
calibrate the scope of the exemption for
bona fide EAP employees and do so in
a way that distributes across the
population of white-collar employees
earning between the long and short test
salary levels the impact of the shift to
a one-test system. As previously
discussed, updating the salary level for
wage growth since the 2019 rule
produces a salary level of $844 per
week, and fully restoring the salary
level’s historic screening function
would result in a salary level of $942
per week, equivalent to the 25th
percentile of full-time salaried worker
earning in the South (i.e., the long test
level). Accordingly, the increase from
the 25th percentile to the 35th
percentile is to account for the shift to
a one-test system.212 The Department set
the standard salary level at (or below)
the long test level in the 2004 and 2019
rules and set it at the low end of the
historic range of short test salary levels
in the 2016 rule. Setting the salary level
at either the long test salary level or
equivalent to a short test salary level in
a one-test system with the standard
duties test, however, results in either
denying overtime protection to lowerpaid employees who are performing
large amounts of nonexempt work, and
thus, would have been exempt under
the Department’s historical view of the
EAP exemption, or in raising concerns
that the salary level is determining the
exemption status of too many
employees. In contrast, an appropriately
calibrated salary level between the long
and short test salary levels better defines
and delimits which employees are
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity,
and thus better fulfills the Department’s
duty to define and delimit the EAP
exemption.
The Department’s methodology
established in this final rule uses the
second-to-lowest of the earnings
ventiles between the long test salary
level (the 25th percentile of full-time
salaried worker earnings in the lowestwage Census Region) and the short test
salary level (approximately the 51stth
percentile of this data set). These
ventiles are the 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th,
and 50th percentiles of full-time
211 Stein
Report at 2.
mistakenly asserts that the increase from
the 20th percentile to the 35th percentile ‘‘is based
entirely on the switch to a one-test system in 2004.’’
The majority of the salary level increase (from $684
to $942) is to update the salary level for wage
growth and fully restore the salary level’s historic
screening function, with less than half (the increase
from the $942 to $1,128) made to account for the
shift from the two-test system.
212 AFPI
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salaried worker earnings in the lowestwage Census Region. The Department
continues to believe that its
methodology produces a salary level
high enough above the long test salary
level to ensure overtime protection for
some lower-paid employees who were
traditionally entitled to overtime
compensation under the two-test system
by virtue of their performing large
amounts of nonexempt work, and also
low enough, as compared with higher
salary levels, to significantly shrink the
group of employees performing EAP
duties who are excluded from the
exemption by virtue of their salary
alone. Whereas the 2004 and 2019 rules
permitted the exemption of employees
earning between the long and short test
salary levels even if they performed
significant amounts of nonexempt work,
and the 2016 rule prevented employers
from using the exemption for such
employees earning below the short test
salary range even if they performed EAP
duties, the methodology adopted in this
final rule falls between these two
methodologies and thus, as commenters
including the Administrative Law
Professors and Coalition of State AGs
agreed, reasonably balances the effect of
the switch to a one-test system in a way
that better differentiates between those
who are and are not employed in a bona
fide EAP capacity. Of the 10.8 million
salaried white-collar employees earning
between the equivalent of the long and
short test salary levels, approximately
40 percent earn between $942 (the
equivalent of the long test salary level)
and $1,128 (the new salary level) and
would receive overtime protection by
virtue of their salary, while
approximately 60 percent earn between
$1,128 and $1,404 (the equivalent of the
short test salary level) and would have
their exemption status turn on whether
they meet the duties test. These and
other statistics, discussed in section
V.B.5.iii, demonstrate that the salary
level will not ‘‘essentially eliminate[ ]
the role of the duties test’’ as National
Restaurant Association and others
contended. See also, e.g., AHLA; CWC.
Even though the Department’s
decision to select a salary level below
the midpoint between the long and
short tests means that the effect of the
salary level on employees earning
within this range and their employers is
not exactly equal, a higher salary level
could disrupt the reliance interests of
employers who (due in part to the
Department’s failure to update the
salary level tests between 1975 and
2004), have been able to use a lower
salary level and more lenient duties test
to determine exemption status since
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1991. However, a significantly lower
salary level akin to the long test salary
level would avoid disrupting such
reliance interests only by continuing to
place the burden of the move to a onetest system entirely on employees who
historically were entitled to the FLSA’s
overtime protections because they
perform substantial amounts of
nonexempt work. The Department
believes that employer reliance interests
should inform where the salary level is
set between the long and short test
levels, and that its approach
appropriately balances the impact of the
move to a one-test system between
employees’ right to receive overtime
compensation and employers’ ability to
use the exemption. Such balancing is
fully in line with the Department’s
authority under the FLSA to ‘‘mak[e]
certain by specific definition and
delimitation’’ the ‘‘general phrases’’
‘‘bona fide executive, administrative, or
professional capacity.’’ 213 This grant of
authority confers discretion upon the
Department to determine the boundaries
of these general categories; any such
line-drawing, as courts have recognized,
will ‘‘necessarily’’ leave out some
employees ‘‘who might fall within’’
these categories.214
The Department recognizes the
tension between the methodology
adopted in this final rule and some
statements made in its 2016 and 2019
rules. The Department stated in its 2016
rule that the current duties test could
not be effectively paired with a salary
level below the short test salary range,
and for this reason expressly rejected
setting the salary level at the 35th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the South.215
But that rule, which would have
prevented employers from using the
EAP exemption for some employees
who were considered exempt under the
prior two-test system, was challenged in
court, and a return to it would result in
significant legal uncertainty for both
workers and the regulated community.
In the 2019 rule, the Department
expressly rejected setting the salary
level equal to the long test or higher.216
However, as noted above, the
Department did not fully address in that
rule the implications of the switch from
a two-test to a single-test system. Having
now grappled with those implications,
the Department concludes that not only
can it pair the current duties test with
a salary between the long and short test
salary levels, but that doing so
213 See
Walling, 140 F.2d at 831–32.
at 832.
215 81 FR 32410.
216 See 84 FR 51244.
214 Id.
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appropriately recalibrates the salary
level in a one-test system to ensure that
it effectively identifies bona fide EAP
employees.
In setting the salary level, the
Department continues to believe that it
is important to use a methodology that
is transparent and easily understood. As
in its prior rulemakings, the Department
is setting the salary level using earnings
data from a lower-salary regional data
set (as opposed to nationwide data) to
accommodate businesses for which
salaries generally are lower due to
geographic or industry-specific
reasons.217 Specifically, the Department
is setting the salary level using the data
set of full-time nonhourly 218 workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region (the
South). This approach promotes
transparency because BLS routinely
compiles this data. It also promotes
regulatory simplification because the
data set is not limited to exempt EAP
employees and thus does not require the
Department to model which employees
pass the duties test.219 In keeping with
the Department’s past practice, it is
relying on up-to-date data to determine
the salary level.220 In the NPRM, the
Department used 2022 salary data for
estimating the salary level resulting
from the proposed methodology, which
was current at the time the Department
developed its proposal. In this final
rule, the Department is relying on
calendar year 2023 salary data, as
published by BLS, to set the salary
level.221
Given the strong views expressed by
commenters, including those opposing
the proposal or favoring a higher salary
level, the Department did not arrive
lightly at its decision to finalize the
salary level methodology as proposed.
Commenter feedback often reflected
competing vantage points for assessing
the Department’s proposal. Commenters
that supported the Department’s
proposal or a higher salary level (most
often, the 2016 rule methodology) often
compared the proposed salary to short
test salary levels, while commenters that
opposed the proposed increase often
stressed the size of the change from the
current salary level. The Department
217 See
id. at 51238; 81 FR 32404.
with recent rulemakings and the
NPRM, see 88 FR 62188, 84 FR 51258, in
determining earnings percentiles the Department
looked at nonhourly earnings for full-time workers
from the CPS MORG data collected by BLS.
219 As discussed in the economic analysis, see
section VII, this modeling is done using the
Department’s probability codes. See 84 FR 51244;
69 FR 22167.
220 See 84 FR 51245; 81 FR 32405; 69 FR 22168.
221 BLS currently publishes this data at https://
www.bls.gov/cps/research/nonhourly/earningsnonhourly-workers.htm.
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agrees with supportive commenters that
past salary levels should inform the
current update, and agrees that statistics
such as the percentage of salaried whitecollar workers who earn below the
salary level or statistics comparing the
new salary level to inflation-adjusted
prior levels, reinforce the
reasonableness of the Department’s
approach. However, the Department is
wary of comments urging a return to the
2016 rule methodology that do not
account for subsequent court decisions
and the Department’s 2019 rulemaking.
The Department also recognizes
concerns from some commenters about
the size of the salary level increase. But
this metric is influenced by many
factors and thus does not, in and of
itself, establish whether a salary level
sets an appropriate dividing line for
determining whether an employee is
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity.
For example, the size of the current
increase is influenced by factors
including significant wage growth since
the 2019 rule (simply adjusting the
current salary level methodology for
wage growth would result in a roughly
23 percent increase); the Department for
the first time updating a salary level that
was set below the long test; and the
Department adjusting the salary level to
account for the move to a one-test
system. While the 65 percent increase is
greater in percentage terms than most
prior updates, the Department does not
consider this factor dispositive.222
The salary level methodology adopted
in this final rule ($1,128 per week;
$58,656 annually) produces a salary
level that is lower than the two salary
level estimates provided in footnote 3 of
the NPRM ($59,284 and $60,209), which
were based on a quarter of data. The
Department disagrees with commenters
that criticized the Department for
providing projected salary level figures
in its NPRM. These comments overlook
that the NPRM proposed a methodology
for updating the salary level test, not
just a salary level figure. Providing
commenters an estimate of the salary
level that the proposed methodology
could produce in a final rule based on
updated data promoted rulemaking
transparency and the opportunity for
fully informed commenter feedback.
That many commenters used the figures
in footnote 3 in their comments, and the
final salary level based on calendar year
2023 data is between the proposed
salary level and the two estimates in the
footnote, reinforces that footnote 3 in no
222 As discussed in section IV, in part to provide
employers more time to adjust, the new
methodology will not be applicable until January 1,
2025.
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way deprived commenters of the
opportunity to meaningfully comment
on the NPRM.
As previously discussed, most
employer commenters that opposed the
proposed salary level opposed any
increase or at most supported a return
to the 2004/2019 methodology, and so
they did not address the NPRM’s
analysis examining where to set the
salary level between the long and short
test salary levels. The Department does
not find these comments persuasive
because they in effect sought a salary
level below the long test level, which
would not even fully restore the salary
level’s screening function, let alone
account at all for the move to a one-test
system. As for commenter concerns
about the salary level’s impact on lowwage regions and industries, the
Department accounts for these concerns
by setting the salary level using the
lowest-wage Census Region. This aspect
of the rulemaking differs from the 2016
rulemaking, where the Department
proposed to set the salary level using a
national data set and then, in response
to commenters concerns, shifted to the
lowest-wage Census Region in the final
rule to account for low-wage regions
and industries.223 The Department used
this past experience to account for the
impact on low-wage regions and
industries in developing the NPRM and,
having done so, is again basing the
salary level on the earnings of workers
in the lowest-wage Census Region in
this final rule.
The Department declines requests
from some commenters to change the
data set it used to set the salary level.
Some asked the Department to add
earnings data from a specific industry to
the CPS earnings data. The Department
is not altering the data set in this way
because it believes that using earnings
data from the lowest-wage Census
Region produces a salary level that
accounts for differences across
industries and regional labor markets.
The Department also is not altering the
Census region data set so that it
excludes all states with higher earnings,
nor is the Department creating a new
data set that includes only States with
the lowest earnings. The Department’s
chosen approach is consistent with its
practice since the 2004 rule of using the
South, rather than a narrower
geographic region, when setting the
salary level. Restricting the data set to
the ten lowest-wage states or to the East
South Central Region (made up of just
four states, Alabama, Kentucky,
Mississippi, and Tennessee) would give
undue weight to low-wage areas and
223 See
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skew the salary level. The Chamber’s
suggestion to restrict the data set even
further (by focusing on low-wage
entities within low-wage industries
within rural areas within the South)
would even further compound this
concern.
The purpose of the data set is not
simply to produce the lowest possible
salary level. The Department’s approach
directly accounts for low-wage areas
while producing a salary level that is
appropriate to apply nationwide. The
Department also declines requests to
limit its data set to exempt workers,
instead continuing to set the salary level
using earnings data for exempt and
nonexempt workers—as it has done in
every one of its rulemakings under the
one-test system. As explained in the
2004 rule, the Department’s chosen
approach is preferable in part because
restricting the data set to exempt
employees requires ‘‘uncertain
assumptions regarding which
employees are actually exempt[.]’’ 224
The Department is also continuing to
use data on nonhourly worker earnings
as a proxy for compensation paid to
salaried workers. Although some
commenters challenged this approach,
the Department is not aware of, and
commenters did not provide, any
statistically robust data source that more
closely reflects salary as defined in the
Department’s regulations. Also, as
discussed in section VII, the Department
believes that relatively few nonhourly
workers were paid by methods other
than salaried.
In response to commenter opposition
to the proposed salary level and the
concerns described above, the
Department considered setting the
salary level equal to the 30th percentile
of earnings of full-time salaried workers
in the lowest-wage Census Region. The
Department ultimately decided not to
adopt this approach, however, because
it would less effectively account for the
shift to a one-test system. This
methodology would set the salary level
based on the lowest earnings ventile
between the short and long test salary
levels and produce a salary level that is
only $77 above the long test level. As a
result, for the population of white-collar
workers earning between the long and
short tests, only 18 percent would earn
below the salary level (whereas 40
percent of this population earn below
the new salary level). This approach
thus would not sufficiently address the
problem inherent in the 2004
methodology of including in the
exemption employees who perform
significant amounts of nonexempt work,
224 69
FR 22167.
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including those earning salaries close to
the long test salary level—where the
Department would expect a higher
proportion of workers to perform more
nonexempt work.225 In contrast, the
Department’s approach addresses these
concerns in a manner that more
reasonably distributes among employees
earning between the long and short test
salary levels and their employers the
impact of the Department’s move to a
one-test system.
The Department disagrees with
commenters that stated that the chosen
methodology simply resurrects the 2016
methodology—which set the salary level
equal to the 40th percentile of full-time
salaried worker earnings in the lowestwage Census Region. The fact that the
new salary level is higher in nominal
dollars than the level set in the 2016
rule ($913 per week) is irrelevant
because that level was calculated using
2015 data.226 Applying the 2016
methodology to current data produces a
salary level of $1,196 per week. Whereas
under this rule an employee’s salary
level will be determinative of exemption
status for 40 percent of the 10.8 million
employees earning between the long
and short test levels, under the 2016
methodology salary would be
determinative for 55 percent of such
employees. A salary level equivalent to
the 40th percentile in the South would
also result in 5.0 million affected
workers. Although some of these
workers earn below the long test level
and would be nonexempt under either
approach, this alternative approach
would result in 949,000 more affected
workers than the Department’s chosen
methodology. The Department’s
decision to deviate from the 2016
methodology is significant, as
underscored by the fact that (as
discussed in more detail below) a
number of employee representatives
urged the Department to adopt that
methodology or a higher percentile.
The Department recognizes that many
commenters found the proposed
methodology conservative, or overly
conservative, with some commenters
urging the Department to select a
methodology that produces a higher
salary level. Repeating the 2016 rule
225 The Department has repeatedly recognized
that increasing salary level tends to correlate with
the performance of bona fide EAP duties. See
section V.B.1 (discussing role of long test and short
test salary levels); section V.C (discussing the role
of the HCE total annual compensation threshold).
Thus, increasing overtime protection specifically
for workers earning at the lower end of the range
between the long test salary level and short test
salary level—but not those earning at the higher end
of that range—is an especially appropriate approach
to balancing these concerns.
226 See 81 FR 32393.
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methodology, as some commenters
requested, by setting the salary level at
the 40th percentile of weekly earnings
of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region would
further reduce the impact of the move
to a one-test system on lower-paid
white-collar employees who perform
significant amounts of nonexempt work.
As discussed above, commenters that
supported the 2016 rule methodology
provided statistics demonstrating that
this approach yields a salary level
within historical norms. The 40th
percentile would produce a salary level
($1,196 per week) that is above the
midpoint between the long and short
test salary levels. As noted above, of the
approximately 10.8 million salaried
white-collar employees who earn
between the long and short test salary
levels, approximately 55 percent earn
between the long test salary level and
$1,196 and would receive overtime
protection by virtue of their salary,
while approximately 45 percent earn
between $1,196 and the short test salary
level and would have their exemption
status turn on whether they meet the
duties test.
The Department believes this rule
appropriately distributes the burden of
the change from a two-test to one-test
system between employees and
employers. By contrast, the Department
remains concerned that courts could
find that adopting the 2016 rule
methodology would make the salary
level test determinative of overtime
eligibility for too many employees.
Setting the salary level equal to a higher
percentile of weekly earnings (such as
the 55th percentile as Demos
recommended), would further amplify
this concern. Setting the salary level
based on a lower percentile of earnings
will (compared to such higher levels)
increase the number of employees for
whom duties is determinative of
exemption status, and in turn increase
the ability of employers to use the
exemption for more lower-paid
employees who meet the EAP duties
requirements. This outcome is
consistent with the important role of the
duties test in identifying bona fide EAP
employees. EPI did not find the number
of workers affected by a salary level
increase to be an informative metric for
assessing whether a threshold is
appropriate and the Department agrees
that this statistic has significant
limitations. In particular, it is notable
that although the standard salary level
changes will result in 4.0 million
affected workers (1.0 million from the
initial update and 3.0 million from
applying the new standard salary
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level),227 only 2.2 million of these
workers are due to the increase from the
long test to the new methodology, while
1.8 million affected workers (or 45
percent) are a result of restoring the
historic screening function of the long
test salary level. By comparison,
updating the salary level using the 2016
methodology and current data would
result in 5.0 million affected workers.
Although the number of affected
workers for this rule is above the
number of affected workers in the 2019
rule, the difference is necessary to fully
restore the salary level’s screening
function and account for the shift to a
one-test system, and the overall impact
of this change on the workforce is
relatively small (see section V.B), such
that the new salary level is a proper
exercise of the Department’s authority to
define and delimit the scope of the EAP
exemption.
In declining to adopt the 2016 rule
methodology, the Department is also
responding to concerns that setting the
salary level equal to the 40th percentile
of weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region would foreclose employers from
exempting any white-collar employees
who earn less than that amount ($1,196
per week based on the data used in this
final rule) and perform EAP duties,
including those who were exempt under
the long test and remained exempt
when the Department established the
one-test system in 2004 and set the
salary level equivalent to the long test
level.228 Litigants challenging the 2016
rule emphasized this consequence of
setting a salary level above the long test
in a one-test system, and those
arguments have contributed to the
Department more fully attempting to
account for the impact of the shift to a
one-test system. Although some
commenters favored a salary level
equivalent to the short test level, such
an approach would result in employers
being unable to use the exemption for
any employees who earn between the
long and short test and have previously
been exempt, either under the long test,
or under the standard test set equal to
the long test. In contrast, the
methodology in this final rule produces
a salary level that is not only below any
short test level, but also lower than the
midpoint between the long and short
test salary levels. This approach
appropriately balances the goal of
ensuring that employees earning above
the long test salary level who perform
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
are not exempt with the goal of enabling
227 See
228 See
Table 25.
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employers to use the exemption for
employees who do not perform
substantial amounts of nonexempt
work.
v. Salary Level Effects
In selecting the salary level
methodology, the Department also
considered commenter views that the
proposed salary level would generate a
range of repercussions. Many
commenters that opposed the proposed
salary level stated that it would cause
widespread reclassification of currently
exempt employees to nonexempt status
and a corresponding decrease in flexible
work arrangements, including remote
work opportunities. See, e.g., FMI;
IFDA; National Lumber and Building
Material Dealers Association; NRF.
Others stated that employers would
convert newly nonexempt employees
from salaried to hourly status, which
they contended would harm employee
morale, see, e.g., Independent Electrical
Contractors, National Small Business
Association, and create an undesirable
‘‘punch the clock’’ mentality, see, e.g.,
North Carolina Center for Nonprofits,
The 4A’s. Some commenters that
opposed the proposal stated that the
rule would ‘‘harm the very workers the
Department says it is trying to benefit,’’
asserting, for example, that the proposal
would result in reduced employee
benefits and career advancement
opportunities, and increased turnover.
See Americans for Prosperity; see also
PPWO. Other commenters expressed
concern that the proposed increase
would decrease employee productivity,
see, e.g., John. C. Campbell Folk School,
decrease social services, see, e.g., Social
Current, increase employer costs, prices,
and inflation, see, e.g., Chamber, and/or
cause salary compression issues, see,
e.g., Seyfarth Shaw.
Commenters that supported the
Department’s proposed salary level or a
higher salary level than proposed often
highlighted what they viewed as
positive effects of the proposed increase.
Many emphasized that the updated
salary level would make it more
difficult to exempt lower-paid
employees who they believed should be
nonexempt, particularly low-level
managers with many duties equivalent
to non-managerial employees. See, e.g.,
Coalition of Gender Justice and Civil
Rights Organizations; NELP; Winebrake
& Santillo. Restaurant Opportunities
Center United stated that the current
‘‘low salary threshold discourages
restaurant employees from taking
managerial and supervisory positions,
thereby gaining skills and experience
that would enable them to advance their
careers[.]’’ Sanford Heisler Sharp stated
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that the ‘‘need for monitoring and
protecting white-collar workers’ hours is
critical today’’ because the significant
increase in telework since 2020 has
meant that employers are ‘‘no longer
constrained by the practical limitation
of the worker leaving the workplace.’’
Other employee representatives
explained that the rule would produce
positive societal benefits such as
increased economic security, see, e.g.,
NELP, improved worker health due to
decreased work hours, see, e.g., SEIU,
decreased poverty, see, e.g., NEA, and
disproportionate benefits for women,
people of color, and workers with
disabilities, see, e.g., National
Partnership.
Taken together, the above comments
do not provide a compelling
justification for deviating from the
Department’s proposed salary level
methodology. The Department agrees
that the salary level increase will result
in some currently exempt employees
becoming nonexempt and therefore
receiving minimum wage and overtime
protections. Employee reclassification is
a consequence of any salary level
increase, and the number of reclassified
employees will depend on how
employers choose to respond to this rule
for their employees who earn between
the current and new salary levels.
Moreover, there is no prohibition on
paying nonexempt employees a salary
as long as any overtime hours are
appropriately compensated, and
employers may therefore choose to
continue to pay a salary to affected
workers. Employers likewise have
latitude to determine what flexible work
arrangements to provide employees and,
more broadly, need not structure their
pay plans in a manner that results in the
potentially adverse effects (such as
decreased employee benefits) that some
employers identified. Significantly,
employees and employee
representatives did not share employer
commenter concerns about potential
adverse consequences of the proposed
salary level, let alone view them as a
justification for deviating from the
proposed salary level. This includes
comments from individual employees.
For example, an exempt manager for a
small nonprofit organization stated that
they ‘‘would love the opportunity to be
reclassified to nonexempt and be
compensated for time worked beyond
40 hours, or alternatively be given a
raise if that level of flexibility is deemed
necessary by my employer.’’ As to
potential consequences of the updated
salary level on the economy more
broadly, such implications are
speculative and in dispute (as discussed
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in some detail in section VII), and do
not provide a basis for a different salary
level methodology.
iv. Other Issues
The Department also addresses some
other issues stakeholders raised in their
comments.
Many nonprofit organizations worried
that the proposed salary level would
disproportionately affect them, raising
concerns related to, for example, their
reliance on government grants, see, e.g.,
Asclepius Initiative, Catholic Charities,
National Council of Nonprofits, and
their inability to raise prices, see, e.g.,
Advancing States, Independent Sector,
YMCA. Some commenters asked the
Department to exempt at least certain
nonprofit organizations from the salary
level test. See, e.g., Oklahoma Wesleyan
University; U.S. PIRG. Many nonprofit
organization commenters opposed this
idea. See, e.g., A Second Chance;
Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit
Advancement; National Council for
Nonprofits; North Carolina Center for
Nonprofits. The Department recognizes
and values the enormous contributions
that nonprofit organizations make to the
country. Nonprofit organizations
provide services and programs that
benefit many vulnerable individuals in
a variety of facets of life, including
services that benefit the vulnerable
workers who the Department also works
to protect by ensuring that their
workplaces are fair, safe, and secure.
However, the Department’s EAP
exemption regulations have never had
special rules for nonprofit organizations;
the employees of nonprofits have been
subject to the EAP exemption if they
satisfied the same salary level, salary
basis, and duties tests as other
employees.229 Consistent with this
history, the Department declines to
exempt nonprofit organizations from the
salary level test. As with other
industries, as discussed above, the
Department accounts for nonprofit
industry concerns by setting the salary
level using the lowest-wage Census
Region.
A number of community-based
service providers for people with
intellectual and developmental
disabilities urged the Department to
work closely with other government
agencies, including the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
and the Administration for Community
Living (ACL), to implement the
Department’s proposed changes in the
context of Medicaid home and
community-based services (HCBS). See,
e.g., ANCOR; BrightSpring Health
Services; NASDDDS; United Cerebral
Palsy Association. Some commenters
specifically referenced a policy that was
adopted by the Department related to
the enforcement of the 2016 regulation
for providers of Medicaid-funded
services for individual with intellectual
or developmental disabilities in
residential homes or facilities with 15 or
fewer beds.230 See, e.g., Chimes; The
Arc of the United States. Consistent
with its approach in the 2019 rule, the
Department is not adopting a similar
policy in this rulemaking. The
Department believes following this
approach is appropriate given that the
initial update (to $844 per week) is less
than salary level increase in the 2019
rule, and service providers will have
approximately 8 months from
publication of this rule to comply with
the new salary level ($1,128 per week).
Additionally, the Department intends
(as many commenters requested) to
issue technical assistance to help
employers comply with the FLSA and
will continue to coordinate (as other
commenters requested) with ACL and
CMS on supporting Medicaid-funded
service providers impacted by this rule.
Some commenters asked the
Department to permit employers to
prorate the salary level for part-time
employees. See, e.g., NCFC; PPWO;
Seyfarth Shaw; University System of
Maryland. The Department has never
prorated the salary level for part-time
positions; considered and rejected
similar requests in its 2004, 2016, and
2019 rules; and declines to establish a
prorated salary level for part-time
positions in this rule.231 As the
Department has previously explained,
employees hired to work part time
generally do not work in excess of 40
hours in a workweek, and overtime pay
is not at issue for these employees. An
employer may pay a nonexempt
employee a salary to work part time
without violating the FLSA, so long as
the salary equals at least the minimum
wage when divided by the actual
number of hours (40 or fewer) the
employee worked.232
The Chamber objected to the
Department’s proposed change to the
example provided in § 541.604(b), a
salary basis test regulation establishing
that an exempt employee may be paid
on an hourly, daily, or shift basis if the
employment arrangement ‘‘includes a
guarantee of at least the minimum
weekly required amount paid on a
salary basis regardless of the number of
hours, days or shifts worked, and a
230 See
81 FR 32390 (May 23, 2016).
FR 51239; 81 FR 32422; 69 FR 22171.
232 See FLSA2008–1NA (Feb. 14, 2008).
reasonable relationship exists between
the guaranteed amount and the amount
actually earned.’’ The Department did
not propose any substantive change to
this regulation and only proposed to
update the dollar amounts in light of the
proposed increase in the standard salary
level. The Department has again
updated the figures in the regulation to
account for the salary level change from
the NPRM to the final rule. The updated
numbers in this final rule produce the
same ratios between actual and
guaranteed earnings as example in the
current regulations. The Department
declines the Chamber’s suggestion to
change the numbers, which would
change the ratio.
Some commenters urged the
Department to increase the percentage
of the salary level that employers could
satisfy using nondiscretionary bonuses
and incentive payments (including
commissions). See, e.g., FMI; National
Automobile Dealers Association;
National Golf Course Owners
Association; TechServe Alliance. The
Department did not propose any
changes to how bonuses are counted
toward the salary level requirement,233
and declines to make any such changes
in this final rule. Consistent with the
current regulations, employers can
satisfy up to 10 percent of the new
salary level ($112.80 per week under
this final rule) through the payment of
nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive
payments (including commissions) paid
annually or more frequently.
5. Assessing the Impact of the Salary
Level
i. The Department’s Assessment of the
Impact of the Proposed Salary Level
As stated in the NPRM, the
Department sought to achieve three
objectives in proposing to set the
standard salary level at the 35th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region: preserve the
primary role that the duties test plays in
determining EAP exemption status;
fully restore the initial screening
function of the salary level; and more
effectively identify in a one-test system
who is employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity in a manner that reasonably
distributes among employees earning
between the long and short test salary
levels and their employers the impact of
the Department’s move from a two-test
to a one-test system.
In assessing whether the proposal met
these objectives, the Department first
considered the impact of its proposed
231 84
229 See
81 FR 32398, 32421; see also 84 FR 51234.
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233 See
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salary level on salaried white-collar
workers across the income spectrum.
The Department noted that almost threequarters of salaried white-collar workers
earned above the proposed salary level,
and therefore duties, rather than salary,
would remain determinative of
exemption status for a significant
majority of white-collar workers. The
Department also concluded that a
minority of the smaller share of salaried
white-collar workers who earn less than
the proposed standard salary level
would meet the duties test, whereas
approximately three-quarters of the farlarger share of salaried white-collar
workers who earn at least the proposed
standard salary level would meet the
duties test. The Department noted that
this supported that the proposed salary
level would be an effective indicator of
the capacity in which salaried whitecollar workers are employed. The
Department also examined the impact of
the proposed salary level on currently
exempt EAP workers—salaried whitecollar employees who meet the standard
duties test and earn at least $684 per
week. The Department found that 1.8
million of the workers who would be
affected by the proposed salary level
earned less than the long test salary
level and therefore would have been
screened from the exemption under
every prior rule issued by the
Department except for the 2019 rule,
thus confirming that the proposed
standard salary level would play a
relatively modest role in determining
EAP exemption status.
ii. Comments Received
The Department received relatively
few comments directly addressing its
estimates of the impact of the proposed
salary level or the metrics it identified
to assess those impacts. As previously
discussed, some commenters
representing employer interests stated
that the proposal would exclude too
many workers from the exemption
based on their earnings. See, e.g.,
Chamber; PPWO; Seyfarth Shaw.
However, commenters that expressed
such views generally did not challenge
the Department’s analysis of the impact
of its proposed salary level on all
salaried white-collar workers,234 nor did
they generally address the Department’s
conclusion that under the proposed
standard salary level, duties would be
234 Some commenters asserted that the proposed
salary level would make nonexempt too many
workers in lower-wage regions and industries. See,
e.g., AHLA; CUPA–HR; NAHB; National Restaurant
Association. As discussed above, the Department
has accounted for low-wage industries and regions
by using earnings data from the lowest-wage Census
Region to set the salary level.
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determinative of exemption status for a
large majority of full-time salaried
white-collar workers.235 As noted in
section V.B, employer advocates that
opposed the Department’s proposed
salary level instead often emphasized
the salary level’s function of screening
obviously nonexempt employees from
the exemption, albeit asserting that the
proposed salary level would exceed its
screening function, see, e.g., PPWO,
RILA, SHRM, whereas worker advocates
often favored a greater role for the salary
level than employer representatives, see,
e.g., AFSCME, EPI, Family Values @
Work.
AFPI challenged the Department’s
estimate of the number of workers who
earn between the proposed salary level
and the long test salary level, which it
claimed is a ‘‘made-up number.’’ 236
Some commenters representing
employer interests stated that the
Department underestimated the number
of currently exempt workers who would
be impacted by its proposed salary
level. See, e.g., AFPI; NAM; NRF
(including a report by Oxford
Economics); Rachel Greszler; Seyfarth
Shaw. The Oxford Economics report
claimed that up to 7.2 million workers
could be affected by the proposed salary
level; AFPI asserted that approximately
‘‘7.5 million employees would be nonexempt for the first time based on salary
alone’’; and Rachel Greszler stated that
the correct figure is as high as 12.3
million workers. NAM stated that the
Department ‘‘underestimated the
impact,’’ though it did not elaborate.
Some of these commenters also
challenged the probability codes the
Department used to estimate the number
235 AFPI objected to the Department’s use of
nonhourly workers’ earnings to estimate the impact
of the proposed salary level on salaried workers.
See also Chamber; National Association of
Convenience Stores. The Department disagrees with
the suggestion that data on compensation paid to
full-time nonhourly workers is not representative of
the earnings of full-time salaried workers. The
Department used the same approach in the 2004,
2016, and 2019 rules. See 84 FR 51258; 81 FR
32414; 69 FR 22197. As explained in greater detail
below, see section VII, while the CPS MORG data
on full-time nonhourly workers on which the
Department has relied includes workers paid on a
salary basis along with workers paid on other bases,
such as on a piece-rate or day-rate basis, the
Department’s analysis of data from the Panel Study
of Income Dynamics (PSID) shows that relatively
few nonhourly workers were paid by methods other
than salaried.
236 NRF included a report from Oxford Economics
which stated that a more reasonable methodology
for modeling the long test salary level would be to
update the 1975 long test level for inflation. As
discussed in section V.B, the Department disagrees
with Oxford Economics’ suggestion, which would
conflict with the Department’s historical practice of
avoiding the use of inflation indicators in updating
the salary level.
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of workers who meet the duties test.
See, e.g., AFPI; Rachel Greszler.
On the other hand, AFL–CIO, the
Coalition of State AGs, and EPI relied on
the Department’s estimates in their
comments. For instance, the Coalition of
State AGs observed that ‘‘ ‘most salaried
white-collar employees paid less than
the proposed standard salary level do
not meet the duties test, whereas a
substantial majority of salaried whitecollar employees earning above the
proposed standard salary level meet the
duties test,’ ’’ quoting the NPRM, in
opining that the proposed salary level
struck a more appropriate balance
between the long and short test salary
levels than the 2004 and 2019 rules. In
asserting that the proposed salary level,
although ‘‘too low[,]’’ would restore
overtime protections to lower-paid
workers ‘‘who were wrongly classified
as exempt[,]’’ AFL–CIO referenced the
Department’s estimate that the proposed
salary level would be ‘‘restorative for
more than half of the workers it affects’’
since ‘‘these employees would have
been entitled to overtime in every rule
prior to the 2019 rule.’’ EPI noted that
the 3.4 million workers that the
Department estimated would be affected
by the proposed salary level, plus the
approximately 248,000 workers who
would be affected by the proposed
change in the total compensation
threshold for the HCE test, discussed
below, together constituted ‘‘just 2.6%
of workers subject to [the] FLSA . . .
and just 2.3% of all workers.’’ As
discussed in section V.B, numerous
commenters representing workers also
pointed to additional data points which,
they stated, show that the Department’s
proposed salary level would fulfill a
relatively limited role in determining
exemption status, particularly by
historical standards. For instance,
multiple commenters stated that
approximately 28.2 percent of all fulltime salaried workers earn below the
proposed salary level, whereas in 1975
approximately 62.8 percent of full-time
salaried workers earned below the short
test salary level. See, e.g., AFL–CIO; EPI;
NELP; NWLC.
iii. Assessing the Impact of the New
Salary Level
As discussed in section V.B, the
Department is finalizing its proposal to
set the standard salary level equal to the
35th percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage
Census Region, which, based on the
most recent earnings data, produces a
salary level of $1,128 per week. The
Department has analyzed the impact of
the new salary level, applying generally
the same metrics that it applied in the
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NPRM. Upon consideration of the
comments received, the Department
concludes that this salary level meets
the objectives it sought to achieve in
undertaking this rulemaking: preserving
the primary role of an analysis of
employee duties in determining EAP
exemption status; fully restoring the
initial screening function of the salary
level; and more effectively identifying
in a one-test system who is employed in
a bona fide EAP capacity in a manner
that reasonably distributes among
employees earning between the long
and short test salary levels and their
employers the impact of the
Department’s move from a two-test to a
one-test system.
The Department intentionally chose a
salary level methodology that will
ensure that EAP exemption status for
the great majority of white-collar
employees will continue to depend on
their duties. Consistent with the NPRM,
the Department thus began by analyzing
the impact of the new salary level on all
full-time white-collar salaried workers.
Corren! salary
threshold
$684
Long test
level
The Department continues to believe
that an analysis of how the new salary
level will impact all full-time salaried
white-collar workers is necessary to put
the salary level and its relation to an
examination of duties in the appropriate
context, as this is the universe of
workers who could potentially be
impacted by an increase in the standard
salary level. As noted above,
commenters representing employers did
not directly challenge this aspect of the
Department’s analysis. And many
commenters representing workers
effectively endorsed this approach in
stating that the proportion of full-time
salaried workers who earn less than the
proposed salary level shows the
relatively modest impact of the
proposed salary level in determining
EAP exempt status, in comparison to an
examination of duties. See, e.g., AFL–
CIO; EPI; NELP; NWLC.237
The Department’s analysis confirms
that the number of full-time salaried
white-collar workers who will be
excluded from the EAP exemption due
Updated Salaty
threshold
$1,128
32879
to the Department’s salary level is
greatly exceeded by the far-larger
population of full-time salaried whitecollar workers for whom duties will
continue to determine their exemption
status. As illustrated in Figure A below,
of the approximately 45.4 million fulltime salaried white-collar workers in the
United States subject to the FLSA,238
about 12.7 million earn below the new
salary level of $1,128 per week, and
about 32.7 million earn above the salary
level.239 Thus, approximately 28
percent of full-time salaried white-collar
workers (most of whom, as discussed
below, do not perform EAP duties) earn
below the new salary level, whereas
approximately 72 percent of full-time
salaried white-collar workers earn above
the salary level and would have their
exemption status turn on their job
duties.
Figure A—Distribution of Full-Time
Salaried White-Collar Workers by
Weekly Earnings
Short test
level
$1,404
$942
Scrutinizing these figures more
closely reinforces the continued
importance of the duties test under the
final rule. Of the approximately 12.7
million full-time salaried white-collar
workers who earn below the new salary
level of $1,128 per week, about 8.3
million earn below the long test salary
level of $942 per week. With the
exception of the 2019 rule when the
Department set the salary level slightly
lower, the Department has always set
salary levels that screened from
exemption workers earning below the
long test salary level. As discussed in
section V.B, the long test salary level is
a key parameter for determining an
appropriate salary level.240 The number
of full-time salaried white-collar
workers for whom salary would be
determinative of their nonexempt status
and who earn at least the long test salary
level—4.3 million—is over seven times
smaller than the number of full-time
salaried white-collar workers for whom
job duties would continue to be
determinative of their exemption status
because they earn at least the new salary
level—32.7 million.
In analyzing how the Department’s
new salary level will impact all salaried
white-collar workers, the Department
also considered the extent to which fulltime salaried white-collar workers
across the income distribution perform
EAP duties. As the Department stated in
237 As discussed further below, the Department
does not believe, as some commenters representing
workers suggested, that the proportion of full-time
salaried workers who earned below the short test
salary level in 1975 is the most appropriate
comparator for the population of workers who earn
below the new salary level.
238 Excluded from this number are workers in
named occupations and those exempt under
another non-EAP overtime exemption. The
exemption status of these groups will not be
impacted by a change in the standard salary level.
Commenters did not address the Department’s
exclusion of these workers from its analysis of the
impact of the proposed salary level.
239 This estimate is conservative, as it excludes
8.1 million white-collar workers employed as
teachers, attorneys, and physicians, for whom there
is no salary level requirement under the part 541
regulations and whose exemption status is therefore
always determined by their duties. If these workers
in ‘‘named occupations’’ are included, the
percentage of salaried full-time white-collar
employees for whom exemption status would
depend on duties, rather than salary, increases to
76 percent. See §§ 541.303–304.
240 The Department calculated the value of the
long test salary level using the same methodology
it used in the NPRM, updated for current earnings
data: the 10th percentile of earnings of likely
exempt workers in low-wage industries and regions.
As explained in section V.B, any minor historical
variations in the long test methodology do not
deprive it of its usefulness in helping determine an
appropriate salary level now.
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the NPRM and the 2019 rule, the salary
level has historically served as ‘‘a
helpful indicator of the capacity in
which an employee is employed,
especially among lower-paid employees;
however, the salary level should not
eclipse the duties test.241 In considering
the extent to which full-time salaried
white-collar workers perform EAP
duties, the Department uses probability
estimates of passing the standard duties
test, as it did in the NPRM.242
The Department’s analysis shows that
the new salary level is a helpful
indicator of whether salaried workers
perform EAP duties, since a minority of
full-time salaried white-collar workers
who earn less than the salary level meet
the standard duties test, whereas a large
majority of such workers who earn more
than the salary level meet the standard
duties test. As illustrated in Figure B, of
the 12.7 million full-time salaried
white-collar workers who earn less than
$1,128 per week, the Department
estimates that only 38 percent—about
4.8 million workers—meet the standard
duties test. In contrast, of the 32.7
million full-time salaried white-collar
workers who earn at least $1,128 per
week, a large majority—77 percent, or
about 25.3 million workers—meet the
standard duties test.243 The number of
full-time salaried white-collar workers
who meet the standard duties test and
earn below the salary level is thus over
five times smaller than the number of
full-time salaried white-collar workers
who meet the standard duties test and
earn at least the salary level amount.244
And 84 percent of all full-time salaried
white-collar workers who meet the
standard duties test—25.3 million out of
a total of approximately 30.0 million—
earn at least the new salary level.245
Figure B—Salaried White-Collar
Workers Earning Above and Below the
Standard Salary Level Who Meet or Do
Not Meet the Standard Duties Test
35.0
30.0
--
25.0
r J)
~
0
·s;::3 20.0
'-'
rJ)
I-<
] 15.0
I-<
~
10.0
5.0
0.0
Below $1,128
Above $1,128
Weekly Earnings
Not Meet Standard Duties Test
The Department disagrees with
commenters that challenged its use of
241 88
FR 62171;84 FR 51239, 51237.
section VII.
243 While a significant majority of full-time
salaried white-collar workers who earn above the
new salary level meet the duties test, helping
confirm its appropriateness as an indicator of the
capacity in which individuals are employed, a large
number of full-time salaried white-collar workers
who earn above the salary level—7.4 million—do
not meet the duties test. A comparable number of
salaried white-collar workers who earned above the
proposed salary level did not meet the duties test,
as EPI and AFI–CIO noted in their comments.
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242 See
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■
Meet Standard Duties Test
its probability codes to determine
whether a worker meets the duties test
in light of changes in occupational
codes and the duties test since the
PPWO’s statement that ‘‘[t]he Department seem[ed]
to be setting the salary level at a point at which all
employees above the line would be exempt’’ is thus
incorrect. The Department agrees with EPI that the
fact that a large number of salaried white-collar
workers who earn above the salary level will be
nonexempt because they do not meet the duties test
underscores the importance of an examination of
duties under this rule. These 7.4 million workers
will continue to be entitled to overtime because of
their duties, not their salaries. Notably, this
population is significantly larger than the
population of workers who will become nonexempt
under the new salary level. Rather than indicating
that the salary level must be set higher, as AFL–CIO
suggested, this fact indicates that this rule meets the
Department’s objective of preserving a primary role
for an examination of duties.
244 As noted above, see supra note 239, these
figures exclude salaried white-collar workers who
are not subject to the part 541 salary criteria.
245 Note that these numbers refer only to salaried
white-collar workers at all salary levels who meet
the standard duties test, including workers who are
nonexempt because they earn below the current
standard salary level.
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probability codes were first developed.
The Department has used the
probability codes to estimate the
number of workers who meet the duties
test in its last three EAP rules.246 As
noted in section VII, although the
probability codes were developed 25
years ago, the standard duties test is not
substantively different from the former
short duties tests reflected in the
probability codes,247 and the
Department used occupational
crosswalks to map the occupational
codes on which the probability codes
were originally based onto the 2018
Census occupational codes, which are
used in the most recent CPS MORG
data.248 Additionally, the Department
verified the continued appropriateness
of the probability codes in 2016 through
a review of the O*NET database,249
which confirmed that the probability
codes reflected current occupational
duties.250 The Department’s probability
codes remain reliable and appropriate
indicators for evaluating whether
workers meet the standard duties test.
Consistent with the NRPM, the
Department next examined how the new
salary level will impact salaried whitecollar workers earning between the
historic long and short test thresholds.
As discussed in section V.B, the long
and short test salary levels are important
parameters for assessing the
appropriateness of the salary level.
Under the final rule, duties will
continue to be determinative of
32881
exemption status for a majority of whitecollar workers earning between these
thresholds. As illustrated in Figure C, of
the approximately 10.8 million salaried
white-collar workers who earn between
the long test salary level of $942 per
week and the short test salary level of
$1,404 per week, about 40 percent (4.3
million) earn below the new salary
level, and about 60 percent (6.5 million)
earn at or above the new salary level.
Moreover, of the 4.3 million workers
earning between the long test and the
new standard salary level, almost half
do not meet the standard duties test.251
Figure C—Salaried White-Collar
Workers Between the Long and Short
Test Salary Levels Who Meet or Do Not
Meet the Standard Duties Test
7.0
6.0
1.0
0.0
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Do Not Meet Standard Duties Test
Commenters representing workers
pointed to the proportion of full-time
salaried workers who earned below the
short test salary level in 1975, as
compared to the proportion of full-time
salaried workers who earned below the
proposed salary level, in stating that the
Department could or should set the
salary level higher than the proposed
246 See 84 FR 51258–59; 81 FR 32458; 69 FR
22198.
247 See 69 FR 22214.
248 See section VII.
249 The O*NET database contains hundreds of
standardized and occupation-specific descriptors.
See https://www.onetcenter.org.
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Meet Standard Duties Test
salary level. See, e.g., AFL–CIO; EPI;
NELP; NWLC. As emphasized above,
the Department agrees that the short test
and long test salary levels are key
parameters for assessing the
appropriateness of a salary level in a
one-test system. It is also useful to put
any salary level in historical context.
250 See
81 FR 32459.
discussed further below, about 2.1 million
of the approximately 4.3 million salaried whitecollar workers who earn between the long test
salary threshold and the Department’s new salary
level (about 48 percent of these workers) do not
meet the standard duties test. Thus, in effect, only
251 As
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However, the Department notes that
under the two-test system, employers
could also use the long test, which
paired a lower salary level with a more
rigorous duties test. Accordingly, a
segment of the workers who earned
below the short test salary level in
1975—those who earned between the
short and long test salary levels and
21 percent of salaried white-collar workers who
earn between the long and short test salary levels—
2.2 million out of a total of 10.8 million—have their
exemption status determined solely by the new
standard salary level.
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performed limited amounts of
nonexempt work—were still exempt
from overtime under the long test even
though they earned below the short test
salary level. As explained in section
V.B.4, the Department has elected to set
the salary level well below the short test
salary level in part because setting it in
the short test salary range would
prevent employers from using the EAP
exemption for this entire population of
historically exempt workers.
Lastly, the Department also looked at
the impact of the new salary level on
currently exempt employees—those
salaried white-collar workers who meet
the standard duties test and earn at least
$684 per week. As with every prior
rulemaking to increase the part 541
salary levels, a relatively small
percentage of currently exempt workers
will become nonexempt. Of the
approximately 45.4 million salaried
white-collar workers in the United
States, approximately 29.3 million
currently qualify for the EAP
exemption.252 Of these 29.3 million
presently exempt workers, just 4.0
million earn at or above the current
$684 per week standard salary level but
less than $1,128 per week and will,
without some intervening action by
their employers, become entitled to
overtime protection as a result of the
combined effect of the initial update
and the subsequent application of the
new standard salary level in this rule. A
test for exemption that includes a salary
level component will necessarily result
in a number of workers who earned at
or above the prior salary level and pass
the duties test becoming nonexempt
when the salary level is increased. As
the Department has consistently found
since 1938, salary is an important
indicator of whether an individual is
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity
and therefore a key element in defining
the exemption.
As the Department explained in its
analysis of the impact of the proposed
salary level, the new salary level will
impact the exemption status of two
distinct and important, but relatively
small, groups of lower-paid EAP
workers. First, the new salary level will
restore overtime protections to 1.8
million currently exempt workers who
meet the standard duties test but earn
less than the equivalent of the long test
252 Note that the 29.3 million worker figure only
refers to workers who meet the standard EAP
exemption and thus differs from the population of
potentially affected EAP workers identified in the
economic analysis (29.7 million), which includes
workers who qualify only for the HCE exemption.
As noted above, this is a conservative estimate
because there are also 8.1 million workers in the
‘‘named occupations’’ who, under the Department’s
regulations, are exempt based on their duties alone.
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salary level ($942 per week). Such
employees were excluded from the EAP
exemption under every rule prior to
2019, either by the long test salary level
itself, or under the 2004 rule standard
salary level, which was set equivalent to
the long test salary level. Fully restoring
the salary level’s initial screening
function requires a salary level that will
ensure all employees who earn below
the long test level are excluded from the
exemption.
Second, the new salary level will
result in overtime protections for an
additional 2.2 million currently exempt
workers who meet the standard duties
test and earn between the long test
salary level ($942 per week) and the
final salary level. As explained earlier,
the Department is setting the standard
salary level above the long test level to
account for the shift to a one-test system
in a manner that reasonably distributes
the impact of this switch. The final rule
will limit the number of affected
workers by setting a standard salary
level below the midpoint between the
long and short test salary levels and by
using earnings data from the lowestwage Census Region (the South).
Even among the 4.0 million workers
affected by the combination of the
initial update and the subsequent
application of the new standard salary
level in this rule, the fact that a large
share of these workers earn below the
long test level underscores the modest
role of the final salary level. Beyond the
1.8 million workers earning less than
the long test salary level—to whom the
final rule will simply restore overtime
protections that they had under every
rule prior to 2019—the increase in the
salary level will affect the exemption
status of 2.2 million workers. This group
makes up about 8 percent of all
currently exempt, salaried white-collar
workers and just under 5 percent of all
salaried white-collar workers.253 The
salary level methodology adopted in
this rule will thus maintain the ‘‘useful,
but limited, role’’ of the salary level in
defining and delimiting the EAP
exemption.254
Finally, the Department does not
agree with commenters that stated that
it underestimated the number of
affected workers in the NPRM.
Commenters that asserted the number of
affected workers could be much higher
generally referenced estimates of the
number of workers earning between the
current salary level and the proposed
253 The 4.0 million workers affected by the new
salary level represent only 13.8 percent of the 29.3
million salaried white-collar workers who currently
qualify for the standard EAP exemption.
254 See 88 FR 62173; 84 FR 51238.
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salary level, regardless of whether they
passed the duties test, and then posited
that up to that many workers (e.g., 7.2
million, 7.5 million, or 12.3 million)
could be affected. See AFPI; NRF;
Rachel Greszler. The position that all
workers earning below the new salary
level, regardless of their duties, will be
affected by the new salary level fails to
account for the fact that that millions of
these workers are already nonexempt
because they fail the duties test. The
exemption status of workers who fail
the duties test will not be affected by
this rule.
Determining the workers who will be
affected by a change in the salary level
requires an examination of workers’
earnings and their duties. Consistent
with the NPRM, the Department
determined the populations of currently
exempt workers who will be affected by
the salary level by applying its
probability codes. For the reasons
discussed earlier in this section and in
section VII below, the Department’s
probability codes are reliable and
appropriate indicators of whether an
employee meets the standard duties test.
The Department has consistently
applied this methodology in all its
recent part 541 rules.255 Though some
commenters criticized the Department’s
method for calculating the affected
worker figure, they did not offer an
alternate methodology for determining
which workers pass the current duties
test, let alone one as robust and proven
as the Department’s probability codes.
C. Highly Compensated Employees
In the 2004 rule, the Department
created the HCE test for certain highly
compensated employees. Combining a
much higher compensation requirement
with a minimal duties test, the HCE test
is based on the rationale that employees
who earn at least a certain amount
annually—an amount substantially
higher than the annual equivalent of the
weekly standard salary level—will
almost invariably pass the standard
duties test.256 The HCE test’s primary
purpose is therefore to serve as a
streamlined alternative for very highly
compensated employees because a very
high level of compensation is a strong
indicator of an employee’s exempt
status, thus eliminating the need for a
detailed duties analysis.257
255 See 84 FR 51258–59; 81 FR 32458; 69 FR
22198.
256 84 FR 51249; see also § 541.601(c) (‘‘A high
level of compensation is a strong indicator of an
employee’s exempt status, thus eliminating the
need for a detailed analysis of the employee’s job
duties.’’).
257 See 69 FR 22173–74.
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As outlined in § 541.601, to be
exempt under the HCE test, an
employee must earn at least the amount
specified in the regulations in total
annual compensation—presently
$107,432 per year.258 Of this HCE
threshold amount, no less than the full
standard salary level amount must be
paid on a salary or fee basis.259 Finally,
the employee must ‘‘customarily and
regularly perform[ ] any one or more of
the exempt duties or responsibilities of
an executive, administrative, or
professional employee[.]’’ 260 The HCE
test applies only to employees whose
primary duty includes performing office
or non-manual work.261
Employees qualifying for exemption
under the HCE test must receive at least
the standard salary level per week on a
salary or fee basis, while the remainder
of the employee’s total annual
compensation may include
commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses,
and other nondiscretionary
compensation.262 Total annual
compensation does not include board,
lodging, or other facilities, and does not
include payments for medical
insurance, life insurance, retirement
plans, or other fringe benefits. An
employer is permitted to make a final
‘‘catch-up’’ payment during the last pay
period or within 1 month after the end
of the 52-week period to bring an
employee’s compensation up to the
required level.
As stated in the NPRM, the
Department continues to believe that the
HCE test is a useful alternative to the
standard salary level and duties tests for
highly compensated employees.
However, as with the standard salary
level, the HCE total annual
compensation level must be updated to
ensure that it remains a meaningful and
appropriate standard to pair with the
minimal HCE duties test. To maintain
the HCE test’s role as a streamlined
alternative for those employees most
likely to meet the standard duties test,
the HCE total annual compensation
level must be high enough to exclude all
but those employees ‘‘at the very top of
258 § 541.601(a)(1).
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259 § 541.601(b)(1).
Although § 541.602(a)(3)
allows employers to use nondiscretionary bonuses,
incentives, and commissions to satisfy up to 10
percent of the weekly standard salary level when
applying the standard salary and duties tests, the
Department’s regulation at § 541.601(b)(1) does not
permit employers to use such payments to satisfy
the weekly standard salary level requirement for
HCE workers. See 84 FR 51249.
260 § 541.601(c).
261 § 541.601(d).
262 § 541.601(b)(1). The criteria for determining if
an employee is paid on a ‘‘salary basis’’ are
identical under the standard exemption criteria and
the HCE test. See Helix Energy Solutions, 143 S.Ct.
at 683.
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[the] economic ladder[.]’’ 263 The
proposal noted that when it was created
in 2004, the HCE test featured a
$100,000 threshold that exceeded the
annual earnings of approximately 93.7
percent of salaried workers
nationwide.264 More recently in the
2019 rule, the Department set the HCE
test threshold so it would be equivalent
to the annual earnings of the 80th
percentile of full-time salaried workers
nationwide. At the time of the NPRM,
however, the $107,432 per year HCE
threshold covered only 72 percent of
full-time salaried workers
nationwide.265
The Department proposed to update
the HCE test by setting the total
compensation amount equal to the
annualized weekly earnings of the 85th
percentile of full-time salaried workers
nationwide. Based on earnings data
used in the NPRM, this proposed
methodology resulted in a proposed
HCE threshold of $143,988, of which at
least $1,059 per week (the proposed
standard salary level) would have to be
paid on a salary or fee basis.266 The
Department noted that its proposed
methodology would produce an HCE
threshold that was higher than under
the methodology adopted in the 2019
final rule (which set the HCE threshold
equal to the annualized weekly earnings
of the 80th percentile of full-time
salaried workers nationwide),267 but
lower than under the 2004 rule (which
covered 93.7 percent of salaried workers
nationwide) and the method adopted in
the 2016 rule (which would have
covered 90 percent of salaried workers
nationwide).268 In justifying the
proposed HCE threshold, the
Department explained in the NPRM that
it was concerned that repeating the 2019
rule’s methodology now would not
produce a threshold high enough to
reserve the HCE test for employees at
the top of today’s economic ladder and
could risk the unintended exemption of
large numbers of employees in highwage regions.269
The Department is finalizing its
proposal to increase the HCE total
263 69
FR 22174.
88 FR 62159.
264 See
265 Id.
266 It is the Department’s intent that the increase
in the HCE total annual compensation threshold is
independent of, and severable from, the increase in
the standard salary level to the 35th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried employees in
the lowest-wage Census Region (the South) and the
updating provision, pursuant to which the HCE
total annual compensation threshold will be
regularly updated to reflect current earnings.
267 See 84 FR 51250.
268 See 69 FR 22169–70 (Tables 3 and 4); 81 FR
32429.
269 88 FR 62176.
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compensation threshold to the 85th
percentile of annualized weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers
nationwide. Applying this methodology
to calendar year 2023 earnings data
results in a total compensation
threshold of $151,164 per year. This
approach will guard against the
unintended exemption of workers who
are not bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional
employees, including those in higherincome regions and industries.
As in prior rulemakings, the
Department received significantly less
feedback from commenters on the
proposed increase to the HCE threshold
than on the proposed increase to the
standard salary level. Most commenters
did not address the issue. Among the
comments that addressed the proposed
HCE threshold, stakeholder sentiment
was split; employee representatives
generally supported the proposed
increase or asked for a higher increase,
while most employer representatives
favored a smaller increase or no increase
at all.
A number of commenters expressed
support for the proposed increase to the
HCE threshold. See, e.g., AFT; AFL–
CIO; Coalition of State AGs. For
example, the Coalition of State AGs
asserted that ‘‘[s]ignificant inflation
since the 2019 rule became effective in
January 2020 has eroded the purchasing
power of the HCE salary level’’ and
remarked that the HCE threshold ‘‘could
arguably be made even higher than the
proposed level, particularly for highcost, high-wage states[.]’’ The National
Partnership described the proposed HCE
threshold as ‘‘in line with historic and
economic precedent,’’ while the AFT
commented that the proposed HCE
threshold ‘‘will ensure [that] workers in
the health care sector, and workers who
provide a wide range of services and
expertise for state and local
governments, are not completely
excluded from possibly qualifying for
overtime.’’
A handful of commenters advocated
for the adoption of a higher HCE
threshold than proposed. Noting that
the HCE threshold originally exceeded
the earnings of 93.7 percent of all
salaried employees nationwide when it
was introduced in 2004, Sanford Heisler
Sharp asserted that the Department’s
proposal to set the HCE threshold at the
85th percentile ‘‘introduces a
substantial risk of harming employees
who truly need overtime protections.’’
NELA and Nichols Kaster urged the
Department to repeat the approach it
took in the 2016 rule, which set the HCE
threshold equal to the 90th percentile of
salaried earnings nationwide. Invoking
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the FLSA’s policy goal of spreading
employment, NELA also opined that
‘‘an overly permissive HCE [test] will
result in fewer ‘highly compensated’
jobs available for workers aspiring to
climb the economic ladder to benefit
themselves and their families.’’
Employer stakeholders that addressed
the HCE threshold opposed the
Department’s proposed increase, with
many commenters disputing that the
current HCE threshold should be
increased at all. See, e.g., ABC; AHLA;
Argentum & ASHA; NAW; Visiting
Angels. A number of commenters that
opposed the proposed HCE threshold
asserted that it would be
administratively burdensome to
reevaluate the exemption status of
employees who earn between the
current and proposed HCE thresholds.
See, e.g., HR Policy Association; NAM;
NCFC. PPWO commented that
‘‘[e]mployers will be faced with the task
of reviewing the basis on which each
employee was accorded exempt status,
including employees for whom the
exempt status decision was made a
decade ago and who may be among the
most highly paid employees in the
company.’’
Other employer-side stakeholders
opposed the proposed HCE threshold
but indicated (either in the alternative
or outright) that they would be open to
a smaller increase. Several commenters
stated an increase to the HCE threshold
using the 80th percentile methodology
applied in the 2019 rule would be
preferable. See, e.g., CWC; LeadingAge;
RILA; see also Chamber (asserting that
the NPRM ‘‘does not address
whatsoever why the 80th percentile
[methodology] would be insufficient’’).
National Restaurant Association
asserted that if the Department changes
the HCE threshold, it ‘‘should calculate
any new HCE highly compensated level
by using data from the South Census
Region, rather than on a nationwide
basis, to ensure that the HCE exemption
is at least within reach of some
employers in the lowest-wage regions in
the country.’’ WFCA similarly
recommended that the Department set
the HCE threshold at the 85th percentile
of salaried earnings in lowest-wage
Census Region or, alternatively, use the
80th percentile of national data for fulltime salaried workers (i.e., the 2019
rule’s approach).
Having considered the comments
received, the Department is finalizing its
proposal to increase the HCE threshold
to the 85th percentile of annualized
weekly earnings of full-time salaried
earnings nationwide. This results in a
new HCE threshold of $151,164 per
year, using calendar year 2023 earnings
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data, of which at least $1,128 per week
(the standard salary level) must be paid
on a salary or fee basis.270
As an initial matter, the Department
maintains that the current HCE
threshold must be increased. In nominal
terms, the current $107,432 HCE
threshold is only 7 percent higher than
the $100,000 HCE threshold that was
introduced in 2004 and, as multiple
commenters noted, it has failed to keep
up with wage growth over the last 20
years. According to 2023 earnings data,
the current HCE threshold ($107,432)
now covers just 70 percent of full-time
salaried workers nationwide, less than
the 80 percent of such workers that it
covered when it was set in 2019. This
coverage would continue to decrease in
the absence of an increase, which is
needed to reserve the HCE test for
employees ‘‘at the very top of today’s
economic ladder,’’ 271 as the Department
originally intended. Inaction could risk
the unintended exemption of employees
in higher-income regions and industries
who clearly are outside of the scope of
the exemption.272
The Department concludes that
increasing the HCE threshold to the 85th
percentile of annualized weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers
nationwide will ensure that the
threshold is sufficiently high to provide
a meaningful and appropriate
complement to the minimal HCE duties
test, and that nearly all of the highly
paid white-collar workers earning above
this threshold ‘‘would satisfy any duties
test.’’ 273 The Department considered
keeping the 2019 rule’s methodology for
the HCE threshold (i.e., the 80th
percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried employees nationwide) and
applying it to current earnings data.
However, the Department reaffirms its
determination from the NPRM that this
methodology is not appropriate because
it does not produce a threshold high
enough to reserve the HCE test for
employees who would almost invariably
pass the standard duties test. The
Department agrees with commenters
that stated that setting the HCE
threshold at the annualized weekly
earnings of the 85th percentile of fulltime salaried workers nationwide will
guard against the unintended exemption
of workers who are not bona fide
executive, administrative, or
270 As discussed in section IV, the increase in the
HCE threshold and the standard salary level using
the new methodologies will be applicable on
January 1, 2025.
271 69 FR 22174.
272 Id.
273 84 FR 51250 (internal citation omitted).
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professional employees, including those
in higher-income regions and industries.
The Department disagrees that the
new HCE threshold is too high.
Adjusting for wage growth, the
proposed HCE threshold is significantly
lower than the original HCE threshold
that was introduced in 2004 (which
surpassed the earnings of 93.7 percent
of full-time salaried workers). Going
forward, employers with employees
affected by the increased HCE threshold
can still use the standard exemption
criteria to take advantage of the EAP
exemption. The HCE test is a
streamlined alternative to the standard
exemption criteria for a select class of
employees who are so highly paid that
they will almost invariably pass the
standard duties test.274 By design, the
HCE test is reserved for employees ‘‘at
the very top of today’s economic
ladder’’ who would satisfy ‘‘any duties
test’’ in ‘‘virtually every’’ case.275 This
exclusivity is necessary because of the
risk that the HCE test poses to salaried
employees in high-income regions and
industries who are not bona fide EAP
employees, which the Department
acknowledged when the HCE test was
created in 2004.276
Although the Department has
previously acknowledged that the HCE
test may exempt some employees who
fail the standard duties test and would
otherwise be entitled to overtime pay,
such outcomes should be ‘‘rare,’’
involving employees whose pay is high
enough that their exemption ‘‘would not
defeat the objectives of section 13(a)(1)
of the Act.’’ 277 The only way to ensure
that the HCE test serves its intended
purpose—i.e., serving as an efficient,
streamlined test for employees who
would ‘‘almost invariably’’ meet the
standard duties test—is for the test to
include an earnings threshold high
enough to exclude nearly all employees
whose EAP status may be questionable.
The exemption status of such employees
should be determined by the standard
exemption criteria.
The Department acknowledges that
some commenters requested the
adoption of a higher HCE threshold,
closer in magnitude to the original
$100,000 HCE threshold that was
274 See § 541.601(c) (‘‘A high level of
compensation is a strong indicator of an employee’s
exempt status, thus eliminating the need for a
detailed analysis of the employee’s job duties.’’); see
also 84 FR 51249.
275 69 FR 22174.
276 See id. (explaining the need to avoid the
unintended exemption of employees ‘‘such as
secretaries in New York City or Los Angeles . . .
who clearly are outside the scope of the exemptions
and are entitled to the FLSA’s minimum wage and
overtime pay protections.’’).
277 See 84 FR 51249.
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adopted in 2004. As noted above, the
original HCE threshold exceeded the
earnings of over 93 percent of salaried
white-collar workers when it was
adopted. Germane to these comments,
the Department considered repeating
the approach it took in the 2016 final
rule and proposed in the 2019 NPRM of
setting the HCE threshold at the
annualized weekly earnings of the 90th
percentile of full-time salaried workers
nationwide, which would result in a
threshold of $179,972 per year. As noted
in the NPRM, however, the Department
is concerned that an HCE threshold set
at $179,972 could unduly restrict the
use of the HCE test for employers in
lower-wage regions and industries.278
While the new HCE threshold does not
exclude from the HCE test as high a
percentage of full-time salaried
employees as the HCE threshold
initially adopted in 2004, it excludes a
sufficiently large percentage (i.e., 85
percent of full-time salaried employees
nationwide) to guard against the
unintended exemption of employees in
higher-income regions and industries
who are not bona fide EAP employees.
For all of the reasons provided above,
the Department adopts its proposal to
set the HCE threshold equal to the
annualized weekly earnings of the 85th
percentile of full-time salaried workers
($151,164). This new level will be
applicable on January 1, 2025.
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D. Severability
1. The Department’s Proposal
The Department proposed to add a
severability provision to its part 541
regulations at § 541.5. Proposed § 541.5
stated that if any provision of this part
is held to be invalid or unenforceable by
its terms, or as applied to any person or
circumstance, or stayed pending further
agency action, the Department intended
that the provision be given the fullest
effect permitted by law, unless the
provision is held to be completely
invalid or unenforceable, in which case,
the Department intended the provision
to be severable and not to affect the
remaining provisions.
The Department illustrated the
intended effect of proposed § 541.5 with
some examples. The Department noted
that it was its intent that the proposed
updating mechanism be effective even if
the proposed increase in the standard
salary level were invalidated. It was also
the Department’s intent that the
proposed increase in the HCE total
annual compensation threshold be
effective even if the increase in the
standard salary level were invalidated.
278 See
88 FR 62176; see also 84 FR 51250.
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And it was the Department’s intent that
the proposed increases in the standard
salary level and HCE annual total
compensation requirement apply even if
the updating mechanism was
determined to be invalid.279
The Department is finalizing § 541.5,
Severability, as proposed, with that
addition of clarifying language as
discussed below.
2. Discussion of Comments and Final
Rule
Most commenters did not address
proposed § 541.5. Of the few
commenters that did address the
Department’s severability proposal, the
Administrative Law Professors and
NELP supported the inclusion of a
severability provision in the final rule.
In expressing their support, the
Administrative Law Professors provided
the most in-depth discussion of the
Department’s proposed severability
provision. The Administrative Law
Professors explained that a provision of
a rule is severable where the agency
intends for the remainder of the rule to
be effective, even if the provision is
invalidated, and the rule would be
workable absent the provision, citing
precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court
and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit.280 The
professors noted that the Department
‘‘clearly state[d] [its] intention’’ in
proposed § 541.5 that the updating
mechanism in proposed § 541.607 ‘‘be
effective even if the proposed increase
in the standard salary level is
invalidated.’’ They further noted that
the Department ‘‘expresse[d] the same
intention with regard to the
implementation of the HCE total annual
compensation requirement whether or
not the standard salary level is
invalidated’’ and ‘‘the application of the
Department’s proposed 2023 earnings
thresholds, whether or not automatic
updating is upheld.’’
The Administrative Law Professors
observed that the Department’s
inclusion of a severability provision in
the NPRM was consistent with guidance
from the Administrative Conference of
the United States (ACUS), which
279 The Department also stated that it was the
Department’s intent that its proposal to apply the
standard salary level to the U.S territories subject
to the Federal minimum wage remain in effect even
if the proposed change to the standard salary level
were invalidated. As discussed above, see supra
note 9, at this time the Department is not finalizing
in this final rule its proposal to apply the standard
salary level to the U.S. territories subject to the
Federal minimum wage and to update the special
salary levels for American Samoa and the motion
picture producing industry.
280 See K-Mart Corp. v. Cartier, 486 U.S. 281, 294
(1988); Davis Cnty. Solid Waste Mgmt. v. EPA, 108
F.3d 1454, 1459–60 (D.C. Cir. 1997).
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advised agencies in a 2018 report 281 to
address severability in the text and
preamble of both the NPRM and the
final rule where the agency intends the
provisions of a rule to be severable and
anticipates that the rule may be
challenged in court. The professors
suggested that the Department further
explain in the final rule how the rule
‘‘would remain workable’’ if any of its
provisions were declared invalid. As an
example, the professors suggested
stating explicitly that invalidation of the
updating provision ‘‘would have no
bearing on the rationality or
administrability of the standard salary
and HCE salary thresholds’’ as set in the
rule. They further noted that in the
event of the invalidation of either the
standard salary level or the HCE
compensation threshold, the updating
provision could function independently
because ‘‘updating would simply take as
the 2023 baseline the thresholds left in
place from the 2019 rule.’’ The
Administrative Law Professors made
clear that expanding the explanation of
‘‘the independent workability of any of
the rule’s provisions’’ should not be
seen as an indication of legal
vulnerability but instead as merely an
acknowledgement of the possibility of
legal challenge.
NELP also supported the proposed
severability provision, noting the ‘‘vital
importance’’ of the proposed rule to
millions of workers. Specifically, NELP
stated that if any provision of the rule
‘‘is deemed legally questionable, only
that provision should be stayed while
litigation proceeds.’’
A small number of commenters
representing employer interests
specifically opposed the proposed
severability provision or criticized the
Department’s severability proposal.
Indiana Chamber of Commerce and UHaul Holding Company (U-Haul) stated
that the proposed severability provision
was an acknowledgement of the legal
vulnerability of the Department’s
proposed updating section. The YMCA
stated that the Department failed to
explain the need for, or appropriateness
of, the proposed severability provision,
and RILA asserted that the Department
failed to explain how the proposed rule
would function if any of its provisions
were declared invalid. The Chamber
and the National Association of
Convenience Stores asserted that the
Department should withdraw the
severability provision.
The Chamber further asserted that,
pursuant to the district court decision
281 See Admin. Conf. of the U.S.,
Recommendation 2018–2, Severability in Agency
Rulemaking, 83 FR 30683, 30685 (June 29, 2018).
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invalidating the 2016 rule, ‘‘the
automatic increase provision in the
Proposed Rule cannot survive if the
increase to the minimum salary level is
struck down.’’ The Department does not
read the court’s decision as
substantively examining the validity of
the 2016 rule’s automatic updating
provision or analyzing whether that
provision was severable from the
remainder of the rule. And importantly,
the 2016 rule did not contain a
severability provision or discuss the
Department’s intent regarding
severability of the provisions of that
rule. In contrast, the Department’s
current NPRM included a severability
provision and a detailed discussion of
the Department’s intent that specifically
addressed severability of the updating
provision. As the Administrative Law
Professors noted, as proposed, the
updating provision was not dependent
on the proposed increases to the
standard salary level and the HCE
compensation threshold. If either of the
new thresholds were vacated, the
updating provision would simply use
the existing methodologies set in the
2019 rule as the baseline for the update
(i.e., the Department would apply those
methodologies triennially to update the
earnings thresholds as established in
§ 541.607). This is a significant change
from the 2016 updating provision,
which would have updated the standard
salary level and HCE total compensation
requirement based on the specific
methodologies set in that rule and
facially could not function if those
methodologies were invalidated.282
Upon consideration of the comments
received, the Department is finalizing
the severability provision in § 541.5 as
proposed, with an additional sentence
to further clarify its intent. The
Department intends that each of this
rule’s provisions be considered separate
and severable and operate
independently from one another. The
Department is revising § 541.5 to state
this explicitly. In this regard, the
Department intends that if any
application of a provision is stayed,
enjoined, or invalidated, the provision
be construed to continue to give the
maximum effect to the provision
permitted by law. In the event any
provision within a section of the rule is
stayed, enjoined, or invalidated, the
Department intends that all remaining
provisions within that section, plus all
other sections, remain effective and
operative. And in the event any whole
section of the rule is stayed, enjoined,
or invalidated, the Department intends
282 See
81 FR 32251.
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that all remaining sections remain
effective and operative.
It is the Department’s position that the
provisions and sections of the rule can
function sensibly in the event that any
specific provisions, sections, or
applications are invalidated, enjoined,
or stayed. To begin, the new standard
salary level set forth in § 541.600(a)(2) of
$1,128 per week—the 35th percentile of
weekly nonhourly earnings in the
lowest-wage Census Region—can
function sensibly, even if, for instance,
the rule’s new updating section or the
revision to the HCE total compensation
requirement are stayed, enjoined, or
invalidated. The revision to the
standard salary level under the new
methodology operates independently of
and does not depend on either the new
updating section or the revision to the
HCE total compensation requirement. If,
for instance, the triennial updating of
the standard salary level were
invalidated, the new salary level of
$1,128 would still go into effect, and it
would remain $1,128 per week until the
Department conducts further
rulemaking. The new standard salary
level of $1,128 per week would also still
take effect if the initial update to the
standard salary level were
invalidated.283 And the new standard
salary level would still go into effect
and function sensibly if the revision to
the HCE total compensation
requirement were invalidated as well.
Notably, in such an event, the total
annual compensation an employee
would need to receive to qualify for the
HCE test would remain at the existing
level; 284 however, the employee’s total
annual compensation would need to
include at least $1,128 per week paid on
a salary or fee basis. As discussed in
section V.B, the revised standard salary
level will work effectively with the
standard duties test to better define who
is employed in a bona fide EAP capacity
by restoring the initial screening
function that the salary level long
fulfilled and adjusting the salary level to
account for the change to a single-test
system. Finalizing the new standard
salary level will thus accomplish several
of the key objectives the Department is
seeking to achieve in undertaking this
rulemaking, even if all or part of the
283 As noted in section IV, the initial update to
the standard salary level and HCE total annual
compensation requirement are applicable July 1,
2024, whereas the new standard salary level and
HCE total annual compensation requirement are
applicable 6 months later on January 1, 2025.
284 Under these circumstances, the HCE total
annual compensation requirement would be
$132,964 per year or, if the initial update to the
earnings thresholds under this rule did not go into
effect, the current HCE total annual compensation
requirement of $107,432 per year.
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updating section or the revisions to the
HCE total compensation requirement do
not also go into effect.
The revised HCE total compensation
requirement of $151,164 per year set
forth in § 541.601(a)(1)—the 85th
percentile of annualized weekly
earnings of full-time nonhourly workers
nationally—can also function sensibly,
even if the other provisions of this final
rule are stayed, enjoined, or invalidated.
The revision to the HCE total
compensation requirement under the
new methodology operates
independently of, and does not depend
on, either the new updating provision or
the revision to the standard salary level.
Accordingly, if, for instance, the
triennial updating of the HCE total
compensation requirement were
invalidated, the new HCE total
compensation requirement of $151,164
per year would still become effective,
and the HCE total compensation
requirement would remain at that
amount until the Department
undertakes further rulemaking. If the
initial update to the HCE total
compensation requirement were
invalidated, the revised HCE total
compensation requirement would still
go into effect, too. And the revised HCE
total compensation requirement would
still go into effect and function sensibly
if the revision to the standard salary
level were invalidated. In such an event,
an employee would need to be paid the
new total annual compensation amount
of $151,164 per year to qualify as
exempt under the HCE test, though the
total annual compensation would need
to include only the existing standard
salary level 285 per week paid on a salary
or fee basis. As noted in section V.C, the
HCE test was intended to be limited to
those highly paid employees who would
almost invariably meet the standard
duties test. The revision to the HCE total
compensation requirement would
restore it to a level that is high enough
to avoid the unintended exemption of
large numbers of employees in highwage regions but not so high as to
unduly restrict the use of the HCE test
in lower-wage regions and industries,
even if the revisions to the standard
salary level and all or part of the
updating provision do not go into effect.
The new updating section can also
function sensibly, independent of the
other provisions of this final rule. As
explained in section V, the updating
section provides in § 541.607(a) and (b)
that the Department will update the
285 Under these circumstances, the standard
salary level would be $844 per week or, if the initial
update to the earnings thresholds under this rule
did not go into effect, the current standard salary
level of $684 per week.
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standard salary level and HCE total
compensation requirement,
respectively, initially on July 1, 2024
and every 3 years thereafter, to reflect
current earnings data, in accordance
with the methodology used to set each
threshold. Both the triennial updating of
the earnings thresholds for exemption
and the initial update to these
thresholds can function sensibly on
their own.
The triennial updating of the earnings
thresholds for exemption can function
sensibly, even if the new standard salary
level and new HCE total compensation
requirement are stayed, enjoined, or
invalidated, as the triennial updates are
based on the methodology used to set
each threshold that is in place at the
time of the update. If all the provisions
of this rule do go into effect (and
assuming the Department has not
engaged in further rulemaking), as
discussed in section V.A, the triennial
updates to the standard salary level and
HCE total compensation threshold will
be based on the new methodologies
established in this rule: the 35th
percentile of weekly nonhourly earnings
in the lowest-wage Census Region and
the 85th percentile of annualized
weekly earnings of full-time nonhourly
workers nationally, respectively.
However, the updating provision does
not depend on the revisions to the
standard salary level and HCE
methodologies also going into effect. If,
for instance, both the new standard
salary level and HCE total compensation
requirement were invalidated, the
updating provision would, as the
Administrative Law Professors noted,
use the existing methodologies set in the
2019 rule as the baseline for the each
triennial update: the 20th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time nonhourly
workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region and/or retail nationally, in the
case of the standard salary level, and the
80th percentile of annualized weekly
earnings of full-time nonhourly workers
nationally, in the case of the HCE test.
The updating section thus ensures that
the standard salary level and HCE total
compensation requirement continue to
reflect current earnings—among the key
objectives the Department is seeking to
achieve in undertaking this rulemaking,
see section V.A—even if the new
methodologies for setting these earnings
thresholds do not go into effect.
The initial update of the earnings
thresholds for exemption can function
sensibly as well, even if this rule’s other
revisions do not go into effect, as the
baseline for the initial update to each
threshold is the current methodology
established in 2019. Accordingly, if, for
instance, the new standard salary level,
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new HCE total compensation
requirement, and the triennial updating
provision were invalidated, the standard
salary level and HCE total compensation
requirement would still be updated on
July 1, 2024 to $844 per week and
$132,964 per year, respectively. In
undertaking this rulemaking, the
Department sought (among other
objectives) to account for the
considerable earnings growth that has
taken place since it last updated the
earnings thresholds for exemption.286
The initial updating of the standard
salary level and HCE total compensation
requirement ensures these thresholds
reflect earnings growth since the
Department’s 2019 rule, even if the new
methodologies for setting the standard
salary level and the HCE total
compensation requirement and the
future triennial updates to these
earnings thresholds do not go into
effect.
In sum, the Department has taken care
to draft this final rule such that its
provisions function independently and
is including a severability section,
§ 541.5, to make clear that all the rule’s
provisions are separate and severable
and should be given the fullest possible
effect. As the Administrative Law
Professors observed, this discussion of
severability is not an acknowledgement
of the legal vulnerability of any
particular provision. However, since
some commenters have indicated that
they may challenge all or part of this
rule, see e.g., AFPI, Chamber, NFIB, and
the 2016 and 2019 rules were both
subject to legal challenge, the
Department, consistent with ACUS
guidance, makes explicit in the
regulatory text that it considers the
provisions of this rule to be severable
and explains here how the various
provisions of the rule can operate
sensibly in the event another provision
of the rule is stayed, enjoined, or
declared invalid.
VI. Paperwork Reduction Act
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., and its
attendant regulations, 5 CFR part 1320,
require the Department to consider the
agency’s need for its information
collections, the information collections’
practical utility, the impact of
paperwork and other information
collection burdens imposed on the
public, and how to minimize those
burdens. Under the PRA, an agency may
not collect or sponsor an information
collection requirement unless it
displays a currently valid Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) control
number.287
OMB has assigned control number
1235–0021 to the information collection
that gathers information from
complainants alleging violations of the
labor standards that WHD administers
and enforces, and OMB has assigned
control number 1235–0018 to the
information collection, Records to be
kept by Employers—Fair Labor
Standards Act. In accordance with the
PRA, the Department solicited public
comments on the proposed burden
changes to the information collection
under control number 1235–0021 and
the proposed burden changes to the
information collection under OMB
control number 1235–0018.288 Because
OMB control number 1235–0021 was
encumbered by a different rulemaking at
the time of submission of the NPRM to
OMB, the Department at that time
created a duplicate ICR of 1235–0021
under OMB control number 1235–
0NEW to allow the public to comment
on the proposed estimates. The
Department submitted a
contemporaneous request for OMB
review of the proposed revisions to the
existing information collection and the
duplicate ICR in accordance with 44
U.S.C. 3507(d). On October 12, 2023,
OMB issued a notice that assigned the
duplicate information collection control
number 1235–0035 and indicated the
Department should address comments
received during the NPRM comment
period and resubmit for approval at the
time of the final rule. Also on October
12, 2023, OMB issued a notice that
continued the previous approval of the
information collection under 1235–0018
under the existing terms of clearance
and advised the Department to address
any comments received during the
NPRM comment period and resubmit at
the time of the final rule.
Circumstances Necessitating this
Collection: This rulemaking revises 29
CFR part 541 and affects provisions that
could be considered to entail collections
of information including (1) the
complaint process under which
employees may file a complaint with
the Department to investigate potential
violations of the laws administered by
the Department, including the FLSA;
and (2) disclosure and recordkeeping
requirements for covered employers
under the FLSA. This rulemaking does
not impose new information collection
requirements. Rather, burdens under the
existing requirements would increase
due to the changes in the universe of
employees for whom employers are
287 See
286 See
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88 FR 62181.
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required to maintain records. The
changes adopted in this rulemaking may
also cause an initial increase in burden
if more employees file complaints with
WHD to collect back wages under the
overtime pay requirements.
Information and technology: There is
no particular order or form of records
prescribed by the regulations. A
respondent may meet the requirements
of this final rule using paper or
electronic means. WHD, to reduce
burden caused by the filing of
complaints that are not actionable by
the agency, uses a complaint filing
process in which complainants discuss
their concerns with WHD professional
staff. This process allows agency staff to
refer complainants raising concerns that
are not actionable under federal wage
and hour laws and regulations to an
agency that may be able to assist.
Public comments: The Department
invited public comment on its analysis
that the rule would create a slight
increase in the paperwork burden
associated with the complaint ICR
1235–0021 (submitted as a duplicate
ICR at the NPRM stage under control
number 1235–0NEW and later assigned
by OMB as 1235–0035) and on the
burden associated with ICR 1235–0018,
Records to be kept by employers—Fair
Labor Standards Act. The Department
did not receive comments on the ICRs
themselves or any comments submitted
regarding the PRA analysis in particular,
including the methodology. No
comments were received with respect to
the complaint ICR (1235–0021).
However, commenters addressed
aspects of the information collections
while commenting on the text of the
proposed rule as it relates the records
ICR (1235–0018).
For example, Horizon Health Services
commented that ‘‘[r]equiring
supervisors to record their hours
worked and request overtime, as
needed, would [be] a disruption to
business operations by adding a
significant administrative burden.’’ The
University of Dayton agreed that a
change would require additional
administrative burden stating, ‘‘new
training and systems would need to be
put in place for newly nonexempt
employees to record their time and for
their supervisors to track and approve
their time. They would have to become
accustomed to tracking their hours,
being sure not to work unbudgeted
hours and overtime unless approved,
and so forth.’’ Others, like Argentum &
ASHA and Oklahoma Wesleyan
University, similarly expressed
concerns about the costs associated with
having newly nonexempt employees
record their time. SBA Advocacy stated
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that ‘‘DOL should consider’’ that ‘‘small
entities face vast administrative and
operational costs to schedule and track
employee hours to minimize overtime
costs.’’ In addition, some commenters
expressed concern that the Department’s
cost estimates related to recordkeeping
were too low, given among other things
that employers would need to adjust
their recordkeeping and payroll systems
for newly overtime-eligible employees.
See, e.g., NFIB; PPWO; Seyfarth Shaw.
The National Roofing Contractors
Association stated that it ‘‘is concerned
the proposed regulation would result in
dramatically increased labor costs and
additional paperwork burdens for
employers, while also reducing
workplace flexibility and compensation
for many workers.’’
In response to these comments, the
Department observes that most
employers currently have both exempt
and nonexempt workers and therefore
have systems already in place for
employers to track hours. Additionally,
commenters did not offer alternatives
for estimates or make suggestions
regarding the methodology for
calculating the PRA burdens. The actual
recordkeeping requirements are not
changing in the final rule. However, the
pool of workers for whom employers
will be required to make and maintain
records has increased under the final
rule, and as a result the burden hours
have increased. Included in this PRA
section are the regulatory familiarization
costs for this final rule. However, this is
a duplication of the regulatory
familiarization costs contained in
section VII, economic impact analysis.
The Department plans to submit these
ICR’s to OMB upon publication of the
final rule. The agency will publish a
notice in the Federal Register to inform
the public of OMB’s decision.
Total burden for the subject
information collections, including the
burdens that will be unaffected by this
final rule and any changes, is
summarized as follows:
Type of review: Revision to currently
approved information collections.
Agency: Wage and Hour Division,
Department of Labor.
Title: Employment Information Form.
OMB Control Number: 1235–0021.
Affected public: Private sector,
businesses or other for-profits and
Individuals or Households.
Estimated number of respondents:
29,160 (2,150 from this rulemaking).
Estimated number of responses:
29,160 (2,150 from this rulemaking).
Frequency of response: On occasion.
Estimated annual burden hours: 9,720
(717 burden hours due to this
rulemaking).
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Capital/Start-up costs: $0 ($0 from
this rulemaking).
Title: Records to be kept by
Employers—Fair Labor Standards Act.
Type of review: Revision to currently
approved information collections.
Agency: Wage and Hour Division,
Department of Labor.
OMB Control Number: 1235–0018.
Affected public: Private sector,
businesses or other for-profits and
Individuals or Households.
Estimated number of respondents:
4,068,419 (0 from this rulemaking).
Estimated number of responses:
42,725,207 (10,320,000 from this
rulemaking).
Frequency of response: On occasion.
Estimated annual burden hours:
1,157,993 (344,000 from this
rulemaking).
Capital/Start-up costs: $0 ($0 from
this rulemaking).
VII. Analysis Conducted in Accordance
With Executive Order 12866,
Regulatory Planning and Review, and
Executive Order 13563, Improving
Regulation and Regulatory Review
Under Executive Order 12866, OMB’s
Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs (OIRA) determines whether a
regulatory action is significant and,
therefore, subject to the requirements of
the Executive Order and OMB review.
As amended by Executive Order 14094,
section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866
defines a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’
as a regulatory action that is likely to
result in a rule that may: (1) have an
annual effect on the economy of $200
million or more; or adversely affect in
a material way the economy, a sector of
the economy, productivity, competition,
jobs, the environment, public health or
safety, or state, local, territorial, or tribal
governments or communities; (2) create
a serious inconsistency or otherwise
interfere with an action taken or
planned by another agency; (3)
materially alter the budgetary impact of
entitlements, grants, user fees or loan
programs or the rights and obligations of
recipients thereof; or (4) raise legal or
policy issues for which centralized
review would meaningfully further the
President’s priorities or the principles
set forth in the Executive Order. OIRA
has determined that this rule is a
‘‘significant regulatory action’’ within
the scope of section 3(f)(1) of Executive
Order 12866.
Executive Order 13563 directs
agencies to, among other things, propose
or adopt a regulation only upon a
reasoned determination that its benefits
justify its costs; that it is tailored to
impose the least burden on society,
consistent with obtaining the regulatory
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objectives; and that, in choosing among
alternative regulatory approaches, the
agency has selected those approaches
that maximize net benefits. Executive
Order 13563 recognizes that some costs
and benefits are difficult to quantify and
provides that, when appropriate and
permitted by law, agencies may
consider and discuss qualitatively
values that are difficult or impossible to
quantify, including equity, human
dignity, fairness, and distributive
impacts. The analysis below outlines
the impacts that the Department of
Labor (Department) anticipates may
result from this rule and was prepared
pursuant to the above-mentioned
executive orders.
A. Introduction
1. Background
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA
or Act) requires covered employers to
(1) pay employees who are covered and
not exempt from the Act’s requirements
not less than the Federal minimum
wage for all hours worked and overtime
premium pay at a rate of not less than
one and one-half times the employee’s
regular rate of pay for all hours worked
over 40 in a workweek, and (2) make,
keep, and preserve records of their
employees and of the wages, hours, and
other conditions and practices of
employment.
The FLSA provides a number of
exemptions from the Act’s minimum
wage and overtime pay provisions,
including one for bona fide executive,
administrative, and professional (EAP)
employees. The exemption applies to
employees employed in a bona fide
executive, administrative, or
professional capacity, as those terms are
‘‘defined and delimited’’ by the
Department.289 The Department’s
regulations implementing these ‘‘whitecollar’’ exemptions are codified at 29
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289 29
U.S.C. 213(a)(1).
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CFR part 541. Since 1940, the
regulations implementing the
exemption have generally required each
of the following three tests to be met: (1)
the employee must be paid a
predetermined and fixed salary that is
not subject to reduction because of
variations in the quality or quantity of
work performed (the salary basis test);
(2) the amount of salary paid must meet
a minimum specified amount (the salary
level test); and (3) the employee’s job
duties must primarily involve executive,
administrative, or professional duties as
defined by the regulations (the duties
test).
The Department has updated the
salary level test many times since its
implementation in 1938. Table 1
presents the weekly salary levels
associated with the EAP exemptions
since 1938, organized by exemption and
long/short/standard duties tests. From
1949 to 2004, the Department
determined exemption status using a
two-test system comprised of a long test
(a lower salary level paired with a more
rigorous duties test that limited
performance of nonexempt work to no
more than 20 percent for most
employees) and a short test (a higher
salary level paired with a less rigorous
primary duties requirement that did not
have a numerical limit on the amount of
nonexempt work). In 2004, rather than
update the two-test system, the
Department chose to establish a new
single-test system for determining
exemption status, setting the standard
salary level test at $455 a week, which
was equivalent to the long test salary
level, and pairing it with a standard
duties test that was substantially
equivalent to the more lenient short
duties test. Because the single standard
duties test was equivalent to the short
duties test, employees who met the long
test salary level and previously passed
either the more rigorous long, or less
rigorous short, duties test passed the
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32889
standard duties test. The Department
also added a new highly compensated
employee (HCE) test, which used a very
minimal duties test and a very high total
compensation test set at $100,000 per
year (see section II.B.2 for further
discussion). In 2016, to address the
concern that the standard test exempted
lower-paid salaried employees
performing large amounts of nonexempt
work who had previously been
protected by the more rigorous long
duties test, the Department published a
final rule setting the standard salary
level at $913 per week, which was
equivalent to the low end of the historic
range of short test salary levels, and the
HCE annual compensation level at
$134,004. This approach restored
overtime protection for employees
performing substantial amounts of
nonexempt work who earned between
the long test salary level and the low
end of the short test salary range, as they
failed the new standard salary level test.
As previously discussed, the U.S.
District Court for Eastern District of
Texas held the 2016 rule invalid. In
2019, in part to address the concern
raised in the litigation that the approach
taken in the 2016 rulemaking would
have prevented employers from using
the exemption for employees who
earned between the long test salary level
and the low end of the short test salary
range and met the more rigorous long
duties test, the Department returned to
the methodology used in the 2004 rule
and set the salary level at the 20th
percentile of weekly earnings of fulltime salaried workers in the South and
in the retail industry nationally.
Applying this method to the earnings
data available in 2019 produced a
standard salary level that was below the
long test salary level. The current
earnings thresholds, as published in
2019, are $684 a week for the standard
salary test and $107,432 per year for the
HCE test.
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 1—Historical Weekly Salary
Levels for the EAP Exemptions
1938
1940
1949
1958
1963
1970
1975
$30*
$30
$55
$80
$100
$125
$155
2004
2019
$30
$200 (per month) $200 (per month)
$75
$75
$95
$95
$100
$115
$125
$140
$155
$170
Standard Duties Test
$455
$684
$100
$125
$150
$200
$250
*Unless otherwise specified, all figures are dollars per week
290 The Department uses the terms salaried and
nonhourly interchangeably in this rule because,
consistent with its 2004, 2016, and 2019 rules, the
Department considered data representing
compensation paid to nonhourly workers to be an
appropriate proxy for compensation paid to salaried
workers. The Department also notes that the terms
employee and worker are used interchangeably
throughout this analysis.
291 BLS publishes quarterly and annual estimates
of percentile earnings values beginning with 2022
data at https://www.bls.gov/cps/research/
nonhourly/earnings-nonhourly-workers.htm.
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salary level, as the 2004 and 2019 rules
did, results in the exemption of lowersalaried employees who traditionally
were entitled to overtime protection
under the long test either because of
their low salary or because they perform
large amounts of nonexempt work, in
effect significantly broadening the
exemption compared to the two-test
system. Setting the salary level at the
low end of the historic range of short
test salary levels, as the 2016 rule did,
would have restored overtime
protections to those employees who
perform substantial amounts of
nonexempt work and earned between
the long test salary level and the low
end of the short test salary range.
However, it also would have resulted in
denying employers the use of the
exemption for lower-salaried employees
who traditionally were not entitled to
overtime compensation under the long
test, which raised concerns that the
Department was in effect narrowing the
exemption. By setting a salary level
above the equivalent of the long test
salary level (using current data), the
final rule will restore the right to
overtime pay for salaried white-collar
employees who prior to the 2019 rule
were always considered nonexempt if
they earned below the long test (or long
test-equivalent) salary level. And it will
ensure that fewer lower paid whitecollar employees who perform
significant amounts of nonexempt work
are included in the exemption. At the
same time, by setting it well below the
equivalent of the short test salary level
(using current data), the rule will allow
employers to continue to use the
exemption for many lower paid whitecollar employees who were made
exempt under the 2004 standard duties
test. The new salary level will also more
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reasonably distribute between
employees and their employers what the
Department now understands to be the
impact of the shift from a two-test to a
one-test system on employees earning
between the long and short test salary
levels.
As the Department has previously
noted, the amount paid to an employee
is ‘‘a valuable and easily applied index
to the ‘bona fide’ character of the
employment for which exemption is
claimed, as well as the ‘‘principal[ ]’’
‘‘delimiting requirement . . .
prevent[ing] abuse’’ of the exemption.292
Additionally, the salary level test
facilitates application of the exemption
by saving employees and employers
from having to apply the more timeconsuming duties analysis to a large
group of employees who will not pass
it. For these reasons, the salary level test
has been a key part of how the
Department defines and delimits the
EAP exemption since the beginning of
its rulemaking on the EAP
exemption.293 At the same time, the
salary test’s role in defining and
delimiting the scope of the EAP
exemption must allow for appropriate
examination of employee duties.294
Under the final rule, duties will
continue to determine the exemption
status for most salaried white-collar
employees.
The Department also will adjust the
HCE total annual compensation
requirement to the annualized weekly
earnings of the 85th percentile of full292 Stein
Report at 19, 24; see also 81 FR 32422.
84 FR 51237.
294 See 84 FR 51238.
293 See
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2. Need for Rulemaking
The goal of this rulemaking is to set
effective earnings thresholds to help
define and delimit the FLSA’s EAP
exemption. To this end, the Department
is finalizing its proposed change to the
standard salary level. Specifically, the
Department is adjusting the standard
salary level by setting it equal to the
35th percentile of weekly earnings of
full-time salaried workers in the lowestwage Census Region (currently the
South), based on the most recent year of
Current Population Survey (CPS) data at
the time of drafting.290 Using the Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2023 data on
percentiles of usual weekly earnings of
nonhourly full-time workers, the
standard salary level will be set at
$1,128 per week.291 Additionally, to
maintain the effectiveness of this test,
the Department is finalizing an updating
mechanism that will update the
earnings thresholds to reflect current
wage data initially on July 1, 2024 and
every 3 years thereafter.
The Department’s new standard salary
level will, in combination with the
standard duties test, better define and
delimit which employees are employed
in a bona fide EAP capacity in a one-test
system. As explained in greater detail in
sections III and V.B, setting the standard
salary level at or below the long test
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
time salaried workers nationally
($151,164 using 2023 data). Though not
as high a percentile as the HCE
threshold initially adopted in 2004,
which covered 93.7 percent of all fulltime salaried workers,295 the
Department’s new HCE threshold will
ensure it continues to serve its intended
function, because the HCE total annual
compensation level will be high enough
to exclude all but those employees at
the very top of the economic ladder.
In this final rule, the Department is
not finalizing its proposal in section
IV.B.1 and B.2 of the NPRM to apply the
standard salary level to the U.S.
territories subject to the federal
minimum wage and to update the
special salary levels for American
Samoa and the motion picture
industry.296
In its three most recent part 541
rulemakings, the Department has
expressed its commitment to keeping
the earnings thresholds up to date to
ensure that they remain effective in
helping differentiate between exempt
and nonexempt employees. Long
intervals between rulemakings have
resulted in eroded earnings thresholds
based on outdated earnings data that
were ill-equipped to help identify bona
fide EAP employees. In contrast, routine
updates of the earnings thresholds to
reflect wage growth will bring certainty
and stability to employers and
employees alike. Based on its long
experience with updating the salary
levels, the Department has determined
that adopting a regulatory provision for
regularly updating the salary levels,
with an exception for pausing future
updates under certain conditions, is the
most viable and efficient way to ensure
the EAP exemption earnings thresholds
295 See
69 FR 22169 (Table 3).
Department will address these aspects of
its proposal in a future final rule. While the
Department is not finalizing its proposal, it is
making nonsubstantive changes in provisions
addressing the territories as a result of other
changes in this final rule.
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296 The
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keep pace with changes in employee
pay and thus remain effective in helping
determine exemption status.
Accordingly, in addition to the salary
level changes discussed above, the
Department is including in this rule a
mechanism for updating the salary and
compensation levels to reflect current
wage data initially on July 1, 2024 and
every 3 years thereafter. As explained in
greater detail in section V.A, employees
and employers alike will benefit from
the certainty and stability of regularly
scheduled updates.
3. Summary of Affected Workers, Costs,
Benefits, and Transfers
The Department estimated the
number of affected workers and
quantified costs and transfer payments
associated with this final rule using
pooled CPS Merged Outgoing Rotation
Group (MORG) data. See section VII.B.2.
The Department estimates in the first
year after implementation, there will be
4.3 million affected workers.297 This
includes 4.0 million workers (1.0
million at the first update and 3.0
million when the new salary level is
applied) who meet the standard duties
test and earn at least $684 per week but
less than $1,128 per week and will
either become eligible for overtime or
have their salary increased to at least
$1,128 per week (Table 2).298 An
estimated 292,900 workers will be
affected by the increase in the HCE
compensation test from $107,432 per
year to $151,164 per year. In Year 10,
with triennial updating of the standard
297 The term ‘‘affected workers’’ refers to the
population of potentially affected EAP workers who
either pass the standard duties test and earn at least
$684 but less than the new salary level of $1,128
per week or pass only the HCE duties test and earn
at least $107,432 but less than the new HCE
compensation level of $151,164 per year.
298 Here and elsewhere in this analysis, numbers
are reported at varying levels of aggregation, and are
generally rounded to a single decimal point.
However, calculations are performed using exact
numbers. Therefore, some numbers may not match
the reported totals or the calculations shown due
to rounding of components.
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32891
salary and HCE thresholds, the
Department projects that 5.0 million
workers will be affected by the change
in the standard salary level test and 1.0
million workers will be affected by the
change in the HCE total annual
compensation test.299
This analysis quantifies three direct
costs to employers: (1) regulatory
familiarization costs; (2) adjustment
costs; and (3) managerial costs (see
section VII.C.3). Total annualized direct
employer costs over the first 10 years
were estimated to be $802.9 million,
assuming a 7 percent discount rate.300
This rule will also transfer income from
employers to employees in the form of
increased wages. The Department
estimated annualized transfers will be
$1.5 billion. Most of these transfers will
be attributable to wages paid under the
FLSA’s overtime provision; a smaller
share will be attributable to the FLSA’s
minimum wage requirement. These
transfers also account for employers
who may choose to increase the salary
of some affected workers to at least the
new threshold so that they can continue
to use the EAP exemption.
The Department also provides a
qualitative discussion of the potential
benefits and unquantified transfers of
this rule, including strengthened
overtime protections for some workers,
increased worker productivity,
increased personal time for workers,
and reduced reliance on social
assistance programs. See section VII.C.5.
299 In later years, earnings growth will cause some
initially affected workers to no longer be affected
because their earnings will exceed the new salary
or compensation threshold. This occurs both in
update years (i.e., triennially) and non-update years
but will occur to a much greater degree in nonupdate years. Additionally, some workers will
become newly affected because their earnings will
reach at least $684 per week, and in the absence of
this rule they would lose their overtime protections.
To estimate the total number of affected workers
over time, the Department accounts for both of
these effects.
300 Hereafter, unless otherwise specified,
annualized values will be presented using the 7
percent real discount rate.
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 2—Summary of Affected
Workers, Regulatory Costs, and
Transfers—Standard and HCE Salary
Levels
Future Years [a]
Impact
Standard
HCE
Total
Year 1
Year2
Year 10
Annualized Value
7% Real
3% Real
Discount
Discount
Rate
Rate
Affected Workers (1,000s)
4,045
3,783
4,978
[b]
293
323
1,015
[b]
4,337
4,106
5,993
rbl
Costs and Transfers (Millions in $2022) [c]
[b]
[b]
rbl
B. Number of Affected EAP Workers
2. Data
1. Overview
All estimates of numbers of workers
used in this analysis were based on data
from the CPS MORG, which is
sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census
Bureau and BLS.302 The CPS is a large,
nationally representative sample.
Households are surveyed for 4 months,
excluded from the survey for 8 months,
surveyed for an additional 4 months,
then permanently dropped from the
sample. During the last month of each
rotation in the sample (month 4 and
month 16), employed respondents
complete a supplementary
questionnaire in addition to the regular
survey.303 The data in this supplement
contain the detailed information on
earnings necessary to estimate a
worker’s exemption status. Responses
are based on the reference week, which
is always the week that includes the
12th day of the month.
Although the CPS MORG is a largescale survey, administered to
approximately 15,000 households
monthly representing the entire nation,
it is still possible to have relatively few
observations when looking at subsets of
employees, such as workers in a specific
occupation employed in a specific
industry, or workers in a specific
geographic location. To increase the
sample size, the Department pooled 3
years of CPS MORG data (2021–2023).
Earnings for each observation from 2021
and 2022 were inflated to 2023 dollars
using the Consumer Price Index for All
Urban Consumers (CPI–U).304 The
weight of each observation was adjusted
so that the total number of potentially
affected EAP workers in the pooled
sample remained the same as the
number for the 2023 CPS MORG. Thus,
the pooled CPS MORG sample uses
roughly three times as many
observations to represent the same total
302 In 2015, RAND released results from a survey
conducted to estimate EAP exempt workers.
However, this survey does not have the variables or
sample size necessary for the Department to base its
regulatory impact analysis (RIA) on this analysis.
Rohwedder, S. and Wenger, J.B. (2015). The Fair
Labor Standards Act: Worker Misclassification and
the Hours and Earnings Effects of Expanded
Coverage. RAND Labor and Population.
303 This is the outgoing rotation group (ORG);
however, this analysis uses the data merged over 12
months and thus it is referred to as MORG.
304 Previous rulemakings also adjusted salaries in
the pooled data using the CPI–U, but the
Department recognizes that the relationship
between wage growth and inflation between 2021
and 2023 may not be consistent. During the
pandemic, large employment losses in low-wage
industries resulted in stronger wage growth at the
aggregate level. In part of the 2021–2023 period,
high inflation outpaced overall wage growth. Given
these mixed effects, the Department decided to
continue its prior practice of adjusting these
observations using CPI–U.
This section explains the
methodology used to estimate the
number of workers who will be affected
by the final rule. The pool of potentially
affected workers is workers who are
currently EAP exempt. In this final rule,
as in previous rules, the Department
estimated the current number of EAP
exempt workers because there is no data
source that identifies workers as EAP
exempt. Employers are not required to
report EAP exempt workers to any
central data collection agency or as part
of any employee or establishment
survey. The methodology described in
this final rule is consistent with the
approach the Department used in the
2004, 2016, and 2019 final rules.301 To
estimate the number of workers who
will be affected by the rule, the new
standard salary level and the new HCE
total annual compensation threshold are
applied to the earnings of current EAP
exempt workers.
301 See 69 FR 22196–209; 81 FR 32453–60; 84 FR
51255–60. Where the proposal follows the
methodology used to determine affected workers in
the 2004, 2016, and 2019 final rules, citations to
these rules are not always included.
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Direct
employer costs
$1,436.2
$641.5
$906.1
$794.0
$802.9
$1,509.2
$1,094.3
$2,490.1
$1,565.2
$1,534.1
Transfers rdl
[a] These cost and transfer figures represent a range over the nine-year span.
[b] Not annualized.
[c] Costs and transfers for affected workers passing the standard and HCE tests are combined.
[d] This is the net transfer from employers to workers. There may also be transfers of hours
and income from some workers to others.
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
it is unknown whether they work
overtime and therefore unknown
whether there would be any need to pay
for overtime if their status changed from
exempt to nonexempt. The Department
reweighted the rest of the sample to
account for this change (i.e., to keep the
same total employment estimates).305
This adjustment assumes that the
distribution of hours worked by workers
whose hours do not vary is
representative of hours worked by
workers whose hours vary. The
Department believes that without more
information, this is an appropriate
assumption.306
number of workers in 2023. The
additional observations allow the
Department to better characterize
certain attributes of the potentially
affected labor force. This pooled dataset
is used to estimate all impacts of the
final rule.
Some assumptions and adjustments
were necessary to use these data as the
basis for the analysis. For example, the
Department eliminated workers who
reported that their weekly hours vary
and who provided no additional
information on hours worked. This was
done because the Department cannot
estimate effects for these workers since
32893
3. Number of Workers Subject to the
FLSA and the Department’s Part 541
Regulations
As a starting point for the analysis,
based on the CPS MORG data, the
Department estimates that there would
be 167.3 million wage and salary
workers in Year 1. Figure 1 illustrates
how the Department analyzed the U.S.
civilian workforce through successive
stages to estimate the number of affected
workers.
Figure 1—Flow Chart of FLSA
Exemptions and Estimated Number of
Affected Workers
Labor Force
(167.3 million)
I
Subject to the FLSA and the
Department'sPart 541
Not subject to the FLSA
or the Department's
Regulations
regulations
(143.7million)
(23.7million)
White collar, salaried, not
eligible for another (non-
Blue collar, hourly, QI
eligible for another (non-
EAP) overtime exemption
EAP) overtime exemption
(53.5 million)
(90.2 million)
EAPexempt
Not EAP exempt
(15.6 million)
(37.9 million)
Poten
y
In named occupation
affected
29.?million
Affected by
Not Affected
(25.4 million)
Standard
Salary Level
(4.0 million)
(8.1 million)
Affected by
HCELevel
only
(0.3 million)
The Department first excluded
workers who are unemployed, not
subject to its regulations, or not covered
by the FLSA from the overall total
number of wage and salary workers.
Excluded workers include military
personnel, unpaid volunteers, self-
employed individuals, clergy and other
religious workers, and Federal
employees (with a few exceptions
described below).
Many of these workers are excluded
from the CPS MORG, including
members of the military on active duty
and unpaid volunteers. Self-employed
and unpaid workers are included in the
CPS MORG, but have no earnings data
reported and thus are excluded from the
analysis. The Department identified
religious workers by their occupation
codes: ‘clergy’ (Census occupational
305 The Department also reweighted for workers
reporting zero earnings. In addition, the Department
eliminated, without reweighting, workers who
reported both usually working zero hours and
working zero hours in the past week.
306 This is justifiable because demographic and
employment characteristics are similar across these
two populations (e.g., age, gender, education,
distribution across industries, share paid
nonhourly). The share of all workers who stated
that their hours vary (but provided no additional
information) is 4.4 percent. To the extent these
excluded workers are exempt, if they tend to work
more overtime than other workers, then transfer
payments and costs may be underestimated.
Conversely, if they work fewer overtime hours, then
transfer payments and costs may be overestimated.
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Note: The NPRM referred to the group in the top box as "Wage and salary workers." Because the estimate
in this box includes the unemployed, it has been renamed to "Labor Force" for accuracy.
32894
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
code 2040), ‘directors, religious
activities and education’ (2050), and
‘religious workers, all other’ (2060).
Most employees of the Federal
Government are covered by the FLSA
but not the Department’s part 541
regulations because the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) regulates
their entitlement to minimum wage and
overtime pay.307 Exceptions exist for
U.S. Postal Service employees,
Tennessee Valley Authority employees,
and Library of Congress employees.308
The analysis identified and included
these covered Federal workers using
occupation and/or industry codes and
removed other Federal employees.309
The FLSA also does not cover
employees of firms that have annual
revenue of less than $500,000 and who
are not engaged in interstate commerce.
The Department does not exclude them
from the analysis, however, because
there is no data set that would
adequately inform an estimate of the
size of this worker population, although
the Department believes it is a small
percentage of workers. The 2004, 2016,
and 2019 final rules similarly did not
adjust for these workers.
Of the 167.3 million wage and salary
workers in the United States, the
Department estimates that 143.7 million
are covered by the FLSA and subject to
the Department’s regulations (85.9
percent). The remaining 23.7 million
workers are excluded from FLSA
coverage for the reasons described
above.
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4. Number of Workers Who Are WhiteCollar, Salaried, Not Eligible for
Another (Non-EAP) Overtime
Exemption
After limiting the analysis to workers
covered by the FLSA and subject to the
Department’s part 541 regulations,
several other groups of workers were
identified and excluded from further
analysis since this final rule is unlikely
to affect them. These include blue-collar
workers,310 workers paid on an hourly
307 See 29 U.S.C. 204(f). Federal workers are
identified in the CPS MORG with the class of
worker variable PEIO1COW.
308 See id.
309 Postal Service employees were identified with
the Census industry classification for postal service
(6370). Tennessee Valley Authority employees were
identified as Federal workers employed in the
electric power generation, transmission, and
distribution industry (570) and in Kentucky,
Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North
Carolina, or Virginia. Library of Congress employees
were identified as Federal workers under Census
industry ‘libraries and archives’ (6770) and residing
in Washington DC.
310 ‘‘The section 13(a)(1) exemptions and the
regulations in [Part 541] do not apply to manual
laborers or other ‘blue collar’ workers who perform
work involving repetitive operations with their
hands, physical skill and energy.’’ § 541.3(a).
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basis, and workers who are exempt
under certain other (non-EAP)
exemptions.
The Department excluded a total of
90.2 million workers from the analysis
for one or more of these reasons, which
often overlapped (e.g., many blue-collar
workers are also paid hourly). For
example, the Department estimated that
there are 49.1 million blue-collar
workers. These workers were identified
in the CPS MORG data following the
methodology from the U.S. Government
Accountability Office’s (GAO) 1999
white-collar exemptions report 311 and
the Department’s 2004, 2016, and 2019
regulatory impact analyses.312
Supervisors in traditionally blue-collar
industries were classified as whitecollar workers because their duties are
generally managerial or administrative,
and therefore they were not excluded as
blue-collar workers. Using the CPS
variable indicating a respondent’s
hourly wage status, the Department
determined that 80.3 million workers
were paid on an hourly basis in 2023.313
Also excluded from further analysis
were workers who are exempt under
certain other (non-EAP) exemptions.
Although some of these workers may
also be exempt under the EAP
exemptions, they would independently
remain exempt from the FLSA’s
minimum wage and/or overtime pay
provisions based on the non-EAP
exemptions. The Department excluded
an estimated 3.7 million workers,
including some agricultural and
transportation workers, from further
analysis because they are subject to
another (non-EAP) overtime exemption.
See Appendix A: Methodology for
Estimating Exemption Status, contained
in the rulemaking docket, for details on
how this population was identified.
Agricultural and transportation
workers are two of the largest groups of
workers excluded from the population
of potentially affected EAP workers in
the current analysis, and with some
exceptions, they were similarly
excluded in other recent rulemakings.
The 2004 rule excluded all workers in
agricultural industries from the
analysis,314 while more recent analyses
only excluded agricultural workers from
specified occupational-industry
combinations since not all workers in
agricultural industries qualify for the
agricultural overtime pay exemptions.
This final rule followed the more recent
311 GAO/HEHS. (1999). Fair Labor Standards Act:
White Collar Exemptions in the Modern Work
Place. GAO/HEHS–99–164, 40–41, https://
www.gao.gov/assets/230/228036.pdf.
312 See 69 FR 22240–44.
313 CPS MORG variable PEERNHRY.
314 69 FR 22197.
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analyses and only excluded agricultural
workers in certain occupation-industry
combinations. 315 The exclusion of
transportation workers matched the
method for the 2004, 2016, and 2019
final rules. 316 Transportation workers
are defined as those who are subject to
the following FLSA exemptions: section
13(b)(1), section 13(b)(2), section
13(b)(3), section 13(b)(6), or section
13(b)(10). The Department excluded 1.0
million agricultural workers and 2.1
million transportation workers from the
analysis.
In addition, the Department excluded
another 22,700 workers who qualify for
one or more other FLSA minimum wage
and overtime exemptions (and are not
either blue-collar or hourly). The criteria
for determining exemption status for
these workers are detailed in Appendix
A.
After excluding workers not subject to
the Department’s FLSA regulations and
workers who are unlikely to be affected
by this final rule (i.e., blue-collar
workers, workers paid hourly, workers
who are subject to another (non-EAP)
overtime exemption), the Department
estimated there are 53.5 million salaried
white-collar workers for whom
employers might claim either the
standard EAP exemption or the HCE
exemption.
5. Number of Current EAP Exempt
Workers
To determine the number of workers
for whom employers might currently
claim the EAP exemption, the standard
EAP test and HCE test were applied.
Both tests include earnings thresholds
and duties tests. Aside from workers in
named occupations (which are not
subject to an earnings requirement and
are discussed in the next subsection), to
be exempt under the standard EAP test,
the employee generally must:
• be paid a predetermined and fixed
salary that is not subject to reduction
because of variations in the quality or
quantity of work performed (the salary
basis test); 317
315 84
FR 51257; 81 FR 32456, n.114.
FR 51257; 81 FR 32456–57; 69 FR 22197.
317 Some computer employees may be exempt
even if they are not paid on a salary basis. Hourly
computer employees who earn at least $27.63 per
hour and perform certain duties are exempt under
section 13(a)(17) of the FLSA. These workers are
considered part of the EAP exemptions but were
excluded from the analysis because they are paid
hourly and will not be affected by this rule (these
workers were similarly excluded in the 2004, 2016,
and 2019 analyses). Salaried computer workers are
exempt if they meet the salary and duties tests
applicable to the EAP exemptions and are included
in the analysis since they will be impacted by this
rule. Additionally, administrative and professional
employees may be paid on a fee basis, as opposed
to a salary basis. § 541.605(a). Although the CPS
316 84
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• earn at least a designated salary
amount (the standard salary level test,
currently $684 per week); and
• primarily perform exempt work, as
defined by the regulations (the standard
duties test).
The HCE test allows certain highly
paid employees to qualify for exemption
if they customarily and regularly
perform one or more exempt job duties
(the HCE duties test). The current HCE
annual compensation level is $107,432,
including at least $684 per week paid on
a salary or fee basis.
i. Salary Basis
The Department included only
nonhourly workers in the analysis based
on CPS data.318 For this NPRM, the
Department considered data
representing compensation paid to
nonhourly workers to be an appropriate
proxy for compensation paid to salaried
workers. The Department notes that it
made the same assumption regarding
nonhourly workers in the 2004, 2016,
and 2019 final rules.319
The CPS population of ‘‘nonhourly’’
workers includes salaried workers along
with those who are paid a piece rate,
day rate, or largely on bonuses or
commissions. Data in the CPS are not
available to distinguish between
salaried workers and these other
nonhourly workers. However, the Panel
Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
provides additional information on how
nonhourly workers are paid.320 In the
PSID, respondents are asked how they
are paid on their main job and are also
asked for more detail if their response
is other than salaried or hourly. Possible
responses include piecework,
commission, self-employed/farmer/
profits, and by the job/day/mile. The
Department analyzed the PSID data and
found that relatively few nonhourly
workers were paid by methods other
than salaried. The Department is not
aware of any statistically robust source
that more closely reflects salary as
defined in its regulations.
ii. Salary Level
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Weekly earnings are available in the
CPS MORG data, which allowed the
Department to estimate how many
nonhourly workers pass the
MORG does not identify workers paid on a fee
basis, they are considered nonhourly workers in the
CPS and consequently are correctly classified as
‘‘salaried’’ (as was done in previous rules).
318 The CPS variable PEERNHRY identifies
workers as either hourly or nonhourly.
319 See 69 FR 22197; 81 FR 32414; 84 FR 51258.
320 University of Michigan, Institute for Social
Research. 2019 PSID. Data available at: https://
simba.isr.umich.edu/data/data.aspx.
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compensation thresholds.321 However,
the CPS earnings variable does not
perfectly reflect the Department’s
definition of earnings. First, the CPS
includes all nondiscretionary bonuses
and commissions if they are part of
usual weekly earnings. However, the
regulation allows nondiscretionary
bonuses and commissions to satisfy up
to 10 percent of the standard salary
level. This discrepancy between the
earnings variable used and the
regulatory definition of salary may
cause a slight overestimation or
underestimation of the number of
workers estimated to meet the standard
salary level and HCE compensation
tests.322 Second, CPS earnings data
include overtime pay. The Department
notes that employers may factor into an
employee’s salary a premium for
expected overtime hours worked. To the
extent they do so, that premium would
be reflected accurately in the data.
Third, the earnings measure includes
tips and discretionary commissions
which do not qualify towards the
required salary. The Department
believes tips are an uncommon form of
payment for these white-collar workers.
Discretionary commissions tend to be
paid irregularly and hence are unlikely
to be counted as ‘‘usual earnings.’’
Additionally, as noted above, most
salaried workers do not receive
commissions.
Lastly, the CPS annual earnings
variable is topcoded at $150,000
through the March 2023 data.323
Topcoding refers to how data sets
handle observations at the top of the
distribution and is performed to protect
the confidentiality of data provided by
CPS respondents. For the CPS annual
earnings variable, workers earning
above $2,884.61 ($150,000 ÷ 52 weeks)
per week are reported as earning
$2,884.61 per week. The Department
imputed earnings for topcoded workers
in the CPS data to adequately estimate
impacts.324
321 The CPS MORG variable PRERNWA, which
measures weekly earnings, is used to identify
weekly salary.
322 In some instances, this may include too much
nondiscretionary bonuses and commissions (i.e.,
when it is more than 10 percent of usual earnings).
But in other instances, it may not include enough
nondiscretionary bonuses and commissions (i.e.,
when the respondent does not count them as usual
earnings).
323 Beginning in the April 2023 data, the CPS data
are topcoded independently each month and
represent the average earnings of the top 3 percent
of earnings reported. See https://www.census.gov/
content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/cps/
updated-2022-cps-puf-changes.pdf for additional
details.
324 The Department used the standard Pareto
distribution approach to impute earnings above the
topcoded value as described in Armour, P. and
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32895
iii. Duties
The CPS MORG data do not capture
information about job duties. Therefore,
the Department used probability
estimates of passing the duties test by
occupational title to estimate the
number of workers passing the duties
test. This is the same methodology used
in recent part 541 rulemakings, and the
Department believes it continues to be
the best available methodology. The
probabilities of passing the duties test
are from an analysis performed by WHD
in 1998 in response to a request from
the GAO. Because WHD enforces the
FLSA’s overtime requirements and
regularly assesses workers’ exempt
status, WHD was uniquely qualified to
provide the analysis. The analysis was
originally published in the GAO’s 1999
white-collar exemptions report.325
WHD examined 499 occupational
codes and determined that 251
occupational codes likely included EAP
exempt workers.326 For each, WHD
assigned one of four probability codes
reflecting the estimated likelihood,
expressed as ranges, that a worker in
that occupation would perform duties
required to meet the EAP duties tests
(Table 3). All occupations and their
associated probability codes are listed in
Appendix A. Just as in the 2004, 2016,
and 2019 final rules, the Department has
supplemented this analysis to account
for the HCE exemption. The Department
modified the four probability codes to
reflect probabilities of passing the HCE
duties test based on its analysis of the
provisions of the highly compensated
test relative to the standard duties test.
To illustrate, WHD assigned exempt
probability code 4 to the occupation
‘‘first-line supervisors/managers of
construction trades and extraction
workers’’ (Census code 6200), which
indicates that a worker in this
occupation has a 0 to 10 percent
likelihood of meeting the standard EAP
duties test. However, if that worker
earned at least $100,000 annually (now
$107,432 annually), they were assigned
a 15 percent probability of passing the
more lenient HCE duties test.327
Burkhauser, R (2013). Using the Pareto Distribution
to Improve Estimates of Topcoded Earnings. Center
for Economic Studies (CES).
325 Fair Labor Standards Act: White Collar
Exemptions in the Modern Work Place, supra note
311, at 40–41.
326 WHD excluded nine that were not relevant to
the analysis for various reasons. For example, one
code was assigned to unemployed persons whose
last job was in the Armed Forces, some codes were
assigned to workers who are not FLSA covered,
others had no observations.
327 The HCE duties test is used in conjunction
with the HCE total annual compensation
requirement to determine eligibility for the HCE
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Table 3—Probability Worker in
Category Passes the Duties Tests
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0
1
2
3
4
The Standard EAP Test
Lower Bound
0%
90%
50%
10%
0%
exemption. It is much less stringent than the
standard and short duties tests to reflect that very
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Upper Bound
0%
100%
90%
50%
10%
The HCE Test
Lower Bound
0%
100%
94%
58.4%
15%
highly paid employees are much more likely to be
properly classified as exempt.
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96%
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ER26AP24.146</GPH>
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The occupations identified in GAO’s
1999 report map to an earlier
occupational classification scheme (the
1990 Census occupational codes).328 For
this final rule, the Department used
occupational crosswalks to map the
previous occupational codes to the 2018
Census occupational codes, which are
used in the CPS MORG 2021 through
2023 data. If a new occupation
comprises more than one previous
occupation, then the new occupation’s
probability code is the weighted average
of the previous occupations’ probability
codes, rounded to the closest probability
code.
These codes provide information on
the likelihood that an employee met the
duties tests, but they do not identify
which workers in the CPS MORG met
the duties test. For example, for every
ten public relations managers, between
five and nine are assumed to meet the
standard duties test (based on
probability category 2). However, it is
unknown which of these ten workers
are exempt; therefore, for the purposes
of producing an estimate, the
Department must assign a status to these
workers. Exemption status could be
randomly assigned with equal
probability, but this would ignore the
earnings of the worker as a factor in
determining the probability of
exemption. The probability of qualifying
for the exemption increases with
earnings because higher paid workers
are more likely to perform the required
duties.329
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328 Census occupation codes were also updated in
2002 and 2010. References to occupational codes in
this analysis refer to the 2002 Census occupational
codes. Crosswalks and methodology available at:
https://www.census.gov/topics/employment/
industry-occupation/guidance/code-lists.html.
329 For the standard exemption, the relationship
between earnings and exemption status is not linear
and is better represented with a gamma
distribution. For the HCE exemption, the
relationship between earnings and exemption can
be well represented with a linear function because
the relationship is linear at high salary levels (as
determined by the Department in the 2004 rule).
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The Department estimated the
probability of qualifying for the
standard exemption for each worker as
a function of both earnings and the
occupation’s exempt probability
category using a gamma distribution.330
Based on these revised probabilities,
each worker was assigned exempt or
nonexempt status based on a random
draw from a binomial distribution using
the worker’s revised probability as the
probability of success. Thus, if this
method is applied to ten workers who
each have a 60 percent probability of
being exempt, six workers would be
expected to be designated as exempt.331
For details, see Appendix A (in the
rulemaking docket).
As previously discussed in section
V.B.5, some commenters challenged the
Department’s use of its probability
codes to determine whether a worker
meets the duties test. The Department
acknowledges that the probability codes
used to determine the share of workers
in an occupation who are EAP exempt
are 25 years old. However, the
Department believes the probability
codes continue to estimate exemption
status accurately given the fact that the
standard duties test is not substantively
different from the former short duties
Therefore, the gamma model and the linear model
would produce similar results for highly
compensated workers. See 69 FR 22204–08, 22215–
16.
330 The gamma distribution was chosen because,
during the 2004 revision, this non-linear
distribution best fit the data compared to the other
non-linear distributions considered (i.e., normal
and lognormal). A gamma distribution is a general
type of statistical distribution that is based on two
parameters that control the scale (alpha) and shape
(in this context, called the rate parameter, beta).
331 A binominal distribution is frequently used for
a dichotomous variable where there are two
possible outcomes; for example, whether one owns
a home (outcome of 1) or does not own a home
(outcome of 0). Taking a random draw from a
binomial distribution results in either a zero or a
one based on a probability of ‘‘success’’ (outcome
of 1). This methodology assigns exempt status to the
appropriate share of workers without biasing the
results with manual assignment.
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32897
tests reflected in the codes. For the 2016
rulemaking, the Department reviewed
O*NET 332 to determine the extent to
which the 1998 probability codes
reflected current occupational duties.
The Department’s review of O*NET
verified the continued appropriateness
of the 1998 probability codes.333 The
2019 final rule also used these
probability codes and likewise found
that these codes are the best available
methodology to accurately estimate
exemption status.334
The Department estimates that of the
existing 53.5 million salaried whitecollar workers considered in the
analysis, 37.9 million currently qualify
for the EAP exemption.
6. Potentially Affected Exempt EAP
Workers
The Department excluded some of the
current EAP exempt workers from
further analysis because the final rule
will not affect them. Specifically, the
Department excluded workers in named
occupations who are not required to
pass the salary requirements (although
they must still pass a duties test) and
therefore whose exemption status does
not depend on their earnings. These
occupations include physicians
(identified with Census occupation
codes 3010, 3040, 3060, 3120), lawyers
(2100), teachers (occupations 2200–2550
and industries 7860 or 7870), academic
administrative personnel (school
counselors (occupation 2000 and
industries 7860 or 7870) and
educational administrators (occupation
0230 and industries 7860 or 7870)), and
outside sales workers (a subset of
occupation 4950). Out of the 37.9
million workers who were EAP exempt,
8.1 million, or 21.4 percent, were
expected to be in named occupations.
332 The O*NET database contains hundreds of
standardized and occupation-specific descriptors.
See https://www.onetcenter.org.
333 81 FR 32459.
334 84 FR 51259.
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Thus, the changes to the standard salary
level and HCE compensation tests
would not affect these workers. The 29.7
million EAP exempt workers remaining
in the analysis are referred to in this
final rule as ‘‘potentially affected’’ (17.8
percent of all workers).
Based on analysis of the occupational
codes and CPS earnings data (described
above), the Department has concluded
,r
White-collar, Salaried, Not
Eligible for Another (Non-EAP)
Overtime Exemption
there are 29.7 million potentially
affected EAP workers.335
Figure 2—Exemption Status and
Number of Affected Workers
"I
(53.5 million)
'"
~
l
I
r
White-collar, SaJaried, Not in
Named Occupation
I
'I
In Named Occupation (EAP
Exemption Based Solely on Duties)
(45.4 million)
'"
(8.1 million)
l
EAP Exempt (Meet Standard
or HCE Exemption Duties and
Compensation)
/'
Not EAP Exempt
(15.6 million)
NotAffected (Remain Exempt
under Sa]azy and
Compensation Levels)
Affected by
Standard Sa]azy Level
Affected by HCE
Compensation Threshold
(25.4 million)
(4.0 million)
(0.3 million)
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As shown in Figure 2 above, 8.1
million of the 53.5 million salaried
white-collar workers are in named
occupations and will not be affected by
a change in the earnings requirements.
The Department also estimates that of
the remaining 45.4 million salaried
white-collar workers, about 12.7 million
earn below the Department’s new
standard salary level of $1,128 per week
and about 32.7 million earn above the
Department’s new salary level. Thus,
approximately 28 percent of salaried
white-collar employees earn below the
new salary level, whereas
approximately 72 percent of salaried
white-collar employees earn above the
salary level and will have their
exemption status turn on their job
duties.
335 Of these workers, approximately 16.5 million
pass only the standard test, 12.8 million pass both
the standard and the HCE tests, and 446,600 pass
only the HCE test.
336 See section VII.C.8 (Alternative 2). As
discussed in section V.B, such employees were
always excluded from the EAP exemption prior to
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7. Number of Affected EAP Workers
The Department estimated that the
increase in the standard salary level
from $684 per week to $1,128 per week
will affect 4.0 million workers in Year
1 (of these 4.0 million affected
employees, 1.8 million earn less than
the long test salary level ($942)).336 The
Department estimated that the increase
in the HCE annual compensation level
from $107,432 to $151,164 will impact
292,900 workers (Figure 3).337 In total,
the Department expects that 4.3 million
workers out of the 29.7 million
potentially affected workers will be
affected in Year 1. This estimate of 4.3
million affected workers represents only
approximately 10 percent of all salaried
white-collar workers who are not in
named occupations (45.4 million).
2019, either by the long test salary level itself, or
under the 2004 rule salary level, which was
equivalent to the long test salary level. The
remaining 2.2 million of these affected employees
earn between the long test salary level and the
Department’s new standard salary level.
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As illustrated in Figure 1 above, this
final rule affects a specific and small
portion of all employed workers. In
particular, the number of affected
workers is 2.6% of total employed
workers in 2023 and represents about 8
percent of all white-collar salaried
workers (including workers in named
occupations). While Figure 1 provides a
snapshot of the impacts of this rule in
the context of the broader labor market
of 2023, it may also be helpful to
understand how the labor market has
grown since the Department first
introduced a one-test system in 2004.
Broadly, since 2004 the size of the labor
force and the white-collar workforce has
grown considerably. Between 2004 and
2023, total employment grew by 21.8
million, with employment increasing by
nearly 10 million since 2016 and 3.5
337 This group includes workers who may
currently be nonexempt under more protective state
EAP laws and regulations, such as some workers in
Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, New York,
Washington, and Wisconsin.
338 Employment status of the civilian
noninstitutional population, 1953 to date. BLS
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million since 2019.338 Over this period,
the size of the white-collar workforce
has also increased considerably. In
2004, the total number of white-collar
workers who were subject to the Part
541 regulations, including the salary
level test, was 31.7 million. By 2016 it
had reached 37.4 million; in 2019 it was
39.8 million; and in 2023 it was nearly
45.4 million.
32899
Figure 3—Pie Chart of Potentially
Affected Employees and Their Affected
Status
Affected by
standard
salary level
13.6%
Affected by
HCE only
1.0%
Several commenters stated that the
Department’s estimates of affected
workers were incorrect because of the
application of the probability codes. For
example, NCFC stated that ‘‘the
Department’s impact calculations rely
on outdated and flawed data’’ because
the ‘‘Department’s predictions as to the
probability of employees passing the
duties test are based on a 1999 study
. . . which itself relied upon
information provided by DOL in the
1990s—more than three decades ago.’’
AFPI further added that since the
Department’s probability codes were
developed, ‘‘occupational codes have
changed; the Part 541 duties tests have
changed; and litigation has resulted in
thousands of court decisions finding
employees to be exempt or nonexempt.’’ Similarly, NRF included a
report by Oxford Economics stating that
there have been numerous economics
changes since 1998, ‘‘includ[ing]
increases in automation, virtual work,
computerized scheduling, and the
effects of a global pandemic.’’ 339 The
Oxford Economics report also stated
that ‘‘if the relationship between
salaried [status] and EAP exemption
status is tighter than the [Department]
. . . assumes,’’ the number of affected
workers could be as high as 7.2 million.
AFPI asserted that approximately ‘‘7.5
million employees would be nonexempt for the first time based on salary
alone[.]’’ Rachel Greszler stated that the
correct figure is as high as 12.3 million
workers.
The Department disagrees with
commenters that challenged its use of
its probability codes. The Department
has used its probability codes to
estimate the number of workers who
meet the duties test in its 2004, 2016,
and 2019 rules. The Department
reiterates that these codes have been
updated and mapped onto current
occupational codes, as explained above.
As also noted above, the standard duties
test is not substantively different from
the former short duties tests reflected in
the codes. In consequence, the
probability codes remain relevant and
are currently the most accurate way to
estimate the probability of a worker
satisfying the duties test. Furthermore,
while several occupations have changed
over time, modifications affecting
specific occupations would only affect
the validity of these probability codes if
they systematically affected an
occupation’s probability of performing
exempt tasks. In contrast, other changes,
such as employees performing remotely
the job duties they once performed inperson, do not affect the validity of
these probabilities. Additionally, the
probability codes can still effectively
predict whether employees in new
industries will meet the duties test
insofar as these occupations existed in
other industries. Finally, as previously
noted, the Department used the O*NET
database to confirm the appropriateness
of the probability codes in 2016.
Commenters did not provide a basis for
concluding that the Department’s 2016
evaluation is obsolete or that the
probability codes no longer provide the
most reasonable basis for estimating the
population of affected workers.
Current Population Survey. https://www.bls.gov/
cps/cpsaat01.htm.
339 The Oxford Economics report also noted that
there has been a 6-percent rise in ‘‘the share of
salaried workers in the economy . . . since 1998.’’
However, any increase in the number of salaried
workers does not have any bearing on the validity
of the probability codes, which the Department uses
to estimate whether a worker passes the duties test.
Being paid on a salary basis is one of the three tests
for exemption, see § 541.602(a), and is distinct from
the duties test. Accordingly, the Department only
applies the probability codes to nonhourly
workers—whom, as discussed above, the
Department considers to be an appropriate proxy
for workers paid on a salary basis.
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The Department also does not agree
with commenters that stated that it
underestimated the number of affected
workers in the NPRM. As discussed
above, see section V.B.5.iii, commenters
that asserted the number of affected
workers could be much higher generally
referenced estimates of the number of
workers earning between the current
salary level and the proposed salary
level, regardless of whether they passed
the duties test, and then posited that up
to that many workers (e.g., 7.2 million,
7.5 million, or 12.3 million) could be
affected. The position that all workers
earning below the new salary level,
regardless of their duties, will be
affected by the new salary level fails to
account for the fact that that millions of
these workers are already nonexempt
because they do not meet the duties test.
C. Effects of Revised Salary and
Compensation Levels
1. Overview and Summary of Quantified
Effects
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The Department is setting the
standard salary level using the 35th
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percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage
Census region (currently the South) and
setting the HCE compensation level at
the annualized weekly earnings of the
85th percentile of full-time salaried
workers nationwide. In both cases the
Department used 2023 CPS data to
calculate the levels.340
Transfers both from employers to
employees and between employees, and
direct employer costs, will depend on
how employers respond to this
rulemaking. Employer response is
expected to vary by the characteristics
of the affected EAP workers.
Assumptions related to employer
responses are discussed below.
Table 4 presents the estimated
number of affected workers, costs, and
transfers associated with increasing the
standard salary and HCE compensation
levels. The Department estimated that
the direct employer costs of this rule
will total $1.4 billion in the first year,
with 10-year annualized direct costs of
340 Full-time is defined as 35 or more hours per
week.
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$802.9 million per year using a 7
percent discount rate.
In addition to these direct costs, this
rule will transfer income from
employers to employees. Estimated Year
1 transfers will equal $1.5 billion, with
annualized transfers of $1.5 billion per
year using the 7 percent real discount
rates and $1.6 billion using the 3
percent discount rate. Potential
employer costs due to reduced profits
and additional hiring were not
quantified but are discussed in section
VII.C.3.v. These estimates encompass in
Year 1 both the impact of the initial
update to the earnings thresholds and
the change in those thresholds that will
become applicable 6 months later.341
341 The Department estimates the initial update to
the standard salary level will result in 959,000
affected workers earning between $684 and $844
per week. The Department estimates the adjustment
and managerial costs for this update will be $202.3
million and transfers will be $204.3 million. For the
initial update to the HCE total annual compensation
threshold, the Department estimates that the update
will result in 223,000 affected workers, $58.7
million in adjustment and managerial costs, and
$164.5 million in transfer payments.
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32901
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 4—Summary of Affected Workers
and Regulatory Costs and Transfers
Future Years [b]
Impact [a]
Year 1
Year2
Annualized Value
Year 10
3% Real
Discount
Rate
7% Real
Discount Rate
[c]
[c]
rel
[c]
[c]
rel
$71.8
$79.3
Affected Workers (1,000s)
4,045
3,783
4,978
1,015
293
323
4,337
4,106
5,993
Direct Employer Costs (Millions in $2023)
Standard
HCE
Total
Regulatory
familiarization
Adjustment [c]
Managerial
Total direct costs rdl
$451.6
$0.0
$68.9
$299.1
$9.4
$20.9
$44.6
$50.0
$685.5
$632.1
$816.3
$677.6
$673.6
$1,436.2
$802.9
$641.5
$906.1
$794.0
Transfers from Employers to Workers (Millions in $2023) rel
$87.5
$46.5
$22.6
$43.2
$44.8
Due to minimum wage
$1,522.0
$1,489.3
$1,421.7
$1,047.8
$2,467.5
Due to overtime pay
Total transfers [f]
$1,509.2
$1,094.3
$2,490.1
$1,565.2
$1,534.1
[a] Additional costs and benefits of the rule that could not be quantified or monetized are discussed in the
text.
[b] These costs/transfers represent a range over the nine-year span.
[c] Not annualized.
[d] Adjustment costs occur in all years when there are newly affected workers. Adjustment costs may occur
in years without updated earnings thresholds because some workers' projected earnings are estimated using
negative earnings growth.
[e] Components may not add to total due to rounding.
[f] This is the net transfer from employers to workers. There may also be transfers between workers.
Table 5 presents the number of
affected EAP workers, the mean number
of overtime hours they work per week,
and their average weekly earnings. The
Department considered two types of
overtime workers in this analysis:
regular overtime workers and occasional
overtime workers.342 Regular overtime
workers typically worked more than 40
hours per week. Occasional overtime
workers typically worked 40 hours or
less per week, but they worked more
than 40 hours in the week they were
surveyed. The Department considered
these two populations separately in the
342 Regular overtime workers were identified in
the CPS MORG with variable PEHRUSL1.
Occasional overtime workers were identified with
variables PEHRUSL1 and PEHRACT1.
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analysis because labor market responses
to overtime pay requirements may differ
for these two types of workers.
The 4.0 million workers affected by
the combined effect of the initial update
and the subsequent application of the
new standard salary level work on
average 1.6 usual hours of overtime per
week and earn on average $948 per
week.343 However, most of these
workers (about 86 percent) usually do
not work overtime. The 14 percent of
affected workers who usually work
overtime average 11.1 hours of overtime
per week. In a representative week,
roughly 135,000 (or 3.3 percent) of the
4.0 million affected workers
occasionally work overtime; they
averaged 8.5 hours of overtime in the
343 CPS defines ‘‘usual hours’’ as hours worked 50
percent or more of the time.
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weeks they worked overtime.344 Finally,
20,000 (or 0.5 percent) of all workers
affected by the increase in the standard
salary level earn less than the minimum
wage. 345
344 This group represents the number of workers
with occasional overtime hours in the week the CPS
MORG survey was conducted. Because the survey
week is a representative week, the Department
believes the prevalence of occasional overtime in
the survey week and the characteristics of these
workers are representative of other weeks (even
though a different group of workers would be
identified as occasional overtime workers in a
different week).
345 A small proportion (0.5 percent) of all affected
EAP workers earn implicit hourly wages that are
less than the applicable minimum wage (the higher
of the state or Federal minimum wage). The implicit
hourly wage is calculated as total weekly earnings
divided by total weekly hours worked. For example,
workers earning the $684 per week standard salary
level would earn less than the Federal minimum
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2. Characteristics of Affected EAP
Workers
32902
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
The 292,900 workers affected by the
change in the HCE compensation level
average 2.9 hours of overtime per week
and earn an average of $2,397 per week
($124,668 per year). About 73 percent of
these workers do not usually work
overtime, while the 27 percent who
usually work overtime average 11.0
hours of overtime per week. Among the
2.6 percent who occasionally work
overtime, they averaged 8.2 hours in the
weeks that they worked overtime.
Although most affected workers who
typically do not work overtime will be
unlikely to experience significant
changes in their daily work routine,
those who regularly work overtime may
experience significant changes.
Moreover, affected EAP workers who
routinely work overtime and earn less
than the minimum wage will be most
likely to experience significant changes.
Impacts on employee hours and
earnings are discussed further in section
VII.C.4.
Table 5—Number of Affected EAP
Workers, Mean Overtime Hours, and
Mean Weekly Earnings, Year 1
Affected EAP Workers [a]
Type of Affected EAP Worker
Mean
Overtime
Hours
Mean
Usual
Weekly
Earnings
This section characterizes the
population of affected workers by
industry, occupation, employer type,
location of residence, and
demographics. The Department chose to
provide as much detail as possible
while maintaining adequate sample
sizes.
Table 6 presents the distribution of
affected EAP workers by industry and
occupation, using Census industry and
occupation codes. The industry with the
most affected EAP workers is
professional and business services
(827,000), while the industry with the
highest percentage of EAP workers
affected is leisure and hospitality (about
24 percent). The occupational category
with the most affected EAP workers is
management, business, and financial
(2.0 million), while the occupation
category with the highest percentage of
EAP workers affected is farming,
fishing, and forestry (about 45 percent).
Potentially affected workers in
private-sector nonprofits are more likely
to be affected than workers in privatesector for-profit firms (18.9 percent
compared with 13.6 percent). However,
as discussed in section VII.B.3, the
estimates of workers subject to the FLSA
include workers employed by
enterprises that are not subject to the
FLSA under the law’s enterprise
coverage requirements because there is
no data set that would adequately
inform an estimate of the size of this
worker population in order to exclude
them from these estimates. Although
failing to exclude workers who work for
non-covered enterprises would only
affect a small percentage of workers
generally, it may have a larger effect
(and result in a larger overestimate) for
workers in nonprofits because when
determining FLSA enterprise coverage
only revenue derived from business
operations, not charitable activities, is
included.
wage if they work 95 or more hours in a week ($684
÷ 95 hours = $7.20 per hour).
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Number
% of Total
(1,000s)
Standard Salary Level
100%
4,045
1.6
$948
All affected EAP workers
0.5%
20
25.8
$828
Earn less than the minimum wage [b]
14.2%
575
11.1
$959
Regularly work overtime
3.3%
135
8.5
Occasionally work overtime rCl
$955
HCE Compensation Level
293
100%
2.9
$2,397
All affected EAP workers
Earn less than the minimum wage [b]
----26.7%
11.0
$2,406
Regularly work overtime
78
2.6%
$2,392
Occasionally work overtime rcl
8
8.2
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Estimated number of workers exempt under the EAP exemptions who will be entitled to
overtime protection under the updated salary levels (if their weekly earnings do not increase to
the new salary levels).
[b] The applicable minimum wage is the higher of the Federal minimum wage and the state
minimum wage. These workers all regularly work overtime and are also included in that row.
HCE workers will not be affected by the minimum wage provision.
[c] Workers who do not usually work overtime but did in the CPS reference week. Mean overtime
hours are actual overtime hours in the reference week. Other workers may occasionally work
overtime in other weeks.
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
32903
Table 6—Estimated Number of Workers
and Whether They Will Be Affected by
the New Earnings Thresholds, by
Industry and Occupation, Year 1
Industry / Occupation /
Nonprofit
Potentially
Affected
EAP
Workers
(Millions)
Workers
subject to
FLSA
(Millions)
NotAffected
(Millions)
[b]
Affected as
Affected
Share of
(Millions)
Potentially
[c]
Affected
Total
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES4
Agriculture, forestry,
fishing, & hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation &
utilities
Information
Financial activities
Professional &
business services
Education
Healthcare & social
services
Leisure & hospitality
Other services
Public administration
Management,
business, & financial
Professional & related
Services
Sales and related
Office &
administrative support
Farming, fishing, &
forestry
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143.68
29.75
By Industry [d]
25.41
4.34
14.6%
1.31
0.06
0.05
0.01
22.8%
0.59
9.31
15.52
3.16
15.65
0.16
1.27
4.06
0.85
1.97
0.14
1.08
3.71
0.74
1.59
0.02
0.18
0.35
0.11
0.38
11.8%
14.6%
8.6%
13.2%
19.2%
8.90
1.07
0.92
0.15
14.3%
2.71
9.93
1.08
4.35
0.95
3.79
0.13
0.56
12.2%
13.0%
17.46
7.13
6.30
0.83
11.6%
14.29
1.20
0.96
0.24
20.3%
21.03
3.75
3.01
0.74
19.8%
12.53
5.53
5.75
0.94
0.76
1.10
By Occupation [d]
0.71
0.60
0.88
0.23
0.16
0.23
24.3%
21.5%
20.6%
24.74
15.32
13.33
1.99
13.0%
35.90
22.85
12.66
10.72
0.15
2.41
9.23
0.10
1.96
1.49
0.04
0.46
13.9%
28.7%
18.9%
15.98
0.93
0.61
0.32
34.4%
0.91
0.00
0.00
0.00
44.7%
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fal
32904
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Construction &
extraction
Installation,
maintenance, & repair
Production
Transportation &
material moving
6.97
0.03
0.02
0.01
21.9%
4.58
0.05
0.04
0.01
15.3%
8.18
0.09
0.08
0.01
10.8%
10.91
0.05
0.04
0.01
24.8%
By Nonprofit and Government Status
10.17
2.44
1.98
114.56
24.95
21.56
Nonprofit, private
18.9%
0.46
For profit, private
13.6%
3.39
Government ( state,
18.95
2.35
20.6%
1.86
0.48
local, and Federal)
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Exempt workers who are white-collar, salaried, not eligible for another (non-EAP)
overtime exemption, and not in a named occupation.
[b] Workers who continue to be exempt after the increases in the salary levels (assuming
affected workers earning below the new salary level do not have their weekly earnings
increased to the new level).
[c] Estimated number of workers exempt under the EAP exemptions who will be entitled to
overtime protection under the updated salary levels (if their weekly earnings do not increase to
the new salary levels).
[d] Census industry and occupation categories.
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corresponding 88 percent of all workers
subject to the FLSA.346
Employers in low-wage industries,
regions, and in non-metropolitan areas
may be more affected because they
typically pay lower wages and salaries.
The Department believes the salary level
included in this rule is appropriate for
these lower-wage sectors, in part
because the methodology uses earnings
346 Identified with CPS MORG variable
GTMETSTA.
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data from the lowest-wage census
region. Moreover, the duties test will
continue to determine exemption status
for the vast majority of workers in lowwage regions and industries under the
rule. For example, as displayed in Table
7, 82.1 percent of potentially affected
EAP workers in the South Census
Region earn more than the new salary
levels and thus will not be affected by
the rule (8.59 ÷ 10.46). Effects by region
and industry are considered in section
VII.C.7.
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Table 7 presents the distribution of
affected EAP workers based on Census
Regions and Divisions, and
metropolitan statistical area (MSA)
status. The region with the most affected
workers will be the South (1.9 million),
but the South’s percentage of potentially
affected workers who are estimated to
be affected is relatively small (17.9
percent). Although 90 percent of
affected EAP workers will reside in
MSAs (3.92 of 4.34 million), so do a
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
32905
Table 7—Estimated Number of Workers
and Whether They Will Be Affected by
the New Earnings Thresholds, by
Region, Division, and MSA Status,
Year 1
Workers
subject to
FLSA
(Millions)
Region / Division /
Metropolitan Status
Potentially
Affected
EAP
Workers
(Millions)
[a]
NotAffected
(Millions)
[b]
Affected
(Millions)
[c]
Affected as
Share of
Potentially
Affected
143.68
29.75
25.25
4.49
15.1%
By Region / Division
12.3%
Northeast
25.51
6.04
5.30
0.74
11.0%
New England
7.01
1.80
1.61
0.20
Middle Atlantic
18.50
4.23
0.54
12.8%
3.69
15.4%
Midwest
31.14
6.08
5.15
0.93
East North Central
21.06
4.14
3.52
0.62
14.9%
West North Central
10.08
1.94
0.32
16.3%
1.63
17.9%
South
53.18
10.46
8.59
1.87
South Atlantic
27.71
4.77
17.7%
5.80
1.03
20.4%
East South Central
7.92
1.24
0.99
0.25
17.2%
West South Central
17.54
3.42
2.83
0.59
7.17
11.0%
West
33.85
6.38
0.79
14.4%
Mountain
11.12
2.21
1.89
0.32
Pacific
22.73
4.95
4.48
9.5%
0.47
By Metropolitan Status
14.1%
Metropolitan
126.89
27.91
23.98
3.92
Non-metropolitan
15.74
1.32
22.3%
1.70
0.38
Not identified
0.14
0.11
23.8%
1.05
0.03
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Exempt workers who are white-collar, salaried, not eligible for another (non-EAP)
overtime exemption, and not in a named occupation.
[b] Workers who continue to be exempt after the increases in the salary levels (assuming
affected workers earning below the new salary level do not have their weekly earnings
increased to the new level).
[c] Estimated number of workers exempt under the EAP exemptions who will be entitled to
overtime protection under the updated salary levels (if their weekly earnings do not increase to
the new salary levels).
Table 8 presents the distribution of
affected EAP workers by demographics.
Potentially affected women, Black
workers, Hispanic workers, young
workers, and workers with less
education are all more likely to be
affected than other worker types. This is
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because EAP exempt workers with these
characteristics are more likely to earn
within the affected standard salary
range than EAP exempt workers without
these characteristics. For example, of
potentially affected workers, women
tend to have lower salaries and are
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therefore more likely to be in the
affected range. Median weekly earnings
for potentially affected women are
$1,709 compared to $2,108 for men.
Among potentially affected workers,
certain demographic groups—women,
Black workers, Hispanic workers, young
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Total
32906
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workers, and workers with less
education—have an increased
likelihood of being affected by this
rulemaking, even though workers in
these demographic groups are less likely
to be EAP exempt in the first place.
Therefore, as a share of all workers, not
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just potentially affected workers,
workers in these demographic groups
may not be more likely to be affected.
For example, when looking at
potentially affected workers, 21.7
percent of potentially affected Black
workers are affected, while only 14.5
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percent of potentially affected white
workers are affected. However, when
looking at total workers, about the same
shares of total Black and total white
workers would be affected (2.9 percent
of Black workers and 3.0 percent of
white workers).
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
32907
Table 8—Estimated Number of Workers
and Whether They Will Be Affected by
the New Earnings Thresholds, by
Demographics, Year 1
Demographic
Workers
subject to
FLSA
(Millions)
Affected
as Share of
Potentially
Affected
25.41
4.34
14.6%
3.0%
By Sex
Male
74.37
17.38
15.46
1.92
11.0%
2.6%
19.6%
Female
69.31
12.37
9.95
2.42
3.5%
By Race
White only
109.96
22.95
19.63
3.32
14.5%
3.0%
21.7%
Black only
18.47
2.48
1.94
0.54
2.9%
All others
15.25
4.32
11.2%
3.83
0.48
3.2%
By Ethnicity
19.5%
Hispanic
27.02
2.80
2.25
0.55
2.0%
Not Hispanic
116.66
26.95
23.15
14.1%
3.79
3.3%
By Age
16-25
29.6%
22.34
1.37
0.96
0.40
1.8%
26-35
17.4%
34.25
7.51
6.20
1.30
3.8%
36-45
30.91
12.4%
7.96
6.97
0.99
3.2%
46-55
12.4%
27.89
7.00
6.13
0.87
3.1%
56+
28.30
5.92
5.15
13.1%
0.77
2.7%
By Education
39.7%
No degree
10.77
0.15
0.09
0.06
0.5%
High school diploma
59.52
4.75
1.19
25.1%
3.55
2.0%
Associate's degree
15.09
2.01
22.5%
1.56
0.45
3.0%
Bachelor's degree
13.0%
37.05
14.30
12.43
1.86
5.0%
7.11
9.1%
Master's degree
16.08
6.46
0.65
4.0%
Professional degree
2.06
0.04
10.4%
0.40
0.36
2.0%
3.11
7.8%
PhD
1.03
0.95
0.08
2.6%
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Exempt workers who are white-collar, salaried, not eligible for another (non-EAP) overtime
exemption, and not in a named occupation.
[b] Workers who continue to be exempt after the increases in the salary level (assuming affected
workers' weekly earnings do not increase to the new salary level).
[c] Estimated number of workers exempt under the EAP exemptions who would be entitled to
overtime protection under the updated salary levels (if their weekly earnings do not increase to
the new salary level).
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Total
Potentially
Affected
NotAffected
EAP
Affected
(Millions)
Workers (Millions)
[c]
[b]
(Millions)
[a]
32908
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
3. Costs
managerial costs. These are the same
costs quantified in the 2016 and 2019
rulemakings. The Department estimated
that in Year 1, regulatory familiarization
costs will be $451.6 million, adjustment
costs will be $299.1 million, and
managerial costs will be $685.5 million
i. Summary
The Department quantified three
direct costs to employers in this
analysis: (1) regulatory familiarization
costs; (2) adjustment costs; and (3)
Standard
Salary Level
Direct Employer Costs
(Table 9). Total direct employer costs in
Year 1 will be $1.4 billion. Recurring
costs are projected in section VII.C.10.
The Department discusses costs that are
not quantified in section VII.C.3.v.
Table 9—Summary of Year 1 Direct
Employer Costs (Millions)
HCE
Compensation
Level
Total
$451.6
--Regulatory familiarization [a]
$279.0
$20.1
$299.1
Adjustment
$626.3
$59.2
$685.5
Managerial
$1,436.2
$905.4
$79.2
Total direct costs
[a] Regulatory familiarization costs are assessed jointly for the change in the standard
salary level and the HCE compensation level.
This rulemaking will impose direct
costs on firms by requiring them to
review the regulation. To estimate these
‘‘regulatory familiarization costs,’’ three
pieces of information must be estimated:
(1) the number of affected
establishments; (2) a wage level for the
employees reviewing the rule; and (3)
the amount of time spent reviewing the
rule. The Department generally used the
same methodology for calculating
regulatory familiarization costs that it
used in the NPRM and recent
rulemakings.
Regulatory familiarization costs can
be calculated at an establishment level
or at a firm level. The Department
assumed that regulatory familiarization
occurs at a decentralized level and used
the number of establishments in its cost
estimate; this results in a higher
estimate than would result from using
the number of firms. The most recent
data on private sector establishments
and firms at the time this rule was
drafted are from the 2021 Statistics of
U.S. Businesses (SUSB), which reports
8.15 million establishments with paid
employees.347 Additionally, there were
an estimated 90,126 state and local
governments in 2017, the most recent
data available.348 The Department thus
estimated 8.24 million entities (the term
‘‘entities’’ is used to refer to the
combination of establishments and
governments).
347 Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2021, https://
www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html.
348 2017 Census of Governments. Table 1, https://
www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/econ/gus/2017governments.html.
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The Department assumes that all
entities will incur some regulatory
familiarization costs, even if they do not
employ exempt workers, because all
entities will need to confirm whether
this rulemaking affects their employees.
Entities with more affected EAP workers
will likely spend more time reviewing
the regulation than entities with fewer
or no affected EAP workers (since a
more careful reading of the regulation
will probably follow the initial decision
that the entity is affected). However, the
Department did not know the
distribution of affected EAP workers
across entities, so it used an average cost
per entity.
The Department believes an average
of 1 hour per entity is appropriate
because the regulated community is
likely to be familiar with the content of
this rulemaking. EAP exemptions have
existed in one form or another since
1938, and a final rule was published as
recently as 2019. Furthermore,
employers who use the exemptions
must apply them every time they hire an
employee whom they seek to classify as
exempt. Thus, employers should be
familiar with the exemptions. The most
significant changes in this rulemaking
are setting a new standard salary level
and a new HCE compensation level for
exempt workers and establishing a
mechanism for keeping these thresholds
up to date. The changed regulatory text
is only a few pages, and the Department
will provide summaries and other
compliance assistance materials that
will help inform employers that are
implementing the final rule. The
Department thus believes, consistent
with its approach in the 2016 and 2019
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rules, that 1 hour is an appropriate
average estimate for the time each entity
will spend reviewing the changes made
by this rulemaking. Additionally, the
estimated 1 hour for regulatory
familiarization represents an
assumption about the average for all
entities in the U.S., even those without
any affected or exempt workers, which
are unlikely to spend much time
reviewing the rulemaking. Some
businesses, of course, will spend more
than 1 hour, and some will spend less.
The Department’s analysis assumes
that compensation, benefits, and job
analysis specialists (SOC 13–1141) with
a median wage of $32.59 per hour will
review the rulemaking.349 350 The
Department also assumed that benefits
are paid at a rate of 45 percent of the
base wage 351 and overhead costs are
paid at a rate of 17 percent of the base
wage,352 resulting in an hourly rate of
349 OEWS 2022. Available at: https://
www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes131141.htm.
350 Previous related rulemakings used the CPS to
estimate wage rates. The Department is using OEWS
data now to conform with standard practice for the
Department’s economic analyses.
351 The benefits-earnings ratio is derived from
BLS’s Employer Costs for Employee Compensation
(ECEC) data using variables CMU1020000000000D
and CMU1030000000000D. This fringe benefit rate
includes some fixed costs such as health insurance.
As of when this final rule was drafted, 2023 ECEC
data were available only through the third quarter,
so the Department continued to use the 2022 fullyear data to calculate the benefits share.
352 The Department believes that the overhead
costs associated with this rulemaking are small
because existing systems maintained by employers
to track currently hourly employees can be used for
newly overtime-eligible workers. However,
acknowledging that there might be additional
overhead costs, the Department has included an
overhead rate of 17 percent.
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$54.82 in 2023 dollars.353 The
Department thus estimates regulatory
familiarization costs in Year 1 would be
$451.6 million ($54.82 per hour × 1
hour × 8.24 million entities).
The Department also conducted a
sensitivity analysis. First, as previously
noted, the Department used the number
of establishments rather than the
number of firms, which results in a
higher estimate of the regulatory
familiarization cost. Using the number
of firms, 6.4 million, would result in a
reduced regulatory familiarization cost
estimate of $350.0 million in Year 1.
Some commenters representing
employer interests stated that rule
familiarization costs are
underestimated. See, e.g., ABC; IEC; Job
Creators Network Foundation; NSBA;
SBA Office of Advocacy. For instance,
ABC commented that ‘‘compliance with
the proposal will not be as simple as
reviewing the salary level and making a
one-time decision’’ and that ‘‘82% of
recently surveyed ABC members . . .
responded that reviewing the final rule
would take three hours or longer, with
47% saying it would take five hours or
more.’’
While the Department acknowledges
that some employers will spend more
than an hour reviewing the rule, the
estimate of 1 hour for rule
familiarization is an assumption about
the average representing all
establishments, even those without any
affected or exempt workers. Those
establishments will likely not need to
spend any time reviewing the rule.
Employers in industries with more
affected workers may spend more time
reviewing the rule, but across all
industries, the Department believes that
1 hour continues to be appropriate. The
Department used the same 1 hour
estimate in its 2016 and 2019 rules,354
and the Department did not receive
comments with concrete data that is
representative across all industries from
which to conclude that its average
estimate of one hour is incorrect. The
Department continues to believe that
businesses are already familiar with this
rulemaking. The EAP exemptions have
existed for a long time, and recent rules
were published in 2016 and 2019. This
rulemaking sets a new standard salary
level and a new HCE compensation
level for exempt workers and establishes
a mechanism for keeping these
thresholds up to date. However, this
rulemaking does not fundamentally
change the existing method for
determining whether an employee
353 The 2022 fully-loaded hourly wage was
adjusted to 2023 using the CPI–U.
354 81 FR 32474; 84 FR 51266.
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qualifies for the EAP exemption. To the
extent commenters’ familiarization cost
concerns related to time needed to
comply with the rule, these costs are
addressed separately under the
Department’s managerial and
adjustment cost estimates. As for
concerns relating to the hourly wage
rate used to calculate rule
familiarization costs, the Department
notes that it relies on the standard
occupation used in previous WHD and
DOL rulemakings.
iii. Adjustment Costs
This rulemaking will also impose
direct costs on establishments by
requiring them to evaluate the
exemption status of employees, update
and adapt overtime policies, notify
employees of policy changes, and adjust
their payroll systems. For each affected
worker who works overtime, an
employer will need to decide whether
they will increase their salary, adjust
their hours, or some combination of the
two. The Department believes the size of
these ‘‘adjustment costs’’ will depend
on the number of affected EAP workers
and will occur in any year when
exemption status is changed for any
workers. To estimate adjustment costs,
three pieces of information must be
estimated: (1) a wage level for the
employees making the adjustments; (2)
the amount of time spent making the
adjustments; and (3) the estimated
number of newly affected EAP workers.
The Department again estimated that the
average wage with benefits and
overhead costs for a mid-level human
resource worker is $54.82 per hour (as
explained above).
The Department estimated that it will
take establishments an average of 75
minutes per affected worker to make the
necessary adjustments. This is the same
time estimate as used in the 2016 and
2019 rulemakings, as well as in the
NPRM. Little applicable data were
identified from which to estimate the
amount of time required to make these
adjustments. The estimated number of
affected EAP workers in Year 1 due to
the change in the standard salary level
to $1,128 per week and the HCE level
to $151,164 per year is 4.3 million (as
discussed in section VII.B.7). However,
because the compensation thresholds
will undergo an initial update on July 1,
2024 and then an increase using the
new methodologies 6 months later,
employers may have additional
adjustment costs when the standard
salary level is initially updated to $844
per week and the HCE level is initially
updated to $132,964.
Some employers may make two
adjustments for affected workers—one
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at the initial update to the standard
salary level and then again with the
salary level adjustment 6 months later.
To estimate the costs associated with
multiple adjustments, the Department
assumed that at the initial update, some
employers could experience additional
adjustment costs for the affected
workers who will have their weekly
earnings increased to $844 per week. In
order to estimate the number of affected
workers who would have their weekly
earnings increased to $844 per week, the
Department looked at EAP exempt
workers earning at least $684 per week
but less than $844 per week. Using the
methodology laid out in the transfer
analysis in section VII.C.4.iii, the
Department then estimated the share of
these workers who regularly work
overtime and would remain exempt,
because it is less expensive for the
employer to pay the updated salary
level than to pay overtime (described in
that section as Type 4 workers). The
Department estimated that there would
be 27,692 workers who earn between
$684 and $844 and would have their
earnings increased at the initial update.
The Department does not have data to
determine how many employers would
increase earnings twice for workers
earnings between $684 and $844. For
these workers, unless they are working
large numbers of overtime hours, it is
likely to be more economically
beneficial for employers to make other
changes in response to the rule instead
of increasing their salary to $1,128 a
week, such as limiting overtime hours
worked. Despite this, in case there are
limited cases in which workers do have
their earnings increased twice, the
Department has included these
additional adjustment costs in the total
adjustment cost estimate. Therefore,
total estimated Year 1 adjustment costs
would be $299.1 million ($54.82 × 1.25
hours × (4,337,469 + 27,692 workers)).
The Department used a time estimate
per affected worker, rather than per
establishment, because the distribution
of affected workers across
establishments is unknown. However, it
may be helpful to present the total time
estimate per establishment based on a
range of affected workers. If an
establishment has five affected workers,
the time estimate for adjustment costs is
6.25 hours. If an establishment has 25
affected workers, the time estimate for
adjustment costs is 31.25 hours. And if
an establishment has 50 affected
workers, the time estimate for
adjustment costs is 62.5 hours.
A reduction in the cost to employers
of determining employees’ exemption
status may partially offset adjustment
costs. Currently, to determine whether
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an employee is exempt, employers must
apply the duties test to salaried workers
who earn $684 or more per week.
However, under the final rule, firms will
no longer be required to apply the
duties test to the 8.7 million employees
earning above the current standard
salary level of $684 and less than the
new standard salary level of $1,128.
While this will be a clear cost savings
to employers for these employees, the
Department did not estimate the
potential size of this cost savings.
Some commenters representing
employer interests stated that the
Department underestimated adjustment
costs. See, e.g., NAHB; NSBA; PPWO.
NAHB, for instance, stated that ‘‘the
Department’s economic analysis,’’
including its estimate of ‘‘75 minutes
per affected worker for adjustment,’’
‘‘dramatically understate[d] the . . .
cost burden on employers,’’ and PPWO
stated that adjustment costs (and
regulatory familiarization and
managerial costs) were ‘‘all dramatically
understated.’’ SBA Advocacy and
Seyfarth Shaw asserted that the
Department underestimated adjustment
costs for small businesses, with both
commenters stating that smaller
employers would be more likely than
larger ones to hire outside assistance to
make needed adjustments. See also
NFIB (‘‘The NPRM underestimates
compliance costs for small
businesses[.]’’). Some commenters
asserted that the Department failed to
account for adjustment costs that
employers would need to incur beyond
the first year the rule is in effect, such
as costs associated with determining
whether an employee remains exempt,
reclassifying newly-exempt employees
as hourly, and making other
adjustments to time and attendance
systems, given that the earnings
thresholds for exemption will be
updated on a triennial basis. See PPWO;
The 4As. Additionally, some
commenters expressed particular
concern with adjustment costs
stemming from the proposed increase in
the HCE compensation level, noting that
for workers who were previously
exempt under the HCE test but earn
below the proposed HCE compensation
level, employers would need to evaluate
the worker’s duties to determine
whether they remain exempt under the
standard test. See, e.g., HR Policy
Association; NAM; PPWO. NAM stated
that ‘‘[a]cross the manufacturing sector,
the change in the HCE threshold may be
as difficult and consequential as the
proposed increases to the standard
salary threshold.’’
The Department is retaining its
estimate of adjustment costs as 75
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minutes per affected worker in the final
rule. This estimate is consistent with the
Department’s estimate in the 2016 and
2019 rules.355 The Department notes
that the 75-minute-per-worker average
time estimate is an assumption about
the average across all workers, and it
believes this estimate takes into account
adjustment time for workers affected by
the new standard salary level and the
smaller portion of workers affected by
the new HCE total compensation
threshold. This estimate assumes that
the time is focused on analyzing more
complicated situations. For example,
employers are likely to incur relatively
low adjustment costs for some workers,
such as the 69 percent of affected
workers who work no overtime
(described below as Type 1 workers).
This leaves more time for employers to
spend on adjustment costs for the 31
percent of affected workers who work
overtime either occasionally or
regularly. To demonstrate, if the
aggregate time spent on adjustments (75
min × 4.37 million workers) was spread
out over only workers who work
overtime, then the time estimate is 4.0
hours per worker. Lastly, the
Department did not receive any
comments with data providing a
different estimate for the Department to
rely on.
Contrary to commenters that stated
that the Department failed to take into
account adjustment costs beyond the
first year the rule is in effect, the
Department’s estimated adjustment
costs include costs in all years for newly
affected workers. The Department limits
adjustment costs in projected years to
newly affected workers because there is
no need to ‘‘adjust’’ for workers who are
already overtime eligible (due to a prior
adjustment of the salary level) when the
salary level is updated again. Table 26
provides adjustment (and other) cost
projections in future years due to the
updating mechanism.
iv. Managerial Costs
If an employee becomes nonexempt
due to the changes in the salary levels,
then firms may incur ongoing
managerial costs because the employer
may spend more time developing work
schedules and closely monitoring an
employee’s hours to minimize or avoid
paying that employee overtime. For
example, the manager of a newly
nonexempt worker may have to assess
whether the marginal benefit of
scheduling the worker for more than 40
hours exceeds the marginal cost of
paying the overtime premium.
Additionally, the manager may have to
355 See
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spend more time monitoring the
employee’s work and productivity since
the marginal cost of employing the
worker per hour has increased. Unlike
regulatory familiarization and
adjustment costs, which occur primarily
in Year 1, managerial costs are incurred
more uniformly every year.
The Department applied managerial
costs to workers who (1) become
nonexempt, overtime-protected and (2)
either regularly work overtime or
occasionally work overtime, but on a
predictable basis—an estimated 911,000
workers (see Table 13 and
accompanying explanation). Consistent
with its approach in its 2019 rule and
the NPRM, the Department assumed
that management would spend an
additional ten minutes per week
scheduling and monitoring each
affected worker expected to become
nonexempt, overtime-eligible as a result
of this rule, and whose hours would be
adjusted.
As discussed in detail below, most
affected workers do not currently work
overtime, and there is no reason to
expect their hours worked to change
when their status changes from exempt
to nonexempt. For that group of
workers, management will have little or
no need to increase their monitoring of
hours worked; therefore, these workers
are not included in the managerial cost
calculation. Under these assumptions,
the additional managerial hours worked
per week will be 151,800 hours ((10
minutes ÷ 60 minutes) × 911,000
workers).
The median hourly wage in 2022 for
a manager was $51.62.356 Together with
a 45 percent benefits rate and a 17
percent overhead cost, this totals $86.82
per hour in 2023 dollars.357 Thus, the
estimated Year 1 managerial costs total
$685.5 million (151,835 hours per week
× 52 weeks 358 × $86.82/hour). Although
356 OEWS 2022. Available at: https://
www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes110000.htm. This may
be an overestimate of the wage rate for managers
who monitor workers’ hours because (1) it includes
very highly paid employees such as CEOs, and (2)
some lower-level supervisors are not counted as
managers in the data.
357 The benefits ratio is derived from BLS’ 2022
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation data
using variables CMU1020000000000D and
CMU1030000000000D. The fully-loaded hourly
wage rate was inflated to 2023 dollars using the BLS
CPI–U.
358 Fifty-two weeks may be an overestimate of the
amount of time that an employer would incur
management costs in Year 1. For affected workers
who earn below $1,128, but at least $844, their
employers may not incur additional managerial
costs until January 1, 2025 if they decide to wait
to make changes in response to the rule. Therefore,
these managerial costs would not occur for the full
52 weeks of the year. Because the Department does
not know when employers would make changes in
response to the rule, this estimate of 52 weeks is
used for the entire population.
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v. Other Potential Costs
In addition to the costs discussed
above, commenters raised other
potential costs that could not be
quantified. These potential costs are
discussed qualitatively below.
the exact magnitude will vary each year
with the number of affected EAP
workers, the Department anticipates that
employers would incur managerial costs
annually.
Some commenters expressed concerns
that the regulation will increase
managerial costs, with some specifically
asserting that the Department’s estimate
was too low, see, e.g., PPWO, SBA
Advocacy, NCFC, IEC. Commenter
concerns with managerial costs were
often tied to the additional costs they
asserted would result from tracking the
work hours of newly nonexempt
employees. See, e.g., 16 Republication
Representatives; APLU. Commenters
specifically asserted tracking hours of
currently exempt employees would
increase human resources paperwork
and technology costs for their
companies. See, e.g., The Chamber of
Commerce for Greater Philadelphia;
John C. Campbell Folk School.
The Department continues to believe
that 10 minutes per worker per week is
an appropriate managerial cost estimate.
Currently, EAP exempt employees
account for about 24 percent of total
employment; as such, the Department
expects that many employers of EAP
exempt workers also employ nonexempt
workers. Those employers already have
in place recordkeeping systems and
standard operating procedures for
ensuring employees only work overtime
under employer-prescribed
circumstances. Thus, such systems
generally do not need to be created or
acquired for managing formerly exempt
EAP employees. The Department also
notes that under the FLSA
recordkeeping regulations in part 516,
employers determine how to make and
keep an accurate record of hours worked
by employees. For example, employers
may tell their workers to write their own
time records and any timekeeping plan
is acceptable if it is complete and
accurate. Additionally, if the nonexempt
employee works a fixed schedule, e.g.,
9:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Monday–Friday, the
employer may keep a record showing
the exact schedule of daily and weekly
hours and merely indicate exceptions to
that schedule.359 The Department
believes its estimate, which tracks the
approach taken in its 2019 rule,
accurately predicts management costs,
including costs firms may incur for
monitoring and managing the hours of
formerly exempt employees.
(a) Reduced Scheduling Flexibility
Several commenters claim that this
rule would restrict employee workplace
flexibility, such as remote work and
flexible scheduling. See, e.g., HR Policy
Association; NAM; NRF; SBA; Chamber.
For example, the Chamber stated,
‘‘workers will lose their ability to work
from home and the flexibility that they
have enjoyed in salaried positions,
particularly since the COVID–19
pandemic changed the face of the
American workplace in 2020.’’
However, commenters did not provide
any specific evidence to support this
claim. The Department notes that even
those workers that are paid on an hourly
basis can still take advantage of
workplace flexibilities such as remote
work. According to the CPS data, of all
workers who reported working at home
any time in the past week, 74.2 percent
of them were categorized as hourly
workers.
To the extent that some employers
spend more time monitoring nonexempt
workers’ hours than exempt workers’
hours, some employers could respond to
this rule by limiting the ability of newly
nonexempt workers to adjust their
schedules. However, employers can
continue to offer flexible schedules and
require workers to monitor their own
hours and to follow the employers’
timekeeping rules. Additionally, some
exempt workers already monitor their
hours for billing purposes and so
monitoring their hours as newly
nonexempt workers should not be
unduly burdensome. A study by Lonnie
Golden found, using data from the
General Social Survey (GSS), that ‘‘[i]n
general, salaried workers at the lower
(less than $50,000) income levels don’t
have noticeably greater levels of work
flexibility that they would ‘lose’ if they
become more like their hourly
counterparts.’’ 360 Because there is little
data or literature on these potential
costs, the Department did not quantify
potential costs regarding scheduling
flexibility.
Organizations such as the American
Beverage Licensees and educational
institutions in CUPA–HR and APLU,
also asserted that the rule would reduce
employer flexibility to allocate work
359 See Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping
Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act,
available at: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/
fact-sheets/21-flsa-recordkeeping.
360 Golden, L. (2014). Flexibility and Overtime
Among Hourly and Salaried Workers. Economic
Policy Institute. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/
papers.cfm?abstract_id=2597174.
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hours based on schedules that include
non-traditional work hours. The Hinton
Rural Life Center said that the rule
would make it financially unfeasible for
nonexempt employees to attend specific
activities such as ‘‘overnight training
sessions or marketing events.’’ NCFC
stated that because of the increased
attention that must be paid to the hours
worked by nonexempt employees, they
are likely to be at a competitive
disadvantage with exempt employees in
the same role. Under this assumption,
they asserted that ‘‘many training
opportunities’’ would now require
additional compensation if ‘‘those
opportunities would put the nonexempt
employee into an overtime situation,’’
and therefore ‘‘access to those
opportunities may be limited’’ for
nonexempt employees. The Department
notes that if an employer believes that
training opportunities are sufficiently
important, it can ensure employees
attend the trainings during their 40-hour
workweek or pay the overtime premium
where training attendance causes the
employee to work over 40 hours in a
workweek. Given this, and because
there is no data and literature to
quantify any potential costs to workers,
the Department did not quantify these
costs.
(b) Preference for Salaried Status
Many commenters contended that the
employers of some of the workers who
will become nonexempt as a result of
the rule could change their pay basis to
hourly status despite the employee
preferring to remain salaried. See, e.g.,
AHLA; NSBA; SIGMA. Some
commenters, such as SIGMA, stated that
conversion of employees to hourly
status that will negatively affect morale,
as employees may perceive the change
as a demotion or a loss of status because
of, among other reasons, the lost
flexibility associated with salaried
status. Conversely, commenters such as
the Coalition of State AGs and the
Family Caregiving Coalition asserted
that the proposed rule would increase
employee satisfaction and retention,
improve work-life balance, reduce stress
and health problems, and make jobs
more attractive to qualified applicants
primarily because employees will now
be compensated for hours worked
beyond a standard workweek. Notably,
a strong majority of the individual
commenters who said they would be
personally affected by the proposed rule
expressed support for the rule.
If a worker does prefer to be salaried
rather than hourly, then the employer
changing them from salaried to hourly
may impact the worker. However, the
Department believes that for most
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employees their feelings of importance
and worth come not from their FLSA
exemption status, but from the
increased pay, flexibility, fringe
benefits, and job responsibilities that
traditionally have accompanied exempt
status, and that these factors are not
incompatible with overtime eligibility.
And while research has shown that
salaried workers (who are not
synonymous with exempt workers, but
whose status is correlated with exempt
status) are more likely than hourly
workers to receive certain benefits, as
discussed below, such research
generally does not control for
differences between salaried and hourly
workers such as education, job title, or
earnings.
(c) Reduction in Employer-Provided
Benefits
Several commenters stated that in
response to the proposed salary level
employers would likely decrease
employee benefits. See, e.g., PPWO;
Rachel Greszler. These and similar
comments were mostly general
statements, often listing types of
benefits employees may lose. Others
stated that employees would lose
benefits due to being reclassified as
hourly workers. See, e.g., Independent
Women’s Forum (IWF); NRF. Some
commenters stated that these employees
would have reductions in their ability to
earn bonuses or other types of incentive
payments, but these commenters
generally did not discuss the net impact
on these employees’ earnings. See, e.g.,
NRF. These comments did not provide
information that would allow the
Department to estimate the purported
impact of the final rule on employee
benefits.
Research has shown that salaried
workers are more likely than hourly
workers to receive benefits such as paid
vacation time and health insurance 361
and are more satisfied with their
benefits.362 However, this literature
generally does not control for
differences between salaried and hourly
workers such as education, job title, or
earnings; therefore, this correlation is
not necessarily attributable to hourly
status.
If workers become nonexempt and the
employer chooses to pay them on an
hourly rather than salary basis, this may
result in the employer reducing the
361 Lambert, S.J. (2007). Making a Difference for
Hourly Employees. In A. Booth, & A.C. Crouter,
Work-Life Policies that Make a Real Difference for
Individuals, Families, and Communities.
Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
362 Balkin, D.B., & Griffeth, R.W. (1993). The
Determinants of Employee Benefits Satisfaction.
Journal of Business and Psychology, 7(3), 323–339.
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workers’ benefits. These newly
nonexempt workers may continue to be
paid a salary, as long as that salary is
equivalent to a base wage at least equal
to the minimum wage rate for every
hour worked, and the employee receives
a 50 percent premium on that
employee’s regular rate for any overtime
hours each week.363 Similarly,
employers may continue to provide
these workers with the same level of
benefits as before, whether paid on an
hourly or salary basis. Lastly, the nature
of the market mechanism may be such
that employers cannot reduce benefits
without risking workers leaving,
resulting in turnover costs to employers.
The Department did not quantify
potential costs regarding reduction in
workers’ benefits.
(d) Increased Prices
Several commenters such as AAHOA,
the Chamber, CUPA–HR, Indiana
Chamber of Commerce, NAHB, and the
National Association of WholesalerDistributors stated that the regulation
will result in increased prices due to
increased employee salaries and other
costs to employers. Some of these
commenters assert that employers
increasing their workers’ salaries to
maintain their exempt status would
induce a general price increase if
anticipated wage increases do not result
in productivity increases. See, e.g.,
Chamber; NAW. NAHB conducted a
survey among its members about the
proposal, and 50 percent of survey
respondents stated that finalizing the
salary level as proposed would lead
them to raise home prices, while 25
percent of respondents stated that the
change would make some projects
unprofitable.
The Department acknowledges that,
as discussed in the transfers section
below, businesses may be able to help
mitigate increased labor costs following
this rulemaking by rebalancing the
hours that employees are working.
Businesses that are unable to rebalance
these hours and do incur increased
labor costs might pass along these
increased labor costs to consumers
through higher prices for goods and
services. However, because costs and
transfers will be, on average, small
relative to payroll and revenues, the
Department does not expect the rule to
have a significant effect on prices. The
Department estimated that, on average,
costs and transfers make up less than
0.04 percent of payroll and 0.006
percent of revenues, although for
specific industries and firms this
percentage may be larger (see Table 24).
363 29
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Therefore, any potential change in
prices related to costs and transfers from
this rulemaking would be modest, and
the Department notes that commenter
predictions (such as those in the NAHB
survey described above) reflect
speculation about what will occur in the
future and thus may not reflect actual
economic responses by employers.
Further, any significant price increases
would not represent a separate category
of effects from those estimated in this
economic analysis. Rather, such price
increases (where they occur) would be
the channel through which consumers,
rather than employers or employees,
bear rule-induced costs (including
transfers).
While economic theory suggests that
an increase in labor costs in excess of
productivity gains would lead to
increases in prices, much of the
empirical literature has found that wage
inflation does not predict price
inflation.364 For example, Peneva et al.
(2015) explore the relationship between
labor costs and price inflation between
1965 and 2012, finding that the
influence of labor costs on prices has
decreased over the past several decades
and have made a relatively small
contribution to price inflation in recent
years.365
(e) Reduced Services
Some commenters expressed concern
that, by reducing the number of exempt
employees, this rulemaking will
negatively impact the amount or quality
of services that employers can provide.
See, e.g., ANCOR; Boy Scouts of
America; Catholic Charities USA;
YMCA. The National Association of
Counties raised similar concerns with
respect to county governments. A
number of colleges, universities, and
other higher-education stakeholders,
such as APLU and CUPA–HR, similarly
asserted that the proposed rule would
negatively affect support services for
students. The Department appreciates
that employers in some industries have
364 Church, J.D. and Akin, B. (2017). ‘‘Examining
price transmission across labor compensation costs,
consumer prices, and finished-goods prices,’’
Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics; Emery, K. & Chang, C. (1996). Do Wages
Help Predict Inflation?, Federal Reserve Bank of
Dallas, Economic Review First Quarter 1996.
https://www.dallasfed.org/∼/media/documents/
research/er/1996/er9601a.pdf; Jonsson, M. &
Palmqvist, S. (2004). Do Higher Wages Cause
Inflation? Sveriges Riksbank Working Paper Series
159. https://archive.riksbank.se/Upload/
WorkingPapers/WP_159.pdf.
365 Pevena, E.V. and Rudd, J.B. (2015). ‘‘The
Passthrough of Labor Costs to Price Inflation,’’
Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015–
042. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System. https://dx.doi.org/10.17016/
FEDS.2015.042.
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(f) Reduced Profits
Some commenters asserted that the
rule would lead to decreased profits.
See e.g., Quad Cities Chamber of
Commerce, ESEI, DT-Trak Consulting.
The Department acknowledges that the
increased employer costs and transfer
payments as a result of this rule may
reduce the profits of business firms,
although (1) some firms may offset some
of these costs and transfers by making
payroll adjustments, and (2) some firms
may mitigate their reduced profits due
to these costs and transfers through
increased prices. Because costs and
transfers are, on average, small relative
to payroll revenues, the Department
does not expect this rulemaking to have
a significant effect on profits.
(g) Hiring Costs
To the extent that firms respond to
this rule by reducing overtime hours,
they may do so by spreading hours to
other workers, including current
workers employed for fewer than 40
hours per week by that employer,
current workers who remain exempt,
and newly hired workers. If new
workers are hired to absorb these
transferred hours, then the associated
hiring costs would be a cost of this rule.
(However, new employees would likely
only be hired if their wages, onboarding
costs, and training costs are less than
the cost of overtime pay for the newly
nonexempt workers.) The Department
does not know how many new
employees would be hired and thus did
not estimate this cost.
(h) Hours-Related Worker Effects
Some employer representatives
highlighted the possibility that some
workers might work more hours as a
consequence of this rulemaking. For
example, Construction Industry
Roundtable commented that employers
responding to the increased salary level
might ‘‘require the remaining exempt
employees to absorb some of the duties
of the newly non-exempt employees—
which would be viewed as an unfair
burden by the remaining exempt
employees who are at or near capacity
already.’’ See also SIGMA (providing
similar statements).
The Department acknowledges that
for some affected workers, if their
employers respond to the rule by
increasing their salary to keep their
exemption status, the change may also
be accompanied by an increase in
assigned hours. Additionally, some
employers might respond to this
regulation by reducing the overtime
hours of affected workers and
transferring those hours to other
workers who remain exempt. The
Department believes that while some
workers may see an increase in hours,
others may see their hours decline
(discussed further in the Benefits
section below).
(i) Wage Compression
Some commenters contended that the
update to the salary threshold in this
rule would lead to wage compression.
For example, PPWO stated that the
Department did not account for this
potential cost, stating, ‘‘Where
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employees below the proposed salary
minimum have their salaries raised to
meet the new minimum, employees
above the new minimum will likewise
need to have their salaries raised to
account for the relative value of the
work being performed.’’ See also, e.g.,
Seyfarth Shaw.
However, as discussed in section
VII.C.4.iii.f., the Department estimates
that only 2.2 percent of affected workers
will have their earnings increased to the
updated salary level. Thus, in the
overwhelming majority of cases wage
compression concerns should not arise.
The Department recognizes that there
may be some cases in which employers
that raise the pay of affected employees
to the new salary level will also choose
to increase the earnings of more highly
paid employees to avoid wage
compression, but the Department does
not have data to estimate this impact.
4. Transfers
i. Overview
Transfer payments occur when
income is redistributed from one party
to another. The Department has
quantified two transfers from employers
to employees that will result from the
rule: (1) transfers to ensure compliance
with the FLSA minimum wage
provision; and (2) transfers to ensure
compliance with the FLSA overtime pay
provision. Transfers in Year 1 due to the
minimum wage provision were
estimated to be $87.5 million. The
increase in the HCE compensation level
does not affect minimum wage transfers
because workers eligible for the HCE
exemption earn well above the
minimum wage. The Department
estimates that transfers due to the
applicability of the FLSA’s overtime pay
provision will be $1.4 billion: $1.2
billion from the increased standard
salary level and $255.6 million from the
increased HCE compensation level.
Total Year 1 transfers are estimated at
$1.5 billion (Table 10).
Table 10—Total Annual Change in
Earnings for Affected EAP Workers by
Provision, Year 1 (Millions)
Total
Standard
Salary Level
$1,509.2
$87.5
$1,421.7
$1,253.6
$87.5
$1,166.1
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HCE
Compensation
Level
$255.6
-$255.6
26APR4
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less flexibility than others to account for
new labor costs and that the services
provided by such employers could be
negatively affected. However, the
Department believes the effect of the
rule on public services will be small.
The Department acknowledges that
some newly nonexempt employees who
currently work overtime providing
public services may see a reduction in
hours as an effect of the rulemaking. But
if the services are in demand, the
Department believes additional workers
may be hired, as funding availability
allows, to make up some of these hours,
and productivity increases may offset
some reduction in services. In addition,
the Department expects some employers
will adjust base wages downward to
some degree so that even after paying
the overtime premium, overall pay and
hours of work for many employees will
be relatively minimally impacted.
Additionally, many nonprofits are
noncovered enterprises because when
determining enterprise coverage only
revenue derived from business
operations, not charitable activities, is
included.
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Because the overtime premium
depends on the employee’s regular rate
of pay, the estimates of minimum wage
transfers and overtime transfers are
linked. This can be considered a twostep approach. The Department first
identified affected EAP workers with an
implicit regular hourly wage lower than
the minimum wage, and then calculated
the wage increase necessary to reach the
minimum wage. Then, the Department
estimated overtime payments.
ii. Transfers Due to the Minimum Wage
Provision
For this analysis, the hourly rate of
pay was calculated as usual weekly
earnings divided by usual weekly hours
worked. To earn less than the Federal or
most state minimum wages, this set of
workers must work many hours per
week. For example, a worker paid $684
per week must work 94.3 hours per
week to earn less than the Federal
minimum wage of $7.25 per hour ($684
÷ $7.25 = 94.3).366 The applicable
minimum wage is the higher of the
Federal minimum wage and the state
minimum wage as of January 1, 2023.
Most affected EAP workers already
receive at least the minimum wage; only
an estimated 0.5 percent (19,900 in
total) earn an implicit hourly rate of pay
less than the Federal minimum wage.
The Department estimated transfers due
to payment of the minimum wage by
calculating the change in earnings if
wages rose to the minimum wage for
workers who become nonexempt.367
In response to an increase in the
regular rate of pay to the minimum
wage, employers may reduce the
workers’ hours. In theory, since the
quantity of labor hours demanded is
inversely related to wages, a higher
mandated wage would, all things being
equal, result in fewer hours of labor
demanded. However, the weight of the
empirical evidence finds that increases
in the minimum wage that are similar in
magnitude to what would be caused by
this regulatory provision have caused
little or no significant job loss.368 Thus,
in the case of this regulation, the
Department believes that any
disemployment effect due to the
minimum wage provision will be
negligible. This is partially due to the
small number of workers affected by
this provision. According to the
Wolfson and Belman (2016) metaanalysis cited above, the consensus
range for labor demand elasticity was
¥0.05 to ¥0.12. However for Year 1 of
Hourly
Wage [a]
Time Period
Usual
Weekly
Hours
this analysis, the Department estimated
the potential disemployment effects
(i.e., the estimated reduction in hours)
of the transfer attributed to the
minimum wage by multiplying the
percent change in the regular rate of pay
by a labor demand elasticity of ¥0.2
(years 2–10 use a long run elasticity of
¥0.4).369 370 The Department chose this
labor demand elasticity because it was
used in the 2019 final rule and is
consistent with the labor demand
elasticity estimates used when
estimating other transfers further below.
At the new standard salary level, the
Department estimated that 19,900
affected EAP workers will, on average,
see an hourly wage increase of $1.57,
work 2.1 fewer hours per week and
receive an increase in weekly earnings
of $84.73 as a result of coverage by the
minimum wage provisions (Table 11).
The total change in weekly earnings due
to the payment of the minimum wage
was estimated to be $1.7 million per
week ($84.73 × 19,900) or $87.5 million
in Year 1.
Table 11—Minimum Wage Only: Mean
Hourly Wages, Usual Weekly Hours
and Weekly Earnings for Affected EAP
Workers, Year 1
Usual
Weekly
Earnings
Total
Weekly
Transfer
(1,000s)
The FLSA requires covered employers
to pay an overtime premium to
nonexempt covered workers who work
in excess of 40 hours per week. For
workers who become nonexempt, the
rulemaking will result in a transfer of
income to the affected workers,
increasing the marginal cost of labor,
which employers may try to offset by
adjusting the wages and/or hours of
affected workers. The size of the transfer
will depend largely on how employers
choose to respond to the updated salary
levels. Employers may respond by: (1)
paying overtime premiums to affected
workers; (2) reducing overtime hours of
affected workers and potentially
transferring some of these hours to other
workers; (3) reducing the regular rate of
pay for affected workers working
366 The Federal minimum wage has not increased
since 2009. Workers in states with minimum wages
higher than the Federal minimum wage could earn
less than the state minimum wage working fewer
hours.
367 Because these workers’ hourly wages will be
set at the minimum wage after this rule, their
employers will not be able to adjust their wages
downward to offset part of the cost of paying the
overtime pay premium (which will be discussed in
the following section). Therefore, these workers will
generally receive larger transfers attributed to the
overtime pay provision than other workers.
368 Wolfson, Paul J. and Belman, Dale, 15 Years
of Research on U.S. Employment and the Minimum
Wage (December 10, 2016). Tuck School of Business
Working Paper No. 2705499. https://
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_
id=2705499. Dube, Arindrajit, Impacts of Minimum
Wages: Review of the International Evidence
(November 2019). https://assets.publishing.
service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/
uploads/attachment_data/file/844350/impacts_of_
minimum_wages_review_of_the_international_
evidence_Arindrajit_Dube_web.pdf.
369 Labor demand elasticity is the percentage
change in labor hours demanded in response to a
one percent change in wages.
370 This elasticity estimate represents a short run
demand elasticity for general labor, and is based on
the Department’s analysis of Lichter, A., Peichl, A.
& Siegloch, A. (2014). The Own-Wage Elasticity of
Labor Demand: A Meta-Regression Analysis. IZA
DP No. 7958.
iii. Transfers Due to the Overtime Pay
Provision
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(a) Introduction
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Before rule
$12.85
$827.66
65.8
--After rule
$14.42
63.6
$912.39
Change
-2.1
$84.73
$1,683
$1.57
Note: Pooled data for 2021 - 2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] The applicable minimum wage is the higher of the Federal minimum wage and the
state minimum wage.
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
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overtime (provided that the reduced
rates still exceed the minimum wage);
(4) increasing affected workers’ salaries
to the updated salary or compensation
level to preserve their exempt status; or
(5) using some combination of these
responses. How employers will respond
depends on many factors, including the
relative costs of each of these
alternatives. In turn, the relative costs of
each of these alternatives are a function
of workers’ earnings and hours worked.
(b) Literature on Employer Adjustments
Two conceptual models are useful for
thinking about how employers may
respond to when certain employees
become eligible for overtime: (1) the
‘‘fixed-wage’’ or ‘‘labor demand’’ model,
and (2) the ‘‘fixed-job’’ or ‘‘employment
contract’’ model.371 These models make
different assumptions about the demand
for overtime hours and the structure of
the employment agreement, which
result in different implications for
predicting employer responses.
The fixed-wage model assumes that
the standard hourly wage is
independent of the statutory overtime
premium. Under the fixed-wage model,
a transition of workers from overtime
exempt to overtime nonexempt would
cause a reduction in overtime hours for
affected workers, an increase in the
prevalence of a 40-hour workweek
among affected workers, and an increase
in the earnings of affected workers who
continue to work overtime.
In contrast, the fixed-job model
assumes that the standard hourly wage
is affected by the statutory overtime
premium. Thus, employers can
neutralize any transition of workers
from overtime exempt to overtime
nonexempt by reducing the standard
hourly wage of affected workers so that
their weekly earnings and hours worked
are unchanged, except when minimum
wage laws prevent employers from
lowering the standard hourly wage
below the minimum wage. Under the
fixed-job model, a transition of workers
from overtime exempt to overtime
nonexempt would have different effects
on minimum-wage workers and aboveminimum-wage workers. Similar to the
fixed-wage model, minimum-wage
workers would experience a reduction
in overtime hours, an increase in the
prevalence of a 40-hour workweek at a
given employer (though not necessarily
overall), and an increase in earnings for
the portion of minimum-wage workers
371 See
Trejo, S.J. (1991). The Effects of Overtime
Pay Regulation on Worker Compensation. American
Economic Review, 81(4), 719–740, and Barkume, A.
(2010). The Structure of Labor Costs with Overtime
Work in U.S. Jobs. Industrial and Labor Relations
Review, 64(1), 128–142.
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who continue to work overtime for a
given employer. Unlike the fixed-wage
model, however, above-minimum-wage
workers would experience no change.
The Department conducted a
literature review to evaluate studies of
how labor markets adjust to a change in
the requirement to pay overtime. These
studies are generally supportive of the
fixed-job model of labor market
adjustment, in that wages adjust to
offset the requirement to pay an
overtime premium as predicted by the
fixed-job model, but do not adjust
enough to completely offset the
overtime premium as predicted by the
model.
As in the 2016 and 2019 rules, the
Department believes the two most
important papers in this literature are
the studies by Trejo (1991) and Barkume
(2010). Analyzing the economic effects
of the overtime pay provisions of the
FLSA, Trejo (1991) found ‘‘the data
analyzed here suggest the wage
adjustments occur to mitigate the purely
demand-driven effects predicted by the
fixed-wage model, but these
adjustments are not large enough to
neutralize the overtime pay regulations
completely.’’ Trejo noted, ‘‘In
accordance with the fixed job model,
the overtime law appears to have a
greater impact on minimum-wage
workers.’’ He also stated, ‘‘[T]he finding
that overtime-pay coverage status
systematically influences the hours-ofwork distribution for nonminimumwage workers is supportive of the fixedwage model. No significant differences
in weekly earnings were discovered
between the covered and non-covered
sectors, which is consistent with the
fixed-job model.’’ However, ‘‘overtime
pay compliance is higher for union than
for nonunion workers, a result that is
more easily reconciled with the fixed
wage model.’’ Trejo’s findings are
supportive of the fixed-wage model
whose adjustment is incomplete largely
due to the minimum-wage
requirement.372
A second paper by Trejo (2003) took
a different approach to testing the
consistency of the fixed-wage
adjustment models with overtime
coverage and data on hours worked.373
In this paper, he examined time-series
data on employee hours by industry.
After controlling for underlying trends
in hours worked over 20 years, he found
changes in overtime coverage had no
impact on the prevalence of overtime
372 Trejo,
S. J. (1991). The Effects of Overtime Pay
Regulation on Worker Compensation. American
Economic Review, 81(4), 719–740.
373 Trejo, S. J. (2003). Does the Statutory Overtime
Premium Discourage Long Workweeks? Industrial
and Labor Relations Review, 56(3), 375–392.
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32915
hours worked. This result supports the
fixed-job model. Unlike the 1991 paper,
however, he did not examine impacts of
overtime coverage on employees’
weekly or hourly earnings, so this
finding in support of the fixed-job
model only analyzes one implication of
the model.
Barkume (2010) built on the analytic
method used in Trejo (1991).374
However, Barkume observed that Trejo
did not account for ‘‘quasi-fixed’’
employment costs (e.g., benefits) that do
not vary with hours worked, and
therefore affect employers’ decisions on
overtime hours worked. After
incorporating these quasi-fixed costs in
the model, Barkume found results
consistent with those of Trejo (1991):
‘‘though wage rates in otherwise similar
jobs declined with greater overtime
hours, they were not enough to prevent
the FLSA overtime provisions from
increasing labor costs.’’ Barkume also
determined that the 1991 model did not
account for evidence that in the absence
of regulation some employers may
voluntarily pay workers some overtime
premium to entice them to work longer
hours, to compensate workers for
unexpected changes in their schedules,
or as a result of collective bargaining.
Barkume found that how much wages
and hours worked adjusted in response
to the overtime pay requirement
depended on what overtime pay would
be in absence of regulation.
In addition, Bell and Hart (2003)
examined the standard hourly wage,
average hourly earnings (including
overtime), the overtime premium, and
overtime hours worked in Britain.375
Unlike the United States, Britain does
not have national labor laws regulating
overtime compensation. Bell and Hart
found that after accounting for overtime,
average hourly earnings are generally
uniform in an industry because firms
paying below-market level straight-time
wages tend to pay above-market
overtime premiums and firms paying
above-market level straight-time wages
tend to pay below-market overtime
premiums. Bell and Hart concluded
‘‘this is consistent with a model in
which workers and firms enter into an
implicit contract that specifies total
hours at a constant, market-determined,
hourly wage rate. Their research is also
consistent with studies showing that
employers may pay overtime premiums
either in the absence of a regulatory
374 Barkume, A. (2010). The Structure of Labor
Costs with Overtime Work in U.S. Jobs. Industrial
and Labor Relations Review, 64(1), 128–142.
375 Bell, D. N. F. and Hart, R. A. (2003). Wages,
Hours, and Overtime Premia: Evidence from the
British Labor Market, Industrial and Labor
Relations Review, 56(3), 470–480.
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mandate (e.g., Britain), or when the
mandate exists but the requirements are
not met (e.g., United States).376
On balance, consistent with its 2016
and 2019 rulemakings, the Department
finds strong support for the fixed-job
model as the best approximation for the
likely effects of a transition of aboveminimum-wage workers from overtime
exempt to overtime nonexempt and the
fixed-wage model as the best
approximation of the likely effects of a
transition of minimum-wage workers
from overtime exempt to overtime
nonexempt. In addition, the studies
suggest that although observed wage
adjustment patterns are consistent with
the fixed-job model, this evidence also
suggests that the actual wage adjustment
might, especially in the short run, be
less than 100 percent as predicted by
the fixed-job model. Thus, the hybrid
model used in this analysis may be
described as an incomplete fixed-job
adjustment model.
To determine the magnitude of the
adjustment, the Department accounted
for the following findings. Earlier
research had demonstrated that in the
absence of regulation some employers
may voluntarily pay workers some
overtime premium to entice them to
work longer hours, to compensate
workers for unexpected changes in their
schedules, or as a result of collective
bargaining.377 Barkume (2010) found
that the measured adjustment of wages
and hours to overtime premium
requirements depended on what
overtime premium might be paid in
absence of any requirement to do so.
Thus, when Barkume assumed that
workers would receive an average
voluntary overtime pay premium of 28
percent in the absence of an overtime
pay regulation, which is the average
overtime premium that Bell and Hart
(2003) found British employers paid in
the absence of any overtime regulations,
the straight-time hourly wage adjusted
downward by 80 percent of the amount
that would occur with the fixed-job
model.378 When Barkume assumed
workers would receive no voluntary
overtime pay premium in the absence of
376 Hart, R. A. and Yue, M. (2000). Why Do Firms
Pay an Overtime Premium? IZA Discussion Paper
No. 163.
377 Barzel, Y. (1973). The Determination of Daily
Hours and Wages. The Quarterly Journal of
Economics, 87(2), 220–238, demonstrated that
modest fluctuations in labor demand could justify
substantial overtime premiums in the employment
contract model. Hart, R. A. and Yue, M. (2000).
Why Do Firms Pay an Overtime Premium? IZA
Discussion Paper No. 163, showed that establishing
an overtime premium in an employment contract
can reduce inefficiencies.
378 Barkume, A. (2010). The Structure of Labor
Costs with Overtime Work in U.S. Jobs. Industrial
and Labor Relations Review, 64(1), 128–142.
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an overtime pay regulation, the results
were more consistent with Trejo’s
(1991) findings that the adjustment was
a smaller percentage. The Department
modeled an adjustment process between
these two findings. Although it seemed
reasonable that some premium was paid
for overtime in the absence of
regulation, Barkume’s assumption of a
28 percent initial overtime premium is
likely too high for the salaried workers
potentially affected by a change in the
salary and compensation level
requirements for the EAP exemptions
because this assumption is based on a
study of workers in Britain. British
workers were likely paid a larger
voluntary overtime premium than
American workers because Britain did
not have a required overtime pay
regulation and so collective bargaining
played a larger role in implementing
overtime pay.379 In the sections that
follow, the Department uses a method
between these two papers to model
transfers.
(c) Comments Regarding Transfers
Many commenters representing
employer interests indicated that
employers would respond to the
changes proposed in the NPRM by
making a variety of adjustments to
wages, hours worked, or both. Some
commenters responded with results
from surveys of their constituents.
Although these surveys may be helpful
as background information, they
generally cannot be used in a
quantitative analysis due to issues such
as insufficient or uncertain sample
sizes, missing sampling methodology,
and missing magnitudes. For example,
NAHB referenced results from a survey
of an unknown number of its members,
asserting that 38 percent of respondents
indicated they would respond to the
proposed increase in the salary level by
‘‘[m]inimiz[ing] overtime hours.’’ The
Department agrees that firms may
reduce the hours of some workers and
has included this in the quantitative
analysis below; however, the modeling
question is to what degree employers
will adjust hours.380 As discussed
below, the Department estimates that
379 Bell, D. N. F. and Hart, R. A. (2003). Wages,
Hours, and Overtime Premia: Evidence from the
British Labor Market, Industrial and Labor
Relations Review, 56(3), 470–480.
380 Illustrating the limitations of commenterprovided surveys for this quantitative analysis, the
responses to NAHB’s survey have inconsistencies
that make them hard to interpret. For example,
concerning the 2019 rule, NAHB reported that 94
percent of respondents stated that the rule’s
increase in the salary level to $35,568 did not affect
anyone on their payroll. Nevertheless, of the same
respondents, 20% stated that they responded to the
2019 rule by minimizing overtime hours and 18%
stated that they raised salaries above the threshold.
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employers will reduce hours for Type
2B and Type 3 workers, which together
make up 21% of all affected workers.
The Department’s model is based on
worker-specific adjustments and does
not assume that a firm would respond
the same way for all affected workers
that they employ. Moreover, such
surveys were often sector-specific,
making it difficult to extrapolate
economy-wide trends, because the
distribution of affected workers varies
across sectors. Also, these surveys were
often based not on actual economic
responses, but rather on expressions of
intentions. See, e.g., AHLA; ANCOR;
NAIS and NBOA; NDA.
Despite the inability to incorporate
these survey results into the analysis,
select results are presented here. For
instance, according to AHLA, of the
members it surveyed, ‘‘70%
anticipat[ed] reclassifying workers, 60%
anticipat[ed] reducing hours and career
development opportunities to reduce
potential overtime costs, and 51%
anticipat[ed] position consolidation.’’
ANCOR found that ‘‘approximately 61
percent of [its constituents] would
employ a mitigation strategy of
converting currently exempt salaried
workers to hourly workers,’’ ‘‘[f]ifty-six
percent . . . would increase the salary
of full-time exempt workers to meet the
projected threshold,’’ ‘‘49 percent . . .
would prohibit or significantly restrict’’
permitted overtime, and ‘‘33 percent
indicated the necessity of reducing
salaried full-time employees.’’ NAIS and
NBOA stated that 13 percent of schools
that responded to its survey said they
would ‘‘raise salaries of those exempt
employees who do not meet the new
threshold,’’ 27 percent said they would
‘‘convert employees to non-exempt and
limit hours where possible,’’ 11 percent
said they would ‘‘convert employees to
non-exempt and pay overtime if hours
worked are over 40 in a week’’ and
‘‘47% of schools said they will enact
some combination of the available
options.’’ NAHB stated that, if the
proposed salary threshold were
implemented, 38 percent of respondents
reported they would ‘‘[m]inimize
overtime hours,’’ as noted above; 24
percent would ‘‘[r]aise salaries above
the threshold’’; and 9 percent would
‘‘[r]educe salaries to compensate for
overtime’’ (among other changes). And
NDA stated that 66 percent of
respondents ‘‘said they would have to
reclassify exempt employees as hourly
employees and restructure jobs if DOL
raised the minimum salary threshold’’
as proposed in the NPRM.
Regarding the transfer calculations in
the NPRM, SBA Advocacy expressed
concern about the Department’s
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estimates that affected small business
establishments would have, on average,
$360 to $2,683 in additional payroll
costs in the first year of the proposed
rule. SBA Advocacy stated that ‘‘an
Arkansas restaurant with four locations
stated it would cost almost $200,000 to
increase manager salaries to make them
compliant,’’ and that ‘‘small amusement
businesses reported estimated salary
increases for their businesses’’ ranging
from $57,000 to $250,000. It also
provided hypothetical examples of
potential salary increases that
restaurants in two states would need to
make to comply with the proposed rule
based on various assumptions,
including different salaries and amounts
of overtime performed. These anecdotal
reports and hypothetical examples do
not have any information on the actual
amount of overtime work being
performed by newly nonexempt workers
at these businesses. The Department
expects that businesses that would be
faced with large increases in payroll
costs if they were to increase salaries to
the new threshold would instead find
other responses more economically
beneficial, such as limiting the number
of overtime hours worked by workers
who become nonexempt or paying such
workers the overtime premium for hours
in excess of 40 per week. Furthermore,
this comment does not explain what
methodological approach the
Department should use to estimate
transfers; what error(s), if any, the
Department made in its transfer estimate
in its NPRM; or how much the
Department underestimated such
transfers.
Some commenters indicated that
employers may follow the fixed-job
model rather than the incomplete fixedjob model used by the Department in
the NPRM. See, e.g., AFPI; Americans
for Prosperity. AFPI, for instance, stated
that ‘‘[r]esearch shows employers
primarily respond to expanded overtime
eligibility by reducing base earnings to
reflect expected overtime—leaving total
earnings unchanged.’’ Americans for
Prosperity similarly asserted that ‘‘[o]ver
time, the natural response of business
enterprises of all types to the higher
wage costs occasioned by the proposed
rule will be an adjustment in base pay
and fringe benefits lower so that total
compensation (base pay, benefits,
overtime) does not rise.’’ 381
381 In support, AFPI and Americans for Prosperity
both cited to reports regarding the NPRM for the
2016 rule. See James Sherk, Salaried Overtime
Requirements: Employers Will Offset Them with
Lower Pay, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No.
3031, July 2, 2015. https://thf_
media.s3.amazonaws.com/2015/pdf/BG3031.pdf
(cited by AFPI); Donald J. Boudreaux & Liya
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The Oxford Economics report
included with NRF’s comment pointed
to a study by Quach (2022),382 which
analyzed the effects of the rescinded
2016 rule and the 2019 rule, along with
the impact of state-level increases to the
overtime exemption threshold.
According to Oxford Economics,
‘‘Quach finds evidence that overtime
coverage decreases employment and
increases earnings polarization’’ and
‘‘strong evidence of employee
reclassifications from salaried to hourly
status[.]’’ The Department notes that the
revised 2024 version of the working
paper did not find that increasing
overtime exemption thresholds
decreases employment. In fact, when
summarizing his findings, he says, ‘‘I
estimate that expansions in overtime
coverage actually have little effect on
employment.’’ He also notes, ‘‘while the
DOL accurately predicted that average
weekly earnings would rise, they
calculated an income effect of only
0.7%, whereas I show that earnings
increased by nearly twice that amount
for salaried workers.’’ While the
Department also reviewed the 2022
study, as discussed further below, it has
not incorporated this study into its
analysis as it has multiple limitations,
including a reliance on a nonrepresentative selection of employers,
which makes it inappropriate as a
model of aggregate effects across the
economy. The Oxford Economics report
also claimed that the Department’s
analysis in the NPRM demonstrated ‘‘a
tendency to assume that which workers
are paid on a salaried basis is
determined by an exogenous
occupational structure and to ignore the
role that the DOL’s overtime regulations
themselves play in determining this.’’
The Department’s review of the
literature cited above supports a result
between the fixed-job model and the
fixed-wage model and thus the results
were modeled accordingly. Specifically,
the Department believes the incomplete
fixed-job model is most appropriate and
consistent with the literature. Therefore,
Palagashvili, An Economic Analysis of Overtime
Pay Regulations 17–21 (Apr. 2016), available at
https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/
working-papers/economic-analysis-overtime-payregulations (cited by Americans for Prosperity).
382 Simon Quach, The Labor Market Effects of
Expanding Overtime Coverage. This is a working
paper that was published in both 2022 and 2024.
The 2024 version can be found linked on Simon
Quach’s website: https://
raw.githubusercontent.com/SimonQuach1/Papers/
main/Quach_OT.pdf?token=AH2DVMEDLJG
BAWFAVXXUNMDAYGGDQ. The Department
believes that Oxford Economics was citing to the
2022 version of the paper, which is Quach, S.
(2022). The Labor Market Effects of Expanding
Overtime Coverage. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/
papers.cfm?abstract_id=3608506.
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32917
the analysis has not been changed. The
Department further notes that its
estimates of transfers are informed by its
projection that employers will respond
to the final rule in many ways. If, for
example, an employer simply pays each
affected employee the overtime
premium for each hour worked in
excess of 40 hours per week, without
making any adjustments to wages,
hours, or duties, such an approach
would maximize transfers from
employers to employees. However, as
discussed above, the Department
believes that employers will respond to
the final rule by adjusting wages, hours,
and duties to minimize the cost of the
rule. Accordingly, the actual amount of
transfers will fall well short of the
transfers that would result if employers
simply paid each affected employee
overtime premiums without adjusting
wages, hours, or duties.
(d) Identifying Types of Affected
Workers
The Department identified four types
of workers whose work characteristics
affect how it modeled employers’
responses to the changes in both the
standard salary level and HCE
compensation level:
• Type 1: Workers who do not work
overtime.
• Type 2: Workers who do not
regularly work overtime but
occasionally work overtime.
• Type 3: Workers who regularly
work overtime and become overtime
eligible (nonexempt).
• Type 4: Workers who regularly
work overtime and remain exempt,
because it is less expensive for the
employer to pay the updated salary
level than to pay overtime and incur
additional managerial costs.
The Department began by identifying
the number of workers in each type.
After modeling employer adjustments, it
estimated transfer payments. Type 3 and
Type 4 workers were identified as those
who regularly work overtime (CPS
variable PEHRUSL1 greater than 40). To
distinguish Type 3 workers from Type
4 workers, the Department first
estimated each worker’s weekly
earnings if they became nonexempt, to
which it added weekly managerial costs
for each affected worker of $14.47
($86.82 per hour × (10 minutes ÷ 60
minutes)).383 Then, the Department
identified as Type 4 those workers
whose expected nonexempt earnings
plus weekly managerial costs exceeds
the updated standard salary level, and,
conversely, as Type 3 those whose
expected nonexempt earnings plus
383 See
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section VII.C.3.iv (managerial costs).
26APR4
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
weekly managerial costs are less than
the new standard salary. The
Department assumed that firms will
include incremental managerial costs in
their determination of whether to treat
an affected employee as a Type 3 or
Type 4 worker because those costs are
only incurred if the employee is a Type
3 worker.
Identifying Type 2 workers involved
two steps. First, using CPS MORG data,
the Department identified those who do
not usually work overtime but did work
overtime in the survey week (the week
referred to in the CPS questionnaire,
variable PEHRACT1 greater than 40).
Next, the Department supplemented the
CPS data with data from the Survey of
Income and Program Participation
(SIPP) to look at likelihood of working
some overtime during the year. Based
on 2021 data, the most recent available,
the Department found that 31.3 percent
of non-hourly workers worked overtime
at some point in a year. Therefore, the
Department classified a share of workers
who reported they do not usually work
overtime, and did not work overtime in
the reference week, as Type 2 workers
such that a total of approximately 31.3
percent of affected workers were Type 2,
3, or 4. Type 2 workers are subdivided
into Types 2A and 2B later in the
analysis (Table 12).
Table 12—Types of Affected Workers
Type of Worker
Percent of Total
69%
Type 1
Type 2A
8%
8%
Type 2B
13%
Type 3
Type4
2%
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
*Type 1: Workers who do not work overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 2: Workers who work occasional overtime and gain overtime
protection.
• Type 2A: Those who work unexpected overtime hours.
• Type 2B: Those who work expected overtime.
*Type 3: Workers who work regular overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 4: Workers who work regular overtime and remain exempt (i.e.,
earnings increase to the updated salary or compensation level).
384 Both studies considered a population that
included hourly workers. Evidence is not available
on how the adjustment towards the fixed-job model
differs between salaried and hourly workers. The
fixed-job model may be more likely to hold for
salaried workers than for hourly workers since
salaried workers directly observe their weekly total
earnings, not their implicit equivalent hourly wage.
Thus, applying the partial adjustment to the fixedjob model as estimated by these studies may
overestimate the transfers from employers to
salaried workers.
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• Barkume’s (2010) estimate that the
wage change is 80 percent of the
predicted adjustment assuming an
initial 28 percent overtime pay
premium.
This is approximately equivalent to
assuming that salaried overtime workers
implicitly receive the equivalent of a 14
percent overtime premium in the
absence of regulation (the midpoint
between 0 and 28 percent).
Modeling changes in hourly wages,
hours, and earnings for Type 1 and Type
4 workers was relatively
straightforward. Type 1 affected EAP
workers will become overtime-eligible,
but because they do not work overtime,
they will see no change in their wages,
hours, or weekly earnings. Type 4
workers will remain exempt because
their earnings will be raised to at least
the updated EAP level (either the
standard salary level or HCE
compensation level). These workers’
earnings will increase by the difference
between their current earnings and the
amount necessary to satisfy the new
salary or compensation level. It is
possible employers will increase these
workers’ hours in response to paying
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them a higher salary, but the
Department did not have enough
information to model this potential
change.385
Modeling changes in wages, hours,
and earnings for Type 2 and Type 3
workers was more complex. The
Department distinguished those who
regularly work overtime (Type 3
workers) from those who occasionally
work overtime (Type 2 workers) because
employer adjustment to the rule may
differ accordingly. Employers are more
likely to adjust hours worked and wages
for regular overtime workers because
their hours are predictable. Conversely,
in response to a transient, perhaps
unpredicted, shift in market demand for
the good or service such employers
provide, employers are more likely to
pay for occasional overtime rather than
adjust hours worked and pay.
385 Cherry, Monica, ‘‘Are Salaried Workers
Compensated for Overtime Hours?’’ Journal of
Labor Research 25(3): 485–494, September 2004,
found that exempt full-time salaried employees
earn more when they work more hours, but her
results do not lend themselves to the quantification
of the effect on hours of an increase in earnings.
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(e) Modeling Changes in Wages and
Hours
The incomplete fixed-job model
predicts that employers will adjust
wages of regular overtime workers but
not to the full extent indicated by the
fixed-job model, and thus some
employees will receive a small increase
in weekly earnings due to overtime pay
coverage. The Department used the
average of two estimates of the
incomplete fixed-job model adjustments
to model impacts of this rule: 384
• Trejo’s (1991) estimate that the
overtime-induced wage change is 40
percent of the adjustment toward the
amount predicted by the fixed-job
model, assuming an initial zero
overtime pay premium, and
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
The Department treated Type 2
affected workers in two ways due to the
uncertainty of the nature of these
occasional overtime hours. The
Department assumed that 50 percent of
these occasional overtime workers
worked unexpected overtime hours
(Type 2A) and the other 50 percent
worked expected overtime (Type 2B).
Workers were randomly assigned to
these two groups. Workers with
expected occasional overtime hours
were treated like Type 3 affected
workers (incomplete fixed-job model
adjustments). Workers with unexpected
occasional overtime hours were
assumed to receive a 50 percent pay
premium for the overtime hours worked
and receive no change in base wage or
hours (full overtime premium
model).386 When modeling Type 2
workers’ hour and wage adjustments,
the Department treated those identified
as Type 2 using the CPS data as
representative of all Type 2 workers.387
The Department estimated employer
adjustments and transfers assuming that
the patterns observed in the CPS
reference week are representative of an
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386 The Department uses the term ‘‘full overtime
premium’’ to describe the adjustment process as
modeled. The full overtime premium model is a
special case of the general fixed-wage model in that
the Department assumes the demand for labor
under these circumstances is completely inelastic.
That is, employers make no changes to employees’
hours in response to these temporary, unanticipated
changes in demand.
387 As explained in the previous section, to
estimate the population of Type 2 workers, the
Department supplemented workers who report
working overtime in the CPS reference week with
some workers who do not work overtime in the
reference week to reflect the fact that different
workers work occasional overtime in different
weeks.
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average week in the year. Thus, the
Department assumes total transfers for
the year are equal to 52 times the
transfers estimated for a representative
week for which the Department has CPS
data. However, these transfers are
spread over a larger group including
those who occasionally work overtime
but did not do so in the CPS reference
week.388
Since employers will pay more for the
same number of labor hours, for Type 2
and Type 3 EAP workers, the quantity
of labor hours demanded by employers
will decrease. The reduction in hours is
calculated using the elasticity of labor
demand with respect to wages. The
Department used a short-term demand
elasticity of ¥0.20 to estimate the
percentage decrease in hours worked in
Year 1 and a long-term elasticity of
¥0.4 to estimate the percentage
decrease in hours worked in Years 2–10.
These elasticity estimates are based on
the Department’s analysis of Lichter et
al. (2014).389 390 Brown and Hamermesh
388 If a different week was chosen as the survey
week, then some of these workers would not have
worked overtime. However, because the data are
representative of both the population and all twelve
months in a year, the Department believes the share
of Type 2 workers identified in the CPS data in the
given week is representative of an average week in
the year.
389 Lichter, A., Peichl, A. & Siegloch, A. (2014).
The Own-Wage Elasticity of Labor Demand: A
Meta-Regression Analysis. IZA DP No. 7958.
390 Some researchers have estimated larger
impacts on the number of overtime hours worked.
For example, Hamermesh and Trejo (2000)
conclude the price elasticity of demand for
overtime hours is at least ¥0.5. The Department
decided to use a general measure of elasticity
applied to the average change in wages since the
increase in the overtime wage is somewhat offset by
a decrease in the non-overtime wage as indicated
in the fixed-job model. Hamermesh, D. and S. Trejo.
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32919
(2019) estimated the elasticity of
overtime hours for EAP-exempt
workers.391 This estimate is based on a
difference-in-differences in hours for
two groups of workers between two time
periods. However, some groups of
workers are incorrectly defined, so the
Department has not used these
estimates.392
For Type 3 affected workers, and the
50 percent of Type 2 affected workers
who worked expected overtime, the
Department estimated adjusted total
hours worked after making wage
adjustments using the incomplete fixedjob model. To estimate adjusted hours
worked, the Department set the percent
change in total hours worked equal to
the percent change in average wages
multiplied by the wage elasticity of
labor demand.393 Figure 4 is a flow
chart summarizing the four types of
affected EAP workers. Also shown are
the effects on exempt status, weekly
earnings, and hours worked for each
type of affected worker.
(2000)). The Demand for Hours of Labor: Direct
Evidence from California. The Review of Economics
and Statistics, 82(1), 38–47.
391 Brown, Charles C., and Daniel S. Hamermesh.
(2019). ‘‘Wages and Hours Laws: What Do We
Know? What Can Be Done?’’ RSF: The Russell Sage
Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 5(5): 68–
87. DOI: 10.7758/RSF.2019.5.5.04.
392 For example, the authors defined the ‘‘nonexempt 1987–1989’’ group as workers earning above
$223 but below $455 during this period. Because
the salary level for the long test was $155 or $170
and was $250 for the short test, see section VII.A.1
(Table 1), some of these workers would be exempt.
393 In this equation, the only unknown is adjusted
total hours worked. Since adjusted total hours
worked is in the denominator of the left side of the
equation and is also in the numerator of the right
side of the equation, solving for adjusted total hours
worked requires solving a quadratic equation.
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Figure 4—Flow Chart of the Rule’s
Effect on Earnings and Hours Worked
I
Affected
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
32921
[a] Those who are exempt under the current EAP exemptions and will gain minimum wage and
overtime protection or receive a raise to the increased salary or compensation level.
[b] The Department used two methods to identify occasional overtime workers. The first
includes workers who report they usually work 40 hours or fewer per week (identified with
variable PEHRUSLl in CPS MORG), but in the reference week worked more than 40 hours
(variable PEHRACTl in CPS MORG). The second includes reclassifying some additional
workers who usually work 40 hours or fewer per week, and in the reference week worked 40
hours or fewer, to match the proportion of workers measured in other data sets who work
overtime at any point in the year.
[c] The amount wages are adjusted downwards depends on whether the fixed-job model or the
fixed-wage model holds. The Department's primary method uses a combination of the two.
Employers reduce the regular hourly wage rate somewhat in response to overtime pay
requirements, but the wage is not reduced enough to keep total compensation constant.
[d] Based on hourly wage and weekly hours it is more cost efficient for the employer to increase
the worker's weekly salary to the updated salary level than to pay overtime pay.
[e] On average, the Department's modeling of regulatory effects yields a result in which
employees' overall weekly earnings will increase despite a small decrease in average hours
worked. In some limited cases, employers might decrease employees' hours enough to cause
those employees' weekly earnings to decrease.
[f] The Department assumed hours would not change; however, it is possible employers will
increase these workers' hours in response to paying them a higher salary or to avoid paying
overtime premiums to newly nonexempt coworkers.
(f) Estimated Number of and Effects on
Affected EAP Workers
The Department estimated the rule
will affect 4.3 million workers (Table
13), of which 3.0 million are Type 1
workers (68.7 percent of all affected
EAP workers), 704,000 were estimated
to be Type 2 workers (16.2 percent),
558,800 were Type 3 workers (12.9
EAPTest
Total
No
Overtime
(Tl)
percent), and 94,100 were estimated to
be Type 4 workers (2.2 percent).
Table 13—Affected EAP Workers by
Type (1,000s), Year 1
Regular Overtime
Occasional
Newly
Remain
Overtime
Nonexempt
Exempt
(T2)
(T3)
(T4)
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Department projects that weekly
earnings will be unchanged or increase
while hours worked will be unchanged
or decrease.
Type 1 workers will have no change
in wages, hours, or earnings due to the
PO 00000
overtime pay provision because these
workers do not work overtime.394
394 It is possible that these workers may
experience an increase in hours and weekly
earnings because of transfers of hours from other
newly nonexempt workers who do usually work
overtime. Due to the high level of uncertainty in
Continued
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The rule will affect some affected
workers’ hourly wages, hours, and
weekly earnings. Predicted changes in
implicit wage rates are outlined in Table
14, changes in hours in Table 15, and
changes in weekly earnings in Table 16.
How these will change depends on the
type of worker, but on average the
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Standard salary level
4,044.6
2,778.7
691.3
486.7
87.9
HCE compensation level
292.9
201.4
72.1
13.2
6.2
Total
4,337.5
2,980.2
704.4
558.8
94.1
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
*Type 1: Workers who do not work overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 2: Workers who work occasional overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 3: Workers who work regular overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 4: Workers who work regular overtime and remain exempt (i.e., earnings increase to the
updated salary level).
32922
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
For Type 2A workers, the Department
assumed employers will be unable to
adjust the hours or regular rate of pay
for these occasional overtime workers
whose overtime is irregularly scheduled
and unpredictable. These workers will
receive a 50 percent premium on their
regular hourly wage for each hour
worked in excess of 40 hours per week,
and so average weekly earnings would
increase.395
For Type 3 workers and Type 2B
workers (the 50 percent of Type 2
workers who regularly work occasional
overtime, an estimated 969,100
Time Period
workers), the Department used the
incomplete fixed-job model to estimate
changes in the regular rate of pay. These
workers will see a decrease in their
average regular hourly wage and a small
decrease in hours. However, because
these workers will receive a 50 percent
premium on their regular hourly wage
for each hour worked in excess of 40
hours per week, their average weekly
earnings will increase. The reduction in
hours is relatively small and is due to
a decrease in labor demand from the
increase in the average hourly wage as
Total
No
Overtime
(Tl)
Occasional
Overtime
(T2)
predicted by the incomplete fixed-job
model (Table 15).
Type 4 workers’ implicit hourly rates
of pay and weekly earnings will
increase to meet the updated standard
salary level or HCE annual
compensation level. Type 4 workers’
hours may increase to offset the
additional earnings, but due to lack of
data, the Department assumed hours
would not change.
Table 14—Average Regular Rate of Pay
by Type of Affected EAP Worker, Year
1
Regular Overtime
Remain
Newly
Exempt
Nonexempt
(T4)
(T3)
Standard Salary Level
$18.85
$20.62
$24.26
$25.23
$24.61
$21.21
$24.14
$25.23
$24.49
$17.90
-$0.12
-$0.12
-$0.95
$0.59
$0.00
2.9%
-0.5%
0.0%
-0.5%
-5.0%
HCE Compensation Level
$52.13
Before rule
$47.44
$57.97
$61.80
$59.78
$52.92
After rule
$57.25
$61.80
$58.09
$44.74
Change($)
-$0.72
-$1.69
-$2.70
$0.78
$0.00
Change(%)
1.5%
-1.2%
0.0%
-2.8%
-5.7%
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
*Type 1: Workers who do not work overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 2: Workers who work occasional overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 3: Workers who work regular overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 4: Workers who work regular overtime and remain exempt (i.e., earnings increase to
the updated salary level).
employers’ responses regarding the transfer of
hours, the Department did not have credible
evidence to support an estimation of the number of
hours transferred to other workers.
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395 Type 2 workers will not see increases in
regular earnings to the new salary or compensation
levels (as Type 4 workers do) even if their new
earnings in this week exceed those new levels. This
is because the estimated new earnings only reflect
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their earnings in those weeks when overtime is
worked; their earnings in typical weeks when they
do not work overtime do not exceed the salary or
compensation level.
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Before rule
After rule
Change($)
Change(%)
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
32923
Table 15—Average Weekly Hours by
Type of Affected EAP Worker, Year 1
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Regular OT
No
Overtime Occasional
Newly
Remain
Time Period
Total
Worked
OT (T2)
Nonexempt
Exempt
(Tl)
(T3)
(T4)
Standard Salary Level fa l
Before rule
41.0
38.9
40.7
50.4
54.7
After rule
40.9
40.7
54.7
38.9
50.0
-0.1
-0.4
Change (hours)
0.0
0.0
0.0
Change(%)
-0.1%
0.0%
-0.1%
-0.8%
0.0%
HCE Compensation Level fa l
Before rule
42.7
39.4
44.7
50.5
56.4
After rule
42.6
44.6
39.4
50.2
56.4
-0.1
-0.1
-0.3
Change (hours)
0.0
0.0
Change(%)
-0.2%
0.0%
-0.3%
-0.6%
0.0%
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021- 2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Usual hours for Types 1, 3, and 4 but actual hours for Type 2 workers identified in the
CPSMORG.
*Type 1: Workers who do not work overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 2: Workers who work occasional overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 3: Workers who work regular overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 4: Workers who work regular overtime and remain exempt (i.e., earnings increase to
the updated salary level).
32924
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 16—Average Weekly Earnings by
Type of Affected EAP Worker, Year 1
Time Period
No
Overtime
(Tl)
Total
Occasional
Overtime
(T2)
Regular Overtime
Newly
Remain Exempt
Nonexempt
(T4)
(T3)
At the new standard salary level, the
average weekly earnings of affected
workers will increase $5.96 (0.6
percent), from $947.71 to $953.67.
Multiplying the average change of $5.96
by the 4.0 million EAP workers affected
by the combination of the initial update
and the subsequent application of the
new standard salary level and 52 weeks
equals an increase in earnings of $1.3
billion in the first year. For workers
affected by the change in the HCE
compensation level, average weekly
earnings will increase by $16.79. When
multiplied by 292,900 affected workers
and 52 weeks, the national increase will
be $255.6 million in the first year. Thus,
total Year 1 transfer payments
attributable to this rule will equal $1.5
billion.
The Department is only aware of one
paper that modeled the impacts of the
2019 rule’s increases in the salary and
compensation levels. Quach (2024) 396
used administrative payroll data from
396 Quach, S. (2024). The Labor Market Effects of
Expanding Overtime Coverage. https://
raw.githubusercontent.com/SimonQuach1/Papers/
main/Quach_OT.pdf?token=AH2DVMEDLJGBA
WFAVXXUNMDAYGGDQ.
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May 2008 to July 2021 to estimate the
impacts of the rescinded 2016 rule and
the 2019 rule on employment, earnings,
and salary status.397 The paper has not
been published in a peer-reviewed
journal and has significant limitations,
including that its use of administrative
payroll data from ADP means that the
findings are not representative as ADP
customers do not represent a random
sample of the workplace.
In terms of its findings, concerning
employment, the author found that
expansions in overtime coverage
actually had little effect on employment.
He also found that average weekly
earnings rose by about 1.4% for salaried
workers, and found no evidence that
firms reduced base pays in response to
changes in the overtime threshold.
Concerning salary status, he found that
approximately 2.6% of affected workers
are re-classified from salaried to hourly
status. The Department has not adjusted
its methodology in response to this
paper given the concerns listed above.
397 The Department notes that the effective date
of the 2019 final rule was in January 2020, so using
data from this month may not fully capture the
effects of the 2019 rule.
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Additionally, it can be informative to
look at papers which predict the impact
of rulemakings. For example,
Rohwedder and Wenger (2015) analyzed
the effects of increasing the standard
salary level from the then baseline level
of $455 per week.398 They compared
hourly and salaried workers in the CPS
using quantile treatment effects. This
methodology estimates the effect of a
worker becoming nonexempt by
comparing similar workers who are
hourly and salaried. They found no
statistically significant change in hours
or wages on average. However, their
point estimates, averaged across all
affected workers, show small increases
in earnings and decreases in hours,
similar to the Department’s analysis. For
example, using a salary level of $750,
they estimated weekly earnings may
increase between $2 and $22 and
weekly hours may decrease by
approximately 0.4 hours.
398 Rohwedder, S. and Wenger, J.B. (2015). The
Fair Labor Standards Act: Worker Misclassification
and the Hours and Earnings Effects of Expanded
Coverage. RAND Labor and Population.
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Standard Salary Level ral
Before rule
$947.71
$982.87
$934.77
$1,091.89
$936.67
After rule
$953.67
$936.67
$994.47
$961.31
$1,128.00
Change($)
$11.60
$26.53
$36.11
$5.96
$0.00
Change(%)
0.6%
0.0%
1.2%
2.8%
3.3%
HCE Compensation Level ral
Before rule
$2,397.46
$2,375.43
$2,683.04
$2,366.73
$2,864.13
After rule
$2,414.25
$2,375.43
$2,719.10
$2,424.68
$2,907.00
Change($)
$16.79
$0.00
$36.06
$57.94
$42.87
Change(%)
0.7%
0.0%
1.3%
2.4%
1.5%
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] The mean of the hourly wage multiplied by the mean of the hours does not necessarily
equal the mean of the weekly earnings because the product of two averages is not necessarily
equal to the average of the product.
*Type 1: Workers who do not work overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 2: Workers who work occasional overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 3: Workers who work regular overtime and gain overtime protection.
*Type 4: Workers who work regular overtime and remain exempt (i.e., earnings increase to the
updated salary level).
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
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iv. Potential Transfers Not Quantified
This rule could lead to additional
transfers that the Department is unable
to quantify. For example, in response to
this rule, some employers may decrease
the hours of newly nonexempt workers
who usually work overtime. These
hours may be transferred to other
workers, such as non-overtime workers
and exempt workers who are not
affected by the rule. Depending on how
these hours are transferred, it could lead
to either a reduction or increase in
earnings for other workers. Employers
may also offset increased labor costs by
reducing bonuses or benefits instead of
reducing base wages or hours worked. If
this occurs, an employee’s overall
compensation may not be affected.
The rule could also reduce reliance on
social assistance programs for some
workers who may receive a transfer of
income resulting from this rule. For
low-income workers, this transfer could
result in a reduced need for social
assistance programs such as Medicaid,
the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC),
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP), the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
program, the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants,
and Children (WIC), and free or
reduced-priced school meals. A worker
earning the current salary level of $684
per week earns $35,568 annually, which
is roughly equivalent to the Federal
poverty level for a family of five and
makes the family eligible for multiple
social assistance programs.399 Thus,
transferring income to these workers
could reduce eligibility for government
social assistance programs. This could
lead to an increase or a reduction in a
family’s total resources, depending on
the relative size of the increase in
earnings and the value of the decrease
in assistance. Regardless, reduced
eligibility for social assistance programs
would reduce government expenditures
at the Federal, State, and/or local level.
5. Benefits and Cost Savings
The Department expects that this rule
could lead to multiple benefits, which
were discussed qualitatively in the
NPRM. These potential benefits and
commenter feedback about them are
addressed below.
The revised salary level will
strengthen the overtime protection of
salaried, white-collar employees who do
not pass the standard duties test and
who earn between the current salary
399 Department of Health and Human Services
(2023). Federal Poverty Level. https://
www.healthcare.gov/glossary/Federal-poverty-levelfpl/.
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32925
standard salary level and the new
standard salary level. These employees
are nonexempt but, because they satisfy
the current salary level threshold,
employers must apply the duties test to
determine their exemption status. At the
new salary level, the number of whitecollar salaried employees who earn
between the current and the new salary
levels and fail the duties test would
decrease by 4.7 million. Because these
nonexempt employees no longer meet
the salary level, employers will be able
to determine their exemption status
based solely on the salary test. If any of
these employers previously spent
significant time evaluating the duties of
these workers to determine exemption
status, the change to determining
exemption status based on the salary
level could lead to some cost savings.
Also, as many commenters observed,
the new salary level will strengthen the
right to overtime pay for nonexempt
workers who earn between the current
and new standard salary levels. See,
e.g., Coalition of State AGs; Coalition of
Gender Justice and Civil Rights
Organizations; Washington Dept. of
Labor & Industries. Similarly, to the
extent that some of these 4.7 million
employees are currently misclassified as
exempt, the new salary level will make
it more clear for workers and employers
that such workers are not EAP
exempt.400 Thus, this aspect of the rule
is responsive to commenter concerns
that the current salary level is too low
to prevent the misclassification of
salaried employees who fail the duties
test. See e.g., AFSCME; EPI; NELP;
Sanford Heisler Sharp.
Commenters disagreed over whether
the proposed rule would improve or
hinder the productivity of affected
workers. Some commenters, such as the
AFL–CIO, agreed with the analysis
provided in the NPRM that this
rulemaking could increase productivity
‘‘by reducing turnover, incentivizing
workers to work harder, and increasing
marginal productivity as fewer hours are
worked.’’ In contrast, a number of
employer representatives asserted that
the rule would hinder worker
productivity. For example, PPWO
asserted that affected workers who
become nonexempt ‘‘will now need to
account for their time in a way they
have not had to previously, and in a
way that their exempt co-workers do
not.’’ See also, e.g., AFPI.
The Department continues to believe
that the rule could potentially lead to
increased worker productivity if
workers receive an increase in
compensation. Increased productivity
could occur through numerous
channels, such as employee retention
and level of effort. A strand of economic
research, commonly referred to as
‘‘efficiency wage’’ theory, considers how
an increase in compensation may be met
with greater productivity.401 Efficiency
wages may elicit greater effort on the
part of workers, making them more
effective on the job.402 Other research
on increases in the minimum wage have
demonstrated a positive relationship
between increased compensation and
worker productivity. For example, Kim
and Jang (2019) showed that wage raises
increase productivity for up to two years
after the wage increase.403 They found
that in both full and limited-service
restaurants productivity increased due
to improved worker morale after a wage
increase. Additionally, research
demonstrates a correlation between
increased earnings and reduced
employee turnover.404 405 Reducing
turnover, in turn, may increase
productivity because longer-tenured
employees have more firm-specific
skills and knowledge and thus could be
more productive and require less
400 See Rohwedder, S. and Wenger, J.B. (2015).
The Fair Labor Standards Act: Worker
Misclassification and the Hours and Earnings
Effects of Expanded Coverage. RAND Labor and
Population. RAND conducted a survey to identify
the number of workers who may have failed the
standards duties test and yet are classified as EAP
exempt. The survey, a special module to the
American Life Panel, asked respondents: (1) their
hours worked, (2) whether they are paid on an
hourly or salary basis, (3) their typical earnings, (4)
whether they perform certain job responsibilities
that are treated as proxies for whether they would
justify exempt status, and (5) whether they receive
any overtime pay. Using these data, Rohwedder and
Wenger found that ‘‘11.5 percent of salaried
workers were classified as exempt by their
employer although they did not meet the criteria for
being so.’’ This survey was conducted when the
salary level was $455. The exact percentage may no
longer be applicable, but the concern that in some
instances the duties test may be misapplied
remains.
401 Akerlof, G.A. (1982). Labor Contracts as Partial
Gift Exchange. The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
97(4), 543–569.
402 Another model of efficiency wages, which is
less applicable here, is the adverse selection model
in which higher wages raise the quality of the pool
of applicants.
403 Kim, H.S., & Jang, S. (2019). Minimum Wage
Increase and Firm Productivity: Evidence from the
Restaurant Industry. Tourism Management 71, 378–
388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.10.029.
404 Howes, Candace. (2005). Living Wages and
Retention of Homecare Workers in San Francisco.
Industrial Relations, 44(1), 139–163. Dube, A.,
Lester, T.W., & Reich, M.. (2014). Minimum Wage
Shocks, Employment Flows and Labor Market
Frictions. IRLE Working Paper #149–13.
405 This literature tends to focus on changes in
earnings for a specific sector or subset of the labor
force. The impact on turnover when earnings
increase across sectors (as would be the case with
this regulation) may be smaller.
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supervision and training.406 Reduced
turnover could also reduce firms’ hiring
and training costs. As a result, even
though marginal labor costs rise, they
may rise by less than the amount of the
wage change because the higher wages
may be offset by increased productivity
and reduced hiring costs for firms.
This rulemaking could also result in
an increase in personal time for some
affected workers. Worker advocacy
organizations and individual
commenters asserted that employees
would generally enjoy more personal
time as a consequence of the rule. For
example, SEIU commented that ‘‘[w]hen
workers are exempted from overtime
pay protections, it disincentivizes
employers from being efficient with
[employees’] time.’’ Due to the increase
in marginal cost for overtime hours for
newly overtime-eligible workers,
employers could demand fewer hours
from some of the workers affected by
this rulemaking. If these workers’ pay
remains the same, they could benefit
from increased personal time and
improved work-life balance. Empirical
evidence shows that workers in the
United States typically work more than
workers in other comparatively wealthy
countries.407 Workers in executive,
administrative, and professional
occupations tend to work longer
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406 Argote, L., Insko, C. A., Yovetich, N., &
Romero, A. A. (1995). Group Learning Curves: The
Effects of Turnover and Task Complexity on Group
Performance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology,
25(6), 512–529. Shaw, J. D. (2011). Turnover Rates
and Organizational Performance: Review, Critique,
and Research Agenda. Organizational Psychology
Review, 1(3), 187–213.
407 For more information, see OECD series,
average annual hours actually worked per worker,
available at: https://stats.oecd.org/index.
aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS.
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hours.408 They also have the highest
percentage of workers who would prefer
to work fewer hours compared to other
occupational categories.409 Therefore,
the Department believes that this rule
may result in reduced time spent
working overtime for a group of
workers, some of whom may prefer such
an outcome.
6. Sensitivity Analysis of Transfer
Payments
Because the Department cannot
predict employers’ precise reactions to
the rule, the Department calculated
bounds on the size of the estimated
transfers from employers to workers,
relative to the primary estimates in this
RIA. For the upper bound, the
Department assumed that the full
overtime premium model is more likely
to occur than in the primary model. For
the lower bound, the Department
assumed that the complete fixed-job
model is more likely to occur than in
the primary model. Based on these
assumptions, estimated transfers may
range from $631.1 million to $2.9
billion, with the primary estimate equal
to $1.5 billion.
For a reasonable upper bound on
transfer payments, the Department
408 Boushey, H. and Ansel, B. (2016). Overworked
America, The economic causes and consequences of
long work hours. Washington Center for Equitable
Growth. https://equitablegrowth.org/researchpaper/overworked-america/?longform=true.
409 Hamermesh, D.S., Kawaguchi, D., Lee, J.
(2014). Does Labor Legislation Benefit Workers?
Well-Being after an Hours Reduction. IZA DP No.
8077.
Golden, L., & Gebreselassie, T. (2007).
Overemployment Mismatches: The Preference for
Fewer Work Hours. Monthly Labor Review, 130(4),
18–37.
Hamermesh, D.S. (2014). Not Enough Time?
American Economist, 59(2).
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assumed that all occasional overtime
workers and half of regular overtime
workers would receive the full overtime
premium (i.e., such workers will work
the same number of hours but be paid
1.5 times their implicit initial hourly
wage for all overtime hours) (Table 17).
The full overtime premium model is a
special case of the fixed-wage model
where there is no change in hours. For
the other half of regular overtime
workers, the Department assumed in the
upper-bound method that they would
have their implicit hourly wage adjusted
as predicted by the incomplete fixed-job
model (wage rates fall and hours are
reduced but total earnings continue to
increase, as in the primary method). In
the primary model, the Department
assumed that only 50 percent of
occasional overtime workers and no
regular overtime workers would receive
the full overtime premium.
The plausible lower bound on transfer
payments also depends on whether
employees work regular overtime or
occasional overtime. For those who
regularly work overtime hours and half
of those who work occasional overtime,
the Department assumed the employees’
wages would fully adjust as predicted
by the fixed-job model.410 For the other
half of employees with occasional
overtime hours, the lower bound
assumes they would be paid one and
one-half times their implicit hourly
wage for overtime hours worked (full
overtime premium).
410 The straight-time wage adjusts to a level that
keeps weekly earnings constant when overtime
hours are paid at 1.5 times the straight-time wage.
In cases where adjusting the straight-time wage
results in a wage less than the minimum wage, the
straight-time wage is set to the minimum wage.
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Table 17—Summary of the
Assumptions Used to Calculate the
Lower Estimate, Primary Estimate, and
Upper Estimate of Transfers
Lower Transfer Estimate
Primary Estimate
Upper Transfer Estimate
Occasional Overtime Workers (Type 2)
50% incomplete fixed-job
50% fixed-job model
100% full overtime premium
model
50% full overtime premium
50% full overtime premium
Regular Overtime Workers (Type 3)
100% incomplete fixed-job
50% incomplete fixed-job
100% fixed-job model
model
model
50% full overtime premium
* Full overtime premium model: Regular rate of pay equals the implicit hourly wage prior to
the regulation (with no adjustments); workers are paid 1.5 times this base wage for the same
number of overtime hours worked prior to the regulation.
* Fixed-job model: Base wages are set at the higher of: (1) a rate such that total earnings and
hours remain the same before and after the regulation; thus the base wage falls, and workers
are paid 1.5 times the new base wage for overtime hours (the fixed-job model) or (2) the
mm1mum wage.
* Incomplete fixed-job model: Regular rates of pay are partially adjusted to the wage implied
by the fixed-job model.
This section compares the number of
affected workers, costs, and transfers
across regions and industries. Although
impacts will be more pronounced in
some regions or industries, the
Department has concluded that in no
region or industry are the costs overly
burdensome. The proportion of total
costs and transfers in each region will
be fairly consistent with the proportion
of total workers in each region. Affected
workers are overrepresented in some
industries, but costs and transfers will
still be manageable as a share of payroll
and of total revenue (See Table 21 for
regions and Table 24 for industries).
The Department also compared costs
and transfers relative to total payrolls
and revenues. This provides a common
method of assessing the relative effects
of the rule on different regions or
industries, and the magnitude of
adjustments the rule may require on the
part of enterprises in each region or
industry. The relative costs and
transfers expressed as a percentage of
payroll are particularly useful measures
of the relative size of adjustment faced
by organizations in a region or industry
because they benchmark against the cost
category directly associated with the
labor force. Average estimated costs and
transfers from this rule are very small
relative to current payroll or current
revenue—less than a tenth of a percent
of payroll and of revenue in each region
and in each industry.
Salaries vary across the U.S.
geographically. To ensure the new
standard salary level would not be too
high in any region of the country, the
Department has used only wages in the
lowest-wage region, the South,411 to set
the salary level. However, because
wages are lower in the South and the
Midwest 412 than the Northeast 413 and
the West,414 impacts may be larger in
these two lower-wage regions. This
section considers impacts across the
four Census regions to ensure the
impacts in the lower-wage regions
would be manageable. The South has by
far the most affected workers (1.9
million), though it also has the most
workers of any Census region (Table 18).
As a share of potentially affected
workers in the region, the South will
have somewhat more affected workers
relative to other regions (17.9 percent
are affected compared with 11.0 to 15.4
percent in other regions). However, as a
share of all workers in the region, the
South will not be particularly affected
relative to other regions (3.5 percent are
affected compared with 2.3 to 3.0
percent in other regions).
411 The South Census region is comprised of the
following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware,
District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
Virginia, and West Virginia.
412 The Midwest Census region is comprised of
the following states: Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
413 The Northeast Census region is comprised of
the following states: Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont.
414 The West Census region is comprised of the
following states: Alaska, Arizona, California,
Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New
Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming.
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Table 18—Potentially Affected and
Affected Workers, by Region, Year 1
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7. Effects by Regions and Industries
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Affected
Workers
Affected
Workers as a
Affected
Subject to
Workers
Precent of
Workers as
Region
FLSA
(Millions)
Potentially
a Percent of
(Millions)
[b]
Affected
All Workers
Workers
14.6%
3.0%
All
143.7
29.7
4.3
Northeast
25.5
12.3%
2.9%
6.0
0.7
15.4%
3.0%
Midwest
31.1
6.1
0.9
17.9%
3.5%
South
53.2
10.5
1.9
11.0%
2.3%
West
33.8
7.2
0.8
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] EAP exempt workers who are white-collar, salaried, not eligible for another (nonEAP) overtime exemption, and not in a named occupation.
[b] Currently EAP exempt workers who will be entitled to overtime protection under
the updated earnings levels or whose weekly earnings will increase to the new earnings
levels to remain exempt.
Potentially
Affected
Workers
(Millions)
[a]
Total transfers in the first year were
estimated to be $1.5 billion (Table 19).
As expected, the transfers in the South
will be the largest portion because the
largest number of affected workers
would be in the South. However,
transfers per affected worker will be less
in the South than in other Census
regions. Annual transfers per affected
worker will be $291 in the South, and
between $346 and $462 in other regions.
Table 19—Annual Transfers by Region,
Year 1
Total Annual
Annual Transfer
Annual
Change in
Region
Per Affected
Transfers per
Earnings
Worker
Entity
(Millions)
All
$1,509.2
$348
$183
Northeast
$256.4
$346
$172
Midwest
$343.6
$202
$368
South
$543.6
$291
$181
$462
$178
West
$365.6
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
Percent of Total
Transfers by
Region
100.0%
17.0%
22.8%
36.0%
24.2%
All
$1,436.2
$174
Northeast
$240.7
$162
Midwest
$323.5
$190
South
$581.7
$194
$1,436.2
$174
West
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
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Percent of Total
Direct Costs by
Region
100.0%
16.8%
22.5%
40.5%
100.0%
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Region
Total Direct Costs
per Entity
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Total Direct Costs
(Millions)
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Table 20—Annual Costs by Region,
Year 1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Direct employer costs are composed
of regulatory familiarization costs,
adjustment costs, and managerial costs.
The Department estimates that total
direct employer costs will be the highest
in the South ($581.7 million) and lowest
in the Northeast ($240.7 million).
Transfers and direct employer costs in
each region, as a percentage of the total
transfers and direct costs, would range
from 16.9 percent in the Northeast to
38.2 percent in the South. These
proportions are almost the same as the
Region
proportions of the total workforce in
each region: 17.8 percent in the
Northeast and 37.0 percent in the South.
Costs and transfers per establishment
would be slightly higher in the Midwest
($392) than on average, but still small
(Table 21).
Another way to compare the relative
effects of this rule by region is to
consider the transfers and costs as a
proportion of payroll and revenues
(Table 21).415 Nationally, employer
costs and transfers will be
Transfers
and Costs
per Entity
Payroll
(Billions)
[a]
Revenue
(Billions)
[a]
$9,471
$50,655
All
$358
$2,010
$9,902
Northeast
$334
$1,947
$11,276
Midwest
$392
$3,137
$17,812
South
$375
$2,377
$11,666
$320
West
[a] Payroll and revenue data exclude the Federal Government.
32929
approximately 0.031 percent of payroll.
By region, direct employer costs and
transfers as a percent of payroll will be
approximately the same (between 0.025
and 0.036 percent of payroll). Employer
costs and transfers as a percent of
revenue will be 0.006 percent nationally
and range between 0.005 and 0.006
percent in each region.
Table 21—Annual Transfers and Costs
as Percent of Payroll and of Revenue by
Region, Year 1
Costs and Transfers
As Percent of As Percent of
Payroll
Revenue
0.031%
0.025%
0.034%
0.036%
0.028%
0.006%
0.005%
0.006%
0.006%
0.006%
Sources: Costs and transfers based on pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
Private sector payroll and revenue data from 2017 SUSB. State and local payroll and revenue
data from State and Local Government Finances 2020. Inflated to $2023 using GDP deflator.
industry groups. The Department also
compared estimates of combined costs
and transfers as a percent of payroll and
revenue across industries.
Table 22 presents the number of
affected workers by industry. The
industry with the most affected workers
is professional and business services
(827,400). The industry with the largest
share of workers affected is financial
activities (5.7 percent). This is because
the financial activities industry is
heavily composed of salaried whitecollar workers. As a share of potentially
affected workers, the industry with the
highest share affected is leisure and
hospitality (24.3 percent), followed by
agriculture, forestry, fishing, & hunting
(22.8 percent).
415 The Department uses 2017 data here because
although payroll data are available for more recent
years, the most recent revenue data are for 2017.
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Impacts may be more pronounced in
some industries. In particular, lowerwage industries where more workers
may earn between $684 and the new
salary level may be impacted more.
Additionally, industries where EAP
workers are more prevalent may
experience larger impacts. To gauge the
effect of the rule on industries, the
Department estimated affected workers,
costs, and transfers for the 13 major
32930
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 22—Potentially Affected and
Affected Workers, by Industry, Year 1
Workers
Subject
to FLSA
(1,000s)
Industry
Potentially
Affected
Workers
(1,000s)
[a]
Affected
Workers
(1,000s)
[b]
Affected
Workers
as a
Percent of
Potentially
Affected
Workers
14.6%
Affected
Workers
as a
Percent
of All
Workers
143,677.6 29,746.7
4,337.5
3.0%
All
Agriculture, forestry, fishing,
1,312.6
58.5
13.3
22.8%
1.0%
& hunting
Mining
156.6
18.5
587.4
11.8%
3.1%
184.6
Construction
9,305.3
1,266.9
14.6%
2.0%
Manufacturing
15,521.5
4,062.0
350.6
8.6%
2.3%
Wholesale trade
3,164.1
852.5
112.3
13.2%
3.5%
Retail trade
15,649.0
1,966.1
377.4
19.2%
2.4%
Transportation & utilities
8,902.5
1,072.9
152.9
14.3%
1.7%
Information
2,711.7
1,082.4
132.4
12.2%
4.9%
Financial activities
9,925.6
4,349.8
564.5
13.0%
5.7%
Professional & business
17,462.0
7,126.2
827.4
11.6%
4.7%
services
Education
14,294.5
1,202.7
244.1
20.3%
1.7%
Healthcare & social services
21,025.7
3,745.2
740.2
19.8%
3.5%
Leisure & hospitality
12,529.3
940.3
228.5
24.3%
1.8%
Other services
5,532.2
761.7
163.5
21.5%
3.0%
Public administration
5,754.2
1,103.0
227.2
20.6%
3.9%
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] EAP exempt workers who are white-collar, salaried, not eligible for another (non-EAP)
overtime exemption, and not in a named occupation.
[b] Currently EAP exempt workers who will be entitled to overtime protection under the
updated earnings levels or whose weekly earnings will increase to the new earnings levels to
remain exempt.
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nationwide transfers and costs.
Transfers and costs are also large in the
healthcare and social services industry,
at least partially due to the large size of
this industry. However, transfers per
affected worker will be relatively low in
this industry, $229 in the first year
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compared with $348 nationally. A third
industry with relatively large total
transfers and costs is the retail trade
industry.
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Both transfers and costs will be the
largest in the professional and business
services industry because this industry
is large and heavily composed of
salaried white-collar workers (Table 23).
Combined, in Year 1, these total $564.7
million and represent 19.2 percent of
32931
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 23—Annual Transfers and Costs
by Industry, Year 1
Industry
All
Agriculture, forestry,
fishing, & hunting
Mining
Transfers
(Millions)
Transfer
Per
Affected
Worker
Direct Costs
(Millions)
[a]
Transfers
and Costs
(Millions)
Percent of
Total
Transfers
and Costs
by
Industry
$1,509.2
$348
$1,435.7
$2,944.9
100.0%
$2.4
$178
$284
$4.3
$4.5
$6.6
0.2%
0.3%
$63.5
$142.9
$344
$408
$87.5
$101.4
$9.8
$151.1
$52.2
$192.8
$465
$511
$50.7
$166.9
$59.8
$49.7
$391
$50.7
$35.8
$5.2
Construction
Manufacturing
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation & utilities
$244.3
5.1%
8.3%
$102.9
3.5%
$359.7
$110.5
12.2%
3.8%
2.9%
To measure the impact on businesses,
a comparison of transfers and costs to
payroll, revenue, or profit is more
helpful than looking at the absolute size
of transfers and costs per industry. As
a percent of payroll, transfers and costs
would be highest in agriculture,
forestry, fishing, and hunting; retail
trade; leisure and hospitality; and
education (Table 24). However, the
magnitude of the relative shares will be
small, representing less than 0.1 percent
of payroll costs in all industries. The
Department’s estimates of transfers and
costs as a percent of revenue by industry
also indicated a very small effect of less
than 0.03 percent of revenues in any
industry. The industries with the largest
transfers and costs as a percent of
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revenue will be education; leisure and
hospitality; and professional and
business services. Table 24 illustrates
that the differences in costs and
transfers relative to revenues will be
quite small across industry groupings.
The overall magnitude of costs and
transfers as a percentage of profits
represents less than 1.0 percent of
overall profits in each industry.416 417 By
416 Internal Revenue Service. (2023). SOI Tax
Stats—Corporation Income Tax Returns Complete
Report (Publication 16). Available at: https://
www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-corporationincome-tax-returns-complete-report-publication-16.
417 Table 1 of the IRS report provides total
receipts, net income, and deficits by industry. For
each industry, the Department calculated the profitto-revenue ratio as net income (column (7)) less any
deficit (column (8)) divided by total receipts
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industry, the value of total costs and
transfers as a percent of profits ranges
from a low of 0.02 percent (wholesale
trade) to a high of 0.62 percent
(agriculture, forestry, fishing, and
hunting). Benchmarking against profits
is potentially helpful in the sense that
it provides a measure of the rule’s effect
against returns to investment. However,
this metric must be interpreted carefully
as it does not account for differences
across industries in risk-adjusted rates
of return which are not readily available
for this analysis. The ratio of costs and
transfers to profits also does not reflect
(column (3)). Profits were then calculated as
revenues multiplied by profit-to-revenue ratios.
Profits could not be used directly because they are
limited to only active corporations.
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Information
$375
$85.5
Financial activities
12.0%
$184.2
$326
$168.0
$352.2
Professional & business
services
$260.8
$564.7
19.2%
$303.9
$367
Education
$101.6
3.5%
$198
$48.3
$53.4
Healthcare & social
services
$169.6
$229
$197.4
12.5%
$367.0
Leisure & hospitality
8.8%
$138.6
$607
$121.3
$259.9
Other services
4.4%
$48.1
$294
$82.7
$130.8
Public administration
$47.9
3.3%
$211
$50.3
$98.2
Sources: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Regulatory familiarization costs exclude 10,440 establishments whose industry is "not
classified."
32932
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
differences in the firm-level adjustment
to profit impacts reflecting crossindustry variation in market
structure.418
Payroll
(Billions) [a]
Revenue
(Billions) [a]
Costs and Transfers As Percent of:
Payroll [a]
Revenue [a]
Profit [a]
0.031%
0.006%
0.060%
$9,470.5
$50,655.8
All
Agriculture,
forestry,
0.077%
0.016%
0.617%
$284.9
$8.6
$42.5
fishing, &
hunting
0.016%
0.002%
Mining
$424.2
$61.9
$493.6
[b]
Construction
$193.6
$488.1
$2,430.8
0.031%
0.006%
0.107%
Manufacturing
$834.6
$6,755.6
0.029%
0.004%
0.034%
$863.3
Wholesale
0.019%
0.001%
0.022%
$263.3
$531.0
$10,656.1
trade
Retail trade
$346.9
$543.4
$5,980.4
0.066%
0.006%
0.186%
Transportation
0.029%
0.006%
0.329%
$369.5
$382.2
$1,781.5
& utilities
Information
$527.6
$436.3
$1,927.0
0.020%
0.004%
0.027%
Financial
0.038%
0.006%
0.027%
$376.7
$928.5
$6,091.6
activities
Professional &
0.029%
0.016%
0.141%
business
$386.2
$1,956.4
$3,575.3
services
0.058%
0.020%
0.316%
Education
$911.2
$174.9
$501.7
Healthcare &
$1,217.5
$3,093.5
0.030%
0.012%
0.159%
$387.4
social services
Leisure &
0.059%
0.018%
0.214%
$288.1
$438.6
$1,480.7
hospitality
0.059%
0.015%
0.220%
Other services
$167.3
$221.2
$881.1
Public
$1,089.8
$1,247.4
$4,964.4
0.008%
0.002%
[c]
administration
Sources: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023. Private sector payroll and revenue
data from 2017 SUSB. State and local payroll and revenue data from State and Local Government
Finances 2020 are used for the Public Administration industry. Profit-to-revenue data from the Internal
Revenue Service 2019. Inflated to $2023 using GDP deflator.
[a] Payroll and revenue data exclude the Federal Government. Profit-to-revenue data limited to active
corporations. Regulatory familiarization costs, payrolls, and revenues exclude 10,440 establishments
whose industry is "not classified." Because transfer payments include all workers, the estimates of
costs and transfers as a share of payroll or revenue are slightly overestimated.
[b] Profits were negative in this industry in this year.
[c] Profit is not applicable for public administration.
418 In particular, a basic model of competitive
product markets would predict that highly
competitive industries with lower rates of return
would adjust to increases in the marginal cost of
labor arising from the rule through an overall,
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industry-level increase in prices and a reduction in
quantity demanded based on the relative elasticities
of supply and demand. Alternatively, more
concentrated markets with higher rates of return
would be more likely to adjust through some
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combination of price increases and profit
reductions based on elasticities as well as interfirm
pricing responses.
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Industry
Costs and
Transfers
per Entity
$357.9
Table 24—Annual Transfers, Total
Costs, and Transfers and Costs as
Percent of Payroll, Revenue, and Profit
by Industry, Year 1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
8. Regulatory Alternatives
The Department considered a range of
alternatives before selecting its methods
for setting the standard salary level and
the HCE compensation level. As seen in
Table 25, the Department has calculated
the salary/compensation levels, the
number of affected workers, and the
associated costs and transfers for these
alternative levels.
The Department is increasing the
standard salary level using earnings for
the 35th percentile of full-time salaried
workers in the South Census Region,
$1,128 per week. The alternative
methods considered for setting the
standard salary level are:
• Alternative 1: 2004/2019 method—
$844 per week—20th percentile of
earnings of nonhourly full-time workers
in the South Census region and/or in the
retail industry nationally.
• Alternative 2: Kantor long test
method—$942 per week—10th
percentile of earnings of likely exempt
workers.
• Alternative 3: 2016 method—$1,196
per week—40th percentile of earnings of
nonhourly full-time workers in the
South Census region.
• Alternative 4: Kantor short test
method—$1,404 per week—Kantor long
test level multiplied by 149 percent (the
historical average relationship between
the long and short test levels).
The Department considered using the
2004 methodology (the 20th percentile
of full-time salaried white-collar
workers in the lowest-wage Census
region (currently the South) and/or in
retail nationally), which is currently
$844 per week ($43,888 per year). This
is also the methodology that the
Department used in the 2019 rule.419
However, the salary level produced by
the 2004 methodology is below the
current equivalent long test salary level
($942 per week), which the Department
considers to be a key parameter for
determining an appropriate salary level.
The Department also considered
setting the standard salary level at the
long test level ($942 per week or
$48,984 per year). Doing so would
ensure the initial screening function of
the salary level by restoring overtime
protections to those employees who
were consistently excluded from the
EAP exemption under each iteration of
the regulations prior to 2019, either by
the long test salary level itself, or under
the 2004 rule salary level, which was set
equivalent to the long test salary
level.420 However, as explained above,
setting the standard salary level at the
long test level would not address the
impact of the change from a two-test to
a one-test system.
The Department also considered
setting the standard salary level at the
40th earnings percentile of salaried
white-collar workers in the lowest-wage
Census Region (currently the South)
($1,196 per week or $62,192 per year).
However, the Department is concerned
that this approach could be seen by
courts as making salary level
determinative of exemption status for
too large a portion of employees, as this
salary level would make the salary paid
by the employer determinative of
exemption status for more than half (55
percent) of white-collar employees who
earn between the long and short test
salary levels. The Department is also
concerned that this approach would
generate the same concerns that led to
the district court decision invalidating
the 2016 rule (which adopted the same
methodology).
Finally, the Department considered
setting the standard salary level at the
current equivalent of the short test
salary level ($1,404 per week or $73,008
per year). This would ensure that all
employees who earn between the long
and short test salary levels and perform
substantial amounts of nonexempt work
would be entitled to overtime
compensation. However, by making
exemption status for all employees who
earn between the long and short test
levels depend on the salary paid by the
employer, this approach would prevent
employers from being able to use the
EAP exemption for employees earning
between these salary levels who do not
perform substantial amounts of
nonexempt work and thus were
historically exempt under the long test.
As described above, the Department is
setting the HCE compensation level
using earnings for the 85th percentile of
all full-time salaried workers nationally,
$151,164 per year. The Department also
evaluated the following alternative
methods to set the HCE compensation
levels:
• HCE alternative 1: 2019
method 421—$132,964 annually—80th
percentile of earnings of nonhourly fulltime workers nationally.
• HCE alternative 2: 2016
method 422—$179,972 annually—90th
percentile of earnings of nonhourly fulltime workers nationally.
The Department believes that HCE
alternative 1 does not produce a
threshold high enough to reserve the
HCE test for employees who would
‘‘almost invariably pass the standard
duties test.’’ The Department also
considered setting the HCE threshold at
the 90th percentile; however, the
Department is concerned that the
resulting level ($179,972) would restrict
the use of the HCE exemption for
employers in low-wage regions and
industries. The Department believes its
proposal to adjust the HCE total annual
compensation threshold to reflect the
85th percentile of earnings of nonhourly
full-time workers nationally strikes the
appropriate balance and ensures that the
HCE test continues to serve its intended
function as a streamlined alternative for
employees who are highly likely to pass
the standard duties test.
421 See
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419 84
FR 51260.
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420 See
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84 FR 51250.
81 FR 32429.
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Table 25—Updated Standard Salary
and HCE Compensation Levels and
Alternatives, Affected EAP Workers,
Costs, and Transfers, Year 1
Alternative
Salary Level
Affected
EAP
Workers
(1,000s)
Year 1 Effects (Millions)
Adj.&
Managerial
Costs
Transfers
$202.3
$204.3
Alt. # 1: 2004/2019 method [a]
$385.9
$432.0
Alt #2: Kantor long test [b]
$905.4
$1,253.6
Final rule: 35th pct South [c]
Alt. #3: 2016 method - 40th pct
$1,196
4,993
$1,116.1
$1,642.9
South [d]
$1,404
7,961
$1,860.0
$3,035.1
Alt. #4: Kantor short test rel
HCE Compensation Level (Annually)
HCE alt. #1: 2019 method- 80th
$132,964
223
$58.7
$164.5
pct [f]
$151,164
293
$79.2
$255.6
Final rule: 85th pct [g]
HCE alt. #2: 2016 method - 90th
$179,972
340
$97.6
$359.2
pct rhl
Note: Regulatory familiarization costs are excluded because they do not vary based on the selected
values of the salary levels. Additionally, they cannot be disaggregated by exemption type (i.e.,
standard versus HCE). The Department did not receive comments on how to refine familiarization
cost estimates in a manner that distinguishes among regulatory alternatives.
[a] 20th percentile earnings of nonhourly full-time workers in the South Census region or retail
industry (excludes workers not subject to the FLSA, not subject to the salary level test, and in
agriculture or transportation). Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[b] 10th percentile earnings of likely exempt workers. Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to
reflect 2023.
[c] 3 5th percentile of earnings of nonhourly full-time workers in the South Census region. CPS 2023.
Available at https ://www.bls.gov/cps/research/nonhourly/ earnings-nonhourly-workers.htm.
[d] 40th percentile of earnings of nonhourly full-time workers in the South Census region. CPS 2023
data. Available at https://www.bls.gov/cps/research/nonhourly/earnings-nonhourly-workers.htm.
[e] Kantor short test is set as the long test level multiplied by 149 percent. This is the historical
average relationship between the two levels.
[fJ 80th percentile of earnings of nonhourly full-time workers nationally (excludes workers not
subject to the FLSA, not subject to the salary level test, and in agriculture or transportation). Pooled
CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[g] 85th percentile of earnings of nonhourly full-time workers nationally. CPS 2023 data. Available
at https://www.bls.gov/cps/research/nonhourly/earnings-nonhourly-workers.htm.
[h] 90th percentile of earnings of nonhourly full-time workers nationally CPS 2023 data. Available at
https://www.bls.gov/cps/research/nonhourly/earnings-nonhourly-workers.htm
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Standard Salary Level (Weekly)
$844
959
$942
1,806
$1,128
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
9. Triennial Updates to the Standard
Salary and Annual Compensation
Thresholds
Between updates to the standard
salary and HCE compensation levels,
nominal wages typically increase,
resulting in an increase in the number
of workers qualifying for the EAP
exemption, even if there has been no
change in their real earnings. Thus,
workers whom Congress intended to be
covered by the minimum wage and
overtime pay provisions of the FLSA
may lose those protections. The
mechanism the Department established
in this rulemaking for updating the
salary and compensation levels allows
these thresholds to keep pace with
changes in earnings and continue to
serve as an effective dividing line
between potentially exempt and
nonexempt workers. Furthermore, the
updating mechanism will provide
employers more certainty in knowing
that these levels will change by smaller
amounts on a regular basis, rather than
the more disruptive increases caused by
much larger changes after longer,
uncertain increments of time. This will
allow firms to better predict short- and
long-term costs and employment needs.
In addition to the changes being made
to the standard salary level and HCE
compensation threshold, the
Department is including in this rule a
mechanism for updating the salary and
compensation levels initially on July 1,
2024 and every 3 years thereafter to
reflect current earnings.
i. Initial Update
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As discussed in section IV, the new
standard salary level and HCE total
annual compensation threshold
methodologies do not become
applicable until approximately 8
months after publication of this final
rule. Therefore, the initial update on
July 1, 2024 will use the methodologies
in place at the time of the update (i.e.,
the 2019 rule methodologies), which
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results in a $844 per week standard
salary level and a $132,964 HCE total
annual compensation threshold.
Consistent with the 2019 rule, the
Department used pooled CPS data for
the most recent 3 years (2021, 2022,
2023), adjusted to reflect 2023, for the
initial updates to the standard salary
and annual compensation thresholds.
As previously discussed, the
Department’s affected worker, cost, and
transfer estimates for Year 1 have
accounted for the initial update and the
new standard salary and annual
compensation thresholds that become
applicable 6 months after the initial
update. Just looking at the initial
update, the Department estimated the
initial update to the standard salary
level will affect workers who earn
between $684 and $844 per week. The
Department estimates that this update
will result in 959,000 affected workers.
Of these affected workers, 68.7 percent
of them do not work overtime. The
Department estimated the Year 1
adjustment and managerial costs for just
this update would be $202.3 million
and transfer payments would be $204.3
million. For the initial update to the
HCE total annual compensation
threshold, the Department estimated
that just the update would result in
223,000 affected workers, $58.7 million
in adjustment and managerial costs, and
$164.5 million in transfer payments in
Year 1.
ii. Future Updates
The Department is establishing future
updates to the standard salary level and
HCE total annual compensation
threshold with current earnings data
beginning 3 years after the date of the
initial update, and every 3 years
thereafter, using the methodologies in
place at the time of the updates. For
purposes of this analysis, the
Department assumes that the future
triennial updates to the standard salary
level will be based on the same
methodology that the Department used
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32935
to set the new standard salary level in
this rule: the 35th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region
(currently the South). Likewise, the
Department assumes that future
triennial updates to the HCE total
annual compensation level will be
based on the same methodology the
Department used to set this earnings
threshold in this rulemaking: the
annualized weekly earnings of 85th
percentile of full-time salaried workers
nationally.
As previously discussed, future
triennial updates will set the earnings
thresholds using the most recent
available 4 quarters of CPS data
preceding the Department’s notice with
the updated thresholds. To estimate
future thresholds in years when the
salary and compensation levels will be
updated, the Department used the
historic geometric growth rate between
2012 and 2022 in (1) the 35th earnings
percentile of full-time salaried workers
in the South for the standard salary
level and (2) the annualized weekly
earnings of the 85th percentile of fulltime salaried workers nationally for the
HCE compensation level. For example,
between 2012 and 2022, the annual
growth rate in the 35th percentile of
full-time salaried workers in the South
has increased by 3.17 percent. To
estimate the first future triennial update
salary level of $1,239, the Department
multiplied $1,128 by 1.0317 to the
power of three. Figure 5 shows the
projected future triennial update levels
for the first 10 years. Note that these
projections are illustrative estimates
based on past wage growth; the actual
level at the time of the update will
depend on the wage growth that occurs
between now and the update date.
Figure 6 shows the standard salary
levels in both nominal and 2023 dollars.
Figure 5—Projected Future Salary and
Compensation Levels, Nominal Dollars
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
$2,050
-t
$1,850
$1,750
~
$1,650
~ $1,550
Q)
~ $1,450
l $1,350
j
,---
$208,373
$1,950
i
~
$220,000
$1,250
$1,150
$1,050
f
$210,000
$200,000 13
ii
$190,000 ~
$187,231
t
,---------·
'i
$180,000
1
$168,234
rn
1
..
--------$170,000
5
f
~
-::$:-=-15=1-::,1~64-=----,--------------.....-e1-,?t64 $160,000 ~
!l!U!!!U!!L!!!U!!!L!!!!!U!!!,.!!!U!!!U!!l------..,,,.!!!!!!!111!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!!!!!111!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!L-$150,000 ~
$1,360
U
$140,000 II:l
$1,239
$130,000
_..$....1,,...12.....8..___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
$120,000
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
10
Year
-standard ---HCE
Figure 6—Projected Future Standard
Salary Levels, Nominal and Real
(Constant 2023 Dollars)
$1,600
$1,494
$1,500
$1,400
- - - - - - - - , $1,360----
$1,300
$1,200
$1,100
$1,000
$900
$800
$700
2
3
4
5
6
Year
-Nominal Standard Salary Level
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8
9
-Real ($2023)
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$600
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
iii. Concerns With Use of Fixed
Earnings Percentile as Updating
Methodology
As discussed in detail in section
V.A.3.iii, some commenters expressed
concern that triennially updating the
salary level using a fixed percentile of
earnings would result in the salary
levels growing at too quick a rate. See,
e.g., Chamber; National Lumber and
Building Material Dealers Association;
NRF; Seyfarth Shaw.
These commenters stated that
updating the standard salary level using
a fixed percentile of earnings of fulltime salaried workers will cause some
or all of the newly nonexempt workers
to be converted to hourly status and
thus removed from the data set, and
earnings at the 35th percentile of
salaried workers will quickly rise solely
due to the exclusion of these hourly
workers (an effect some commenters
referred to as ‘‘ratcheting’’). Commenters
asserted that this may cause growth in
the 35th percentile of full-time salaried
workers to no longer reflect prevailing
economic conditions.
Claims that an updating mechanism
using the fixed percentile approach will
lead to the rapid escalation of the salary
level are based primarily on the
assumption that employers will respond
to this rulemaking by converting newly
nonexempt workers to hourly pay
status. However, the Department
believes these concerns are overstated
because many affected EAP workers
who are reclassified as nonexempt are
likely to remain salaried as: (1) An
analysis of the 2004 rule’s salary level
update did not indicate significant
numbers of workers were converted to
hourly pay; and (2) an analysis of
updates in California’s higher EAP
exemption salary level (under state law)
did not indicate significant numbers of
workers were reclassified as hourly. In
any event, the Department’s modeling of
the impact of updating shows that any
potential ‘‘ratcheting’’ effect that may
occur would be small, largely because
newly nonexempt workers compose a
small percentage of the pool of full-time
nonhourly workers in the dataset used
to establish the salary level.
The analyses discussed below are
based on CPS MORG data. As
acknowledged in the NPRM and above
in section VII.B.5.i, salary status for CPS
respondents cannot definitively be
determined because workers who
indicate they are paid on a salary basis
or on some basis other than hourly are
all classified as ‘‘nonhourly.’’ To
consider the possibility this biases our
results, the Department looked at the
Panel Study of Income Dynamics
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(PSID). The PSID provides additional
information concerning salaried versus
other nonhourly workers. In the PSID,
respondents are asked how they are
paid on their main job and are asked for
more detail if their response is in some
way other than salaried or hourly.423
The available responses include
piecework, commission, self-employed/
farmer/profits, and by the job/day/mile.
None of these options are ones to which
employers are likely to change their
salaried workers. The share of workers
who are not paid on either an hourly or
salaried basis is relatively small, about
10 percent of workers in the PSID.
Accordingly, grouping nonhourly
workers with salaried workers does not
negate the following comparisons and
conclusions based on CPS data.
(a) Workers May Remain Salaried Even
if Nonexempt
The Department disagrees with
commenters that suggested that
employers will likely (or automatically)
convert large numbers of newly
nonexempt employees to hourly pay
status. In some instances such
conversion may occur; for example, if
an employee regularly works overtime
and the employer is able to adjust his or
her regular rate. However, for the
majority of affected employees, there
will be no incentive for employers to
convert them to hourly pay because they
do not work more than 40 hours in a
workweek. Also, employers may have
other incentives to maintain workers’
salaried status; for example, they may
offer salaried positions to attract talent.
Some commenters representing
employer interests highlighted that
employees value job characteristics
associated with salaried pay—such as
earnings predictability—and so
employers may pay nonexempt
employees on a salary basis to preserve
these benefits. Using the CPS MORG
data pooled for 2021–2023 and
projected to 2023, the Department
estimated that 29.4 percent of whitecollar workers earning below $684 per
week are nonhourly; based on findings
from the PSID, the Department believes
most of these nonhourly workers are
salaried. This data shows that even for
some current nonexempt workers,
employers are choosing to keep them as
salaried instead of hourly. Furthermore,
some nonhourly workers above the
current salary threshold fail the duties
test, and are therefore nonexempt,
which is further evidence that
423 University of Michigan, Institute for Social
Research. 2019 PSID. Data available at: https://
simba.isr.umich.edu/data/data.aspx.
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32937
employers already employ nonexempt
workers who are paid on a salary basis.
(b) Previous Salary Level Updates Did
Not Indicate a Significant Number of
Workers Being Converted to Hourly
The ‘‘ratcheting’’ concerns raised in
the comments are very similar to
comments on this alleged effect that
were received during the 2016
rulemaking. In that rule the Department
analyzed employer responses to the
2004 rule and to a series of revisions to
California’s salary level test for
exemption under state law in order to
better estimate whether workers who
become nonexempt are more likely to be
paid on an hourly basis.424 These
analyses allow the identification of
potential regulatory impact while
controlling for time trends and a broad
range of other relevant factors
(education, occupation, industry,
geographic location, etc.).
In the 2016 rule the Department
analyzed the effect of the Federal 2004
salary level increase from $250 per week
(short test salary level) to $455 (standard
salary level) on the share of full-time,
white-collar workers paid hourly. The
analysis considered two types of
differences: pre- versus postrulemaking; and workers exempt before,
but not after the rule compared to
workers exempt both before and after
the rule. As noted in the discussion of
this analysis in the 2016 rule, if the
salary level increase in the 2004 rule led
employers to convert significant
numbers of workers to hourly status (as
commenters assert will result from the
current rulemaking), then the
Department would have expected to see
a notable increase in the share of
workers earning just below the new
threshold at the time ($455) who are
paid hourly relative to the share of
workers earning just above the new
threshold who are paid hourly. Instead,
the Department found that between the
first quarter of 2004 and the first quarter
of 2005, the share of full-time whitecollar workers who are paid hourly
decreased marginally in the group of
potentially affected workers (those
earning $250 to $455), whereas in the
group earning above the salary level
(those earning more than $455 but less
than $600) it increased by 2.6
percentage points. These results do not
suggest that the 2004 salary level
increase caused an increase in the share
of workers paid hourly below the new
threshold, and thus provide no evidence
that salary level increases due to
triennial updates will result in
employers converting significant
424 See
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numbers of affected EAP workers to
hourly pay status.
The Department did not replicate this
analysis for the salary level increase in
the 2019 final rule, because it would
require comparing a quarter in 2019
before the effective date of the rule with
a quarter in 2020 after the effective date.
The economic effects of the COVID–19
pandemic would make it impossible to
isolate the impact of the 2019 rule.
In the 2016 rule the Department also
analyzed the effect of changes to
California statutes that set exempt salary
levels at a level equal to twice the state
minimum wage for 40 hours worked per
week. The analysis considered two
types of differences: pre- versus postrulemaking; workers exempt before, but
not after the rule compared to workers
exempt both before and after the rule;
and California workers versus workers
in other states where the salary level
was not increased. The analysis of two
updates found that the share of full-time
white-collar workers in California being
paid hourly decreased from 73.4 percent
to 73.1 percent compared to an increase
of 66.2 percent to 67.5 percent in states
where the salary level did not change
after the 2007–2008 update, while there
was an increase from 72.0 percent to
74.0 percent in California compared to
an increase of 68.2 to 69.4 percent in
other states after the 2014 update.
The Department found no evidence
that changes in the salary level for
exemption resulted in a statistically
significant increase in the percent of
full-time white-collar workers paid on
an hourly basis following either the
2004 rule or the California salary level
updates.
(c) The Department’s Modeling of
Possible ‘‘Ratcheting’’ Indicates Effect
Would Be Negligible
In a study referenced by PPWO,
Edgeworth Economics estimated the
impact that an updating mechanism
using the fixed percentile approach
would have on the salary level. They
found that ‘‘the DOL’s automatic update
mechanism would increase the salary
threshold by approximately 9.1% to the
current 40th percentile [which
Edgeworth Economics estimated was
equivalent to the 35th percentile of the
resulting distribution after workers are
reclassified] within three years even if
there was not ANY wage growth.’’ Their
estimate was based on the assumption
that all affected workers in the South
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Census Region who earn between $684
and $1,059 per week and who are
expected to pass the duties test, which
they estimate to be 1.4 million, would
be reclassified to hourly employees,
thus falling out of the distribution of
workers that are part of the 35th
percentile in the Census Region.
However, as discussed above, the
Department has found no evidence that
previous changes in the salary level for
exemption have resulted in a
statistically significant increase in the
percent of full-time white-collar workers
paid on an hourly basis.
NRF submitted a 2023 study by
Oxford Economics that also considered
how converting salaried workers to
hourly status could influence future
triennial updates. The Oxford study
states that DOL’s updating methodology
‘‘suffers from the same technical flaw as
its NPRM analysis of the effects of the
proposed regulation suffers from: the
failure to model newly nonexempt
affected workers losing salaried status.’’
The study presents a visual analysis
showing a share of workers who earn
below the overtime threshold losing
their salaried status, and a higher
threshold for 2027 after this rule than in
the scenario where there is no change to
the standard salary level. Like
Edgeworth Economics, Oxford
Economics erroneously assumes that a
large share of all affected workers will
lose their salaried status. As discussed
previously, the Department has found
no evidence that previous changes in
the salary level for exemption have
resulted in a statistically significant
increase in the percent of full-time
white-collar workers paid on an hourly
basis.
In 2016, the Department conducted a
similar analysis, using what the
Department believes are more realistic
assumptions, and found a significantly
smaller potential impact. The
Department considered which affected
workers are most likely to be converted
from salaried to hourly pay as a result
of that rulemaking. Type 4 workers,
those whose salaries are increased to the
new standard salary level, remain
exempt and their method of pay will not
change. Type 3 workers, who regularly
work overtime and become nonexempt,
and Type 2 workers, those who
occasionally work overtime and become
nonexempt, are the most likely to have
their pay status changed. Type 1
workers (who, at the time, made up
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more than 60 percent of the affected
workers) were assumed to not work
overtime, and employers thus have little
incentive to convert them to hourly pay.
For this analysis, the Department
assumed all Type 2 and Type 3 workers
were converted to hourly status to
generate a realistic upper bound of the
magnitude of any possible ratcheting
effect. The Department estimated that in
2026, after three updates over 10 years,
the salary level as set in the final rule
(based on weekly earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the South) could be
approximately 2.5 percent higher than
expected due to this effect. This figure
is significantly smaller than the
estimates provided by the commenters.
Furthermore, the Department believes
its estimate is an overestimate because
it assumed employers convert all Type
2 and Type 3 workers to hourly status,
which, for the reasons discussed above
and in section V.A.3.iii of the preamble,
the Department believes is a highly
unlikely outcome. The Department did
not replicate this analysis for the salary
level increase in the 2019 final rule,
because the economic effects of the
COVID–19 pandemic make it difficult to
compare periods before and after the
effective date of the 2019 final rule and
isolate the effect of the rule.
10. Projections
The Department estimated that in
Year 1, 4.3 million EAP workers will be
affected, with about 292,900 of these
attributable to the revised HCE
compensation level (Table 26). In Year
10, the number of affected EAP workers
was estimated to equal 6.0 million with
1.0 million attributable to the updated
HCE compensation level. Average
annualized costs are $802.9 million and
transfers are $1.5 billion using a 7
percent real discount rate. These
projections involved several steps.
1. Use past growth in the earnings
distribution to estimate future salary
and compensation levels (see section
VII.C.9).
2. Predict workers’ earnings, absent a
change in the salary levels.
3. Compare workers’ predicted
earnings to the predicted salary and
compensation levels to estimate affected
workers.
4. Project future employment levels.
5. Estimate employer adjustments to
hours and pay.
6. Calculate costs and transfers.
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32939
Figure 7—10-Year Projected Number of
Affected Workers
Affected Workers
7.0
-;;;-
6.0
C
.Q
5.0
~
....QJ 4.0
....
V)
~
0
3.0
QJ
2.0
s
"O
....u
QJ
:t:: 1.0
<I:
0.0
-
~
-standard
-
- - - - - - - - - ----
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
-
HCE
10
Year
Figure 8—10-Year Projected Costs and
Transfers (Millions $2023)
$4,500
$4,000
$3,500
gJ $3,000
0
.D(. $2,500
V)
.Q
$2,000
i
$1,500
$1,000
$500
$0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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Total
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26APR4
Year 1
4.3
$451.6
$299.1
$1,436.2
$1,421.7
$1,509.2
$685.5
$87.5
$632.1
$641.5
$46.5
$1,047.8
$1,094.3
4.1
Year2
$0.0
$9.4
Year 3
3.8
$0.0
$8.9
$571.9
$580.8
$45.0
$953.7
$998.7
Year4
4.8
$73.1
$14.2
$702.2
$789.5
$42.2
$1,609.4
$1,651.6
Year 5
4.6
$0.0
$8.7
$647.8
$656.5
$42.2
$1,386.5
$1,428.7
Year6
4.3
$0.0
$9.5
$624.7
$634.2
$39.9
$1,246.0
$1,285.9
Year7
5.4
$71.0
$18.6
$747.7
$837.2
$36.1
$2,005.6
$2,041.7
5.1
$0.0
$9.6
$697.8
$707.4
$31.3
$1,757.3
$1,788.6
Year 8
Year9
4.8
$0.0
$9.0
$682.3
$691.3
$26.4
$1,590.1
$1,616.6
6.0
$68.9
$20.9
$816.3
$906.1
$22.6
$2,467.5
$2,490.1
Year 10
Annualized
(3% real
-$71.8
$44.6
$677.6
$794.0
$43.2
$1,522.0
$1,565.2
discount rate)
Annualized
(7% real
$802.9
$44.8
$1,489.3
$1,534.1
$79.3
$50.0
$673.6
-discount rate)
[a] Regulatory familiarization costs occur in years when the salary and compensation levels are updated.
Adjustment costs occur in all years when there are newly affected workers.
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
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Total
32940
20:47 Apr 25, 2024
Transfers (Millions $2023)
Table 26—Projected Costs and
Transfers, Standard Salary and HCE
Compensation Levels
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Year
Costs (Millions $2023)
Affected
EAP
Regulatory AdjustManagWorkers
Familiarment
erial
(Millions) ization [a]
[a]
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The Department calculated workers’
earnings in future years by applying the
historical wage growth rate in the
workers’ industry-occupation to current
earnings. The wage growth rate was
calculated as the geometric growth rate
in median wages using CPS MORG data
for occupation-industry categories from
2011–2023.425 The geometric growth
rate is the constant annual growth rate
that when compounded (applied to the
first year’s wage, then to the resulting
second year’s wage, etc.) yields the last
historical year’s wage. This rate only
depends on the wage values in the first
and last year.426
The geometric wage growth rates per
industry-occupation combination were
also calculated from the BLS’
Occupational Employment and Wage
Statistics (OEWS) survey for 2012 to
2022. In occupation-industry categories
where the CPS MORG data had an
insufficient number of observations to
reliably calculate median wages, the
Department used the growth rate in
median wages calculated from the
OEWS data.427 Any remaining
occupation-industry combinations
without sufficient data in either data
source were assigned the median of the
growth rates in median wages from the
CPS MORG data.
The Department compared workers’
counter-factual earnings (i.e., absent the
rulemaking) to the predicted salary
levels. If the counter-factual earnings are
below the relevant salary level (i.e.,
standard or HCE) then the worker is
considered affected. In other words, in
each year affected EAP workers were
identified as those who would be
exempt absent the rule change (e.g.,
425 To maximize the number of observations used
in calculating the median wage for each occupationindustry category, 3 years of data were pooled for
each of the endpoint years. Specifically, data from
2011, 2012, and 2013 (converted to 2012 dollars)
were used to calculate the 2012 median wage and
data from 2021, 2022, and 2023 (converted to 2022
dollars) were used to calculate the 2022 median
wage.
426 The geometric growth rate may be a flawed
measure if either or both of the endpoint years were
atypical; however, in this instance these values
seem typical. An alternative method would be to
use the time series of median wage data to estimate
the linear trend in the values and continue this to
project future median wages. This method may be
preferred if either or both of the endpoint years are
outliers, since the trend will be less influenced by
them. However, the linear trend may be flawed if
there are outliers in the interim years. The
Department chose to use the geometric mean
because individual year fluctuations are difficult to
predict and applying the geometric growth rate to
each year provides a better estimate of the long-term
growth in wages.
427 To lessen small sample bias in the estimation
of the median growth rate, this rate was only
calculated using CPS MORG data when these data
contained at least 10 observations in each time
period.
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would earn at least $684 if exempt
under standard salary level) but have
projected earnings in the future year
that are less than the relevant salary
level. The projected number of affected
workers also includes workers who
were not EAP exempt in the base year
but will become exempt in the absence
of this rule in Years 2 through 10. For
example, a worker who passes the
standard duties test may earn less than
$684 in Year 1 but between $684 and
the new salary level in subsequent
years; such a worker will be counted as
an affected worker in those subsequent
years. Additionally, the number of
affected workers is not limited to newly
affected workers. Workers who are
affected in a given year may remain
affected in subsequent years (e.g.,
because they earn between $684 and
$1,128 in years 1, 2, and 3), and
continue to be counted as affected.
The projected number of affected
workers also accounts for anticipated
employment growth. Employment
growth was estimated as the geometric
annual growth rate based on the 10-year
employment projection from BLS’
National Employment Matrix (NEM) for
2022 to 2032 within an occupationindustry category.428 429 The Department
applied these growth rates to the sample
weights of the workers to estimate
increased employment levels over time.
This is because the Department cannot
introduce new observations to the CPS
MORG data to represent the newly
employed.
For workers newly affected in Year 2
through Year 10, employers’ wage and
hour adjustments due to the rulemaking
are generally estimated as described in
section VII.C.4. The only difference is
the hours adjustment now uses a longrun elasticity of labor demand of
¥0.4.430 Employer adjustments are
made in the first year the worker is
affected and then applied to all future
years in which the worker continues to
be affected (unless the worker switches
to a Type 4 worker). Workers’ earnings
in predicted years are earnings post
employer adjustments, with overtime
pay, and with ongoing wage growth
428 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment
Projections Program. 2022–32 National
Employment Matrix. https://www.bls.gov/emp/indocc-matrix/matrix.xlsx.
429 An alternative method is to spread the total
change in the level of employment over the ten
years evenly (constant change in the number
employed). The Department believes that on
average employment is more likely to grow at a
constant percentage rate rather than by a constant
level (a decreasing percentage rate).
430 Based on the Department’s analysis of the
following paper: Lichter, A., Peichl, A. & Siegloch,
A. (2014). The Own-Wage Elasticity of Labor
Demand: A Meta-Regression Analysis. IZA DP No.
7958.
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based on historical growth rates (as
described above).
The Department quantified three
types of direct employer costs in the 10year projections: (1) regulatory
familiarization costs; (2) adjustment
costs; and (3) managerial costs. Section
VII.C.3 provides details on the
methodology for estimating these costs.
This section only discusses the aspects
specific to projections. Projected costs
and transfers were deflated to 2023
dollars using the Congressional Budget
Office’s projections for the CPI–U.431
Regulatory familiarization costs occur
in years when the salary and
compensation levels are updated. Thus,
in addition to Year 1, some regulatory
familiarization costs are expected to
occur in Year 4, Year 7, and Year 10.
The Department assumed 10 minutes
per establishment for time to access and
read the published notice in the Federal
Register with the updated standard
salary level and HCE compensation
level. This average time estimate is low
because the majority of establishments
will not have newly affected workers,
and while some firms may spend more
than 10 minutes to read the new rule,
many firms will spend no time. The
time estimate has been increased from 5
minutes in the 2016 rulemaking. In each
of these 3 years regulatory
familiarization costs are between $68.9
and $73.1 million. Although start-up
firms must become familiar with the
FLSA, the difference between the time
necessary for familiarization with the
current part 541 exemptions and those
exemptions as modified by this
rulemaking is essentially zero.
Therefore, projected regulatory
familiarization costs for new entrants
over the next 9 years are zero (although
these new entrants will incur regulatory
familiarization costs in years when the
salary and compensation levels are
updated).
Adjustment costs are a function of the
number of newly affected EAP workers
and would occur in any year in which
workers are newly affected. Adjustment
costs would be largest in Year 1, of
moderate size in update years, and
smaller in other years. Management
costs would recur each year for all
affected EAP workers whose hours are
adjusted. Therefore, managerial costs
increase in update years and then
modestly decrease between updates
since earnings growth will cause some
workers to no longer be affected in those
years.
431 Congressional Budget Office. 2023. The
Budget and Economic Outlook: 2023 To 2033. See
https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2023-02/58848Outlook.pdf.
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
familiarize themselves with updated
salary and compensation levels every 3
years. Adjustment costs and managerial
costs are a function of the number of
affected EAP workers and so will be
higher with updating. Average
annualized direct costs will be $802.9
million with updating and $615.6
million without updating. Transfers are
also a function of the number of affected
workers and hence are lower without
updating. Average annualized transfers
with a 7 percent real discount rate will
be $1.5 billion with updating and $990
million without updating. Table 27
shows aggregated costs and transfers
over the 10-year horizon.
(Table 27). Projections without updating
are shown so impacts of the initial
increase and subsequent increases can
be disaggregated. With triennial
updating, the number of affected EAP
workers would increase from 4.3
million to 6.0 million over 10 years.
Conversely, in the absence of updating,
the number of affected EAP workers is
projected to decline from 4.3 million in
Year 1 to 2.6 million in Year 10. As
shown in Figure 9, the number of
affected workers decreases from year to
year between updates as the real value
of the salary and compensation levels
decrease, and then increases in update
years.
Regarding costs, regulatory
familiarization costs are lower without
updating because, in the absence of
updating, employers would not need to
The Department projected transfers
from employers to employees due to the
minimum wage provision and the
overtime pay provision. Transfers to
workers from employers due to the
minimum wage provision would
decline from $87.5 million in Year 1 to
$22.6 million in Year 10 as increased
earnings over time move workers’
regular rates of pay above the minimum
wage.432 Transfers due to overtime pay
should grow slightly over time because
the number of affected workers would
increase, although transfers fall in years
between updates. Transfers to workers
from employers due to the overtime pay
provision would increase from $1.4
billion in Year 1 to $2.5 billion in Year
10.
The Department compared projected
impacts with and without updating
Figure 9—10-Year Projected Number of
Affected Workers, With and Without
Updating
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6.0
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-
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2
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432 State minimum wages above the Federal level
as of January 1, 2023 were incorporated and used
for projected years. Increases in minimum wages
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were not projected. If state or Federal minimum
wages increase over the next 10 years, then
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estimated projected minimum wage transfers would
be underestimated.
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32943
Table 27—Comparison of Projected
Costs and Transfers With and Without
Updating
Affected EAP
Workers
(Millions)
Transfers (Millions
$2023)
Costs (Millions $2023)
Year
Without
Updates
With Updates
Without
Updates
Year 1
4.3
4.3
$1,436.2
$1,436.2
$1,509.2
$1,509.2
Year2
4.1
4.1
$641.5
$641.5
$1,094.3
$1,094.3
Year3
3.8
3.8
$580.8
$580.8
$998.7
$998.7
Year4
4.8
3.5
$789.5
$526.2
$1,651.6
$937.2
Year 5
4.6
3.3
$656.5
$483.6
$1,428.7
$885.9
Year6
4.3
3.1
$634.2
$448.6
$1,285.9
$863.8
Year7
5.4
2.9
$837.2
$420.8
$2,041.7
$847.6
Year 8
5.1
2.8
$707.4
$404.4
$1,788.6
$801.4
Year9
4.8
2.6
$691.3
$388.8
$1,616.6
$809.9
Year 10
Annualized (3 % real
discount rate)
Annualized (7% real
discount rate)
6.0
2.6
$906.1
$380.1
$2,490.1
$809.7
--
--
$794.0
$590.0
$1,565.2
$970.2
--
--
$802.9
$615.6
$1,534.1
$989.5
VIII. Final Regulatory Flexibility
Analysis (FRFA)
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With Updates
The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980
(RFA) as amended by the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA),
hereafter jointly referred to as the RFA,
requires that an agency prepare an
initial regulatory flexibility analysis
(IRFA) when proposing, and a final
regulatory flexibility analysis (FRFA)
when issuing, regulations that will have
a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
The Department has determined that
this rulemaking is economically
significant. This section (1) provides an
overview of the objectives of this rule;
(2) estimates the number of affected
small entities and employees; (3)
discusses reporting, recordkeeping, and
other compliance requirements; (4)
presents the steps the Department took
to minimize the significant economic
impact on small entities; and (5)
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declares that it is unaware of any
relevant Federal rules that may
duplicate, overlap, or conflict with this
rule.
A. Objectives of, and Need for, the Final
Rule
The FLSA requires covered employers
to (1) pay employees who are covered
and not exempt from the Act’s
requirements not less than the Federal
minimum wage for all hours worked
and overtime premium pay at a rate of
not less than one and one-half times the
employee’s regular rate of pay for all
hours worked over 40 in a workweek,
and (2) make, keep, and preserve
records of the persons employed by the
employer and of the wages, hours, and
other conditions and practices of
employment. The FLSA provides
exemptions from the Act’s minimum
wage and overtime pay provisions,
including one for bona fide executive,
administrative, and professional (EAP)
employees, as those terms are ‘‘defined
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and delimited’’ by the Department.433
The Department’s regulations
implementing this white-collar
exemption are codified at 29 CFR part
541.
To qualify for the EAP exemption
under the Department’s regulations, the
employee generally must meet three
criteria: (1) the employee must be paid
a predetermined and fixed salary that is
not subject to reduction because of
variations in the quality or quantity of
work performed (the salary basis test);
(2) the amount of salary paid must meet
a minimum specified amount (the salary
level test); and (3) the employee’s job
duties must primarily involve executive,
administrative, or professional duties as
defined by the regulations (the duties
test). In 2004, the Department revised its
regulations to include a highly
compensated employee test with a
higher salary threshold and a minimal
433 29
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With
Without
Updates Updates
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
duties test.434 The Department has
periodically updated the regulations
governing the white-collar exemptions
since the FLSA’s enactment in 1938.
Most recently, the 2019 rule updated the
standard salary level test to $684 per
week and the HCE compensation level
to $107,432 annually.
The goal of this rulemaking is to set
effective earnings thresholds to help
define and delimit the FLSA’s EAP
exemption. To this end, the Department
is finalizing its proposed change to the
salary level. Specifically, the
Department is adjusting the salary level
by setting it equal to the 35th percentile
of weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region (currently the South), based on
the most recent year (2023) of Current
Population Survey (CPS) data at the
time of drafting. Using BLS 2023 data on
percentiles of usual weekly earnings of
nonhourly full-time workers, the
standard salary level will be set at
$1,128 per week. Additionally, to
maintain the effectiveness of this test,
the Department is finalizing an updating
mechanism that will update the
earnings thresholds to reflect current
wage data on July 1, 2024 and every 3
years thereafter.
The Department’s new salary level
will, in combination with the standard
duties test, better define and delimit
which employees are employed in a
bona fide EAP capacity in a one-test
system. As explained in greater detail in
sections III and V.B, setting the standard
salary level at or below the long test
salary level, as the 2004 and 2019 rules
did, results in the exemption of lowersalaried employees who traditionally
were entitled to overtime protection
under the long test either because of
their low salary or because they perform
large amounts of nonexempt work, in
effect significantly broadening the
exemption compared to the two-test
system. Setting the salary level at the
low end of the historic range of short
test salary levels, as the 2016 rule did,
would have restored overtime
protections to those employees who
perform substantial amounts of
nonexempt work and earned between
the long test salary level and the low
end of the short test salary range.
However, it would also have resulted in
denying employers the use of the
exemption for lower-salaried employees
who traditionally were not entitled to
overtime compensation under the long
test, which raised concerns that the
Department was in effect narrowing the
exemption. By setting a salary level
above the equivalent of the long test
434 § 541.601.
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salary level (using current data), the
final rule will restore the right to
overtime pay for salaried white-collar
employees who prior to the 2019 rule
were always considered nonexempt if
they earned below the long test (or long
test-equivalent) salary level. And it will
ensure that fewer lower paid whitecollar employees who perform
significant amounts of nonexempt work
are included in the exemption. At the
same time, by setting it well below the
equivalent of the short test salary level
(using current data), the rule will allow
employers to continue to use the
exemption for many lower paid whitecollar employees who were made
exempt under the 2004 standard duties
test. The new salary level will also more
reasonably distribute between
employees and their employers what the
Department now understands to be the
impact of the shift from a two-test to a
one-test system on employees earning
between the long and short test salary
levels.
As the Department has previously
noted, the amount paid to an employee
is ‘‘a valuable and easily applied index
to the ‘bona fide’ character of the
employment for which the exemption is
claimed,’’ as well as the ‘‘principal[]’’
‘‘delimiting requirement’’ ‘‘prevent[ing]
abuse’’ of the exemption.435
Additionally, the salary level test
facilitates application of the exemption
by saving employees and employers
from having to apply the more timeconsuming duties analysis to a large
group of employees who will not pass
it. For these reasons, the salary level test
has been a key part of how the
Department defines and delimits the
EAP exemption since the beginning of
its rulemaking on the EAP
exemption.436 At the same time, the
salary test’s role in defining and
delimiting the scope of the EAP
exemption must allow for appropriate
examination of employee duties.437
Under the final rule, duties will
continue to determine the exemption
status for most salaried white-collar
employees.
The Department is also adjusting the
HCE total annual compensation
requirement to the annualized weekly
earnings for the 85th percentile of fulltime salaried workers nationally
($151,164 using 2023 data). Though not
as high a percentile as the HCE
threshold initially adopted in 2004,
which covered 93.7 percent of all fulltime salaried workers,438 the
435 Stein
Report at 19, 24; see also 81 FR 32422.
84 FR 51237.
437 See id. at 51238.
438 See 69 FR 22169 (Table 3).
436 See
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Department’s new HCE threshold will
ensure it continues to serve its intended
function, because the HCE total annual
compensation level will be high enough
to exclude all but those employees at
the very top of the economic ladder.
In its three most recent part 541
rulemakings, the Department has
expressed its commitment to keeping
the earnings thresholds up to date to
ensure that they remain effective in
helping differentiate between exempt
and nonexempt employees. Long
intervals between rulemakings have
resulted in eroded earnings thresholds
based on outdated earnings data that
were ill-equipped to help identify bona
fide EAP employees. In contrast, routine
updates to the part 541 earnings
thresholds to reflect wage growth will
bring certainty and stability to
employers and employees alike. Based
on its long experience with updating the
salary levels, the Department has
determined that adopting a regulatory
provision for regularly updating the
salary levels, with an exception for
pausing future updates under certain
conditions, is the most viable and
efficient way to ensure the EAP
exemption earnings thresholds keep
pace with changes in employee pay and
thus remain effective in helping
determine exemption status.
Accordingly, the Department is
including in this rule a mechanism for
updating the salary and compensation
levels, to reflect current wage data, on
July 1, 2024 and every 3 years thereafter.
As explained in greater detail in section
V.A, employees and employers alike
will benefit from the certainty and
stability of regularly scheduled updates.
B. Response to Comment Filed by the
Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small
Business Administration
SBA Advocacy expressed similar
concerns as those expressed by other
small business commenters, based upon
its meetings, roundtables, and other
discussions regarding the NPRM. SBA
Advocacy stated that it was concerned
that the IRFA underestimated the
compliance costs of the rule, the
proposed rule would add to the current
difficult business environment, the
proposed rule would have significant
impacts on small nonprofits, the IRFA
did not account for non-financial costs
to small entities and employees, and the
IRFA did not consider less burdensome
alternatives. SBA Advocacy
recommended that the Department issue
a supplemental RFA to reanalyze small
entity impacts, adopt a lower standard
salary level, update the standard salary
level every four years through notice
and comment rulemaking, publish a
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small entity compliance guide, provide
more time for compliance, and add
provisions to help small nonprofits
comply. SBA Advocacy’s comments and
the Department’s response to those
comments are discussed in detail below.
SBA Advocacy reported that
participants at its roundtables estimated
first year costs would be much higher
than the estimates in the IRFA, from
$20,000 to over $200,000 in compliance
costs per small entity. SBA Advocacy
asserted that small businesses may have
to hire outside staff to interpret and
implement the rule and face high
administrative and operational costs to
schedule and track employee hours to
minimize overtime costs. SBA
Advocacy also stated that participants at
their roundtables reported much higher
payroll costs than the estimates
provided by the Department in the
IRFA. Advocacy further stated that the
IRFA failed to estimate compliance
costs by small entity size and revenue
by presenting average impacts by
industry.
The assumptions small businesses
used to estimate first-year compliance
costs ranging from $20,000 to $200,000
per entity were not described. However,
the Department clearly outlined its
methodology and assumptions used to
estimate regulatory familiarization,
adjustment, and management costs that
it expects businesses, including small
businesses, might incur. The
Department disagrees that it
underestimated small entity costs in the
IRFA. First, this rulemaking is narrow in
scope as it only makes changes relating
to earnings thresholds in the part 541
regulations. The Department published
final rules changing the salary
thresholds in 2016 and 2019. The
Department therefore expects that most
businesses will not require significant
time to become familiar with these
regulations, or that they will require
significant time from outside
consultants. Furthermore, the
Department expects that small entities
will rely upon compliance assistance
materials provided by the Department,
including the small entity compliance
guide that will be published, or industry
associations to become familiar with the
final rule.
Second, the Department estimates
businesses will require an average of 75
minutes per employee to choose how to
make adjustments for affected
employees. The Department expects that
employers will most likely need to
spend little to no time making
adjustments for many affected workers,
such as the almost 70 percent of the
employees who do not work overtime
(Type 1 employees) and those whose
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salaries are well below the new standard
salary level or only occasionally work
overtime. If, for example, decisions can
be quickly made for half of a business’
affected employees, then that leaves two
hours or more per employee for
employers to consider how to respond
with regard to employees requiring
more consideration.
Third, the Department believes that
most, if not all, entities have at least
some nonexempt employees and,
therefore, already have policies and
systems in place for monitoring and
recording their hours. The Department
believes that applying those same
policies and systems to the workers
whose exemption status changes will,
on average, not require more than 10
minutes per week per worker who
works overtime in managerial time cost,
as employers will rely on policies such
as a policy against working overtime
without express approval or a standard
weekly schedule of assigned hours. The
Department notes that nearly 70 percent
of affected employees do not work
overtime, and another 17 percent who
do work overtime average about an hour
of overtime per week; less than 15
percent of currently exempt employees
average 10 or more hours of overtime
per week. The Department therefore
disagrees with SBA Advocacy that small
entities will ‘‘face vast administrative
and operational costs to schedule and
track employee hours to minimize
overtime costs.’’ Consistent with the
approach taken in calculating
managerial costs in the 2019 rule,439 the
Department believes that an average of
10 additional minutes per week
managing the hours of each newly
exempt worker who works overtime is
appropriate.
SBA Advocacy bases its claim that the
Department underestimated payroll
costs on reports from ‘‘[r]oundtable
participants’’ of ‘‘much higher payroll
costs,’’ pointing to four businesses—‘‘an
Arkansas restaurant with four locations’’
and three ‘‘small amusement
businesses’’—which claimed they
would need to increase manager salaries
from $57,000 to $250,000 to comply
with the rule. SBA Advocacy also
provided hypothetical scenarios of
potential salary increases that restaurant
employers with currently exempt
employees would need to incur to
comply with the proposed rule based on
various assumptions. As discussed in
section VII.C.4.iii.c, these anecdotal
reports and hypothetical examples do
not have any information on the actual
amount of overtime work being
performed by employees who could
439 See
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become newly nonexempt under the
new salary level. The Department
expects that businesses that would be
faced with large increases in payroll
costs if they were to increase salaries to
the new threshold would instead find
other responses more economically
feasible, such as limiting the number of
overtime hours worked by nonexempt
workers.
Moreover, as explained above, the
majority of affected workers who work
no overtime or minimal overtime will
likely receive little additional pay as a
result of the rule. While some employers
might have to pay the overtime
premium, when combined with the 85
percent of affected employees who will
receive little or no overtime pay
premium because they work little or no
overtime, the average pay raise over all
affected employees and their employers
will be much smaller than the examples
presented in SBA Advocacy’s comment.
SBA Advocacy stated that small firms
have expressed the sentiment that they
would have to fire and not promote
employees and limit hours worked as a
result of the rule, after recent inflation,
supply chain disruptions, shutdowns
and tight labor markets that followed
the COVID–19 pandemic. The
Department acknowledges that the
economic climate has been difficult to
navigate since the start of 2020.
However, most indications are that the
economy has been returning to long run
growth patterns with subsiding
inflation. For example, a report by Van
Nostrand and Sinclair (2023) 440 from
the U.S. Department of the Treasury
indicates that the United States has seen
a strong GDP recovery and was on track
during 2023 to recover to levels
predicted before the pandemic.
Similarly, reflecting improvements in
inflation and personal incomes, the
Survey of Consumers from the
University of Michigan reported that
consumer sentiment in January 2024
grew by 13 percent and reached its
highest level since July 2021.441 To the
extent that labor markets remain tight,
that might be a reflection of significant,
potentially long-run changes in factors
such as long run labor force
participation rates.442 Regardless,
440 Van Nostrand and Sinclair (2023). The U.S.
Economy in Global Context. U.S. Department of the
Treasury. https://home.treasury.gov/news/featuredstories/the-us-economy-in-global-context.
441 University of Michigan (2024). Surveys of
Consumers. https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/.
442 Bognar et al. (2023) What Does Everything
Besides the Unemployment Rate Tell Us About
Labor Market Tightness?. Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago. https://www.chicagofed.org/publications/
chicago-fed-letter/2023/491. Hornstein and Kudlyak
(2022). The Pandemic’s Impact on Unemployment
84 FR 51267.
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workers affected by this rule compose a
relatively small part of the overall labor
market and the increase in wages should
be relatively small (see e.g., estimated
transfers per worker, Table 23). While
small businesses may be more affected
by labor market turmoil, the overall size
of the impact of this rule on the
economy would indicate that it is
unlikely that the rule will have a
significant impact on this market
turmoil.
SBA Advocacy also stated that it
believes that the Department
underestimated the impact of the
proposed rule on small nonprofit
organizations, citing examples of small
nonprofits that estimate costs above the
one to three percent of revenue
threshold, a measure for determining
the economic impact on small entities
from SBA Advocacy’s RFA compliance
guide. The Department disagrees that it
underestimated the impact of this rule
on small nonprofits. First, many
nonprofits are non-covered enterprises
because when determining enterprise
coverage, only revenue derived from
business operations, not charitable
activities, is included. However, as
discussed in section VII.B.3, the
Department nonetheless included
workers employed by enterprises that
do not meet the enterprise coverage
requirements in its estimate of workers
subject to the FLSA, since there is no
data set that would adequately inform
an estimate of the size of this worker
population in order to exclude them
from these estimates. 443 Second, for the
reasons stated above, the Department
believes that expected costs and payroll
impacts of the rule cited by SBA
Advocacy and other commenters are
overestimates, and that the
Department’s estimates are more
accurate reflections of costs and
impacts. The Department finds that
even if all employees at a small entity,
whether for-profit or nonprofit, are
exempt—an unlikely scenario—then
cost and increased payroll combined
comprise about one percent of payroll
per affected small entity, and therefore
an even smaller percentage of revenues.
See Table 32. SBA Advocacy cited
concerns about the rule’s effect on
seasonal businesses raised by a
representative from America Outdoors
and Labor Force Participation Trends. Federal
Reserve of Richmond Economic https://
www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/
economic_brief/2022/eb_22-12.
443 Although not excluding such entities and
associated workers only affects a small percentage
of workers generally, it may have a larger effect (and
result in a larger overestimate) for nonprofits,
because revenue from charitable activities is not
included when determining enterprise coverage.
See section VII.B.3.
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Association, which asserted that many
affected employees in seasonal
recreational businesses work
nontraditional work schedules that
would make it difficult to reclassify
them as hourly workers, as well as a
concern raised by a representative of the
Independent Community Bankers
Association of America that the rule
could cause its members to reduce
services in ‘‘rural or less profitable
areas.’’ The Department reiterates that
employers do not need to reclassify
nonexempt workers as hourly
employees; they merely need to pay an
overtime premium for hours worked
over 40 in a workweek. While there will
be affected workers in the finance
sector, the Department believes that
costs and transfers for small entities in
the finance sector will be manageable as
a share of payroll and of total
revenue.444
SBA Advocacy further stated that the
IRFA ‘‘does not consider the nonfinancial consequences to reclassify
workers, such as the effect on worker
flexibility, worker morale, and loss of
benefits and career advancement.’’ The
Department addresses these and other
possible impacts that cannot be
quantified in sections V.B.4.v and
VII.C.3.v. In addition, the Department
believes that while individual
experiences vary, the rule will benefit
employees in a variety of ways (e.g.,
through increased earnings and an
increase in personal time for some
affected workers).
Exempt workers may enjoy more
scheduling flexibility because their
hours are less likely to be monitored
than nonexempt workers. If so, the final
rule could impose costs on newly
nonexempt, overtime-eligible workers
by, for example, limiting their ability to
adjust their schedules to meet personal
and family obligations. However,
employers can continue to offer flexible
schedules and require workers to
monitor their own hours and to follow
the employers’ timekeeping rules.
Additionally, some exempt workers
already monitor their hours for billing
purposes. For these reasons, and
because there is little data or literature
on these costs, the Department did not
quantify potential costs regarding
scheduling flexibility. Further, a study
by Lonnie Golden 445 using data from
the General Social Survey (GSS) found
that ‘‘[i]n general, salaried workers at
the lower (less than $50,000) income
444 See
Table 32.
L. (2014). Flexibility and Overtime
Among Hourly and Salaried Workers. Economic
Policy Institute. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/
papers.cfm?abstract_id=2597174.
445 Golden,
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levels don’t have noticeably greater
levels of work flexibility that they
would ‘lose’ if they became more like
their hourly counterparts.’’
Some of the workers who become
nonexempt as a result of the final rule
and whose pay is changed by their
employer from salaried to hourly status
may have preferred to remain salaried.
As noted above in section VII.C.3.v,
research has shown that salaried
workers are more likely than hourly
workers to receive benefits such as paid
vacation time and health insurance,446
and are more satisfied with their
benefits.447 Additionally, when
employer demand for labor decreases,
hourly workers tend to see their hours
cut before salaried workers, making
earnings for hourly workers less
predictable.448 However, this literature
generally does not control for
differences between salaried and hourly
workers such as education, job title, or
earnings; therefore, this correlation is
not necessarily attributable to hourly
status.
If workers are reclassified as hourly,
and hourly workers have fewer benefits
than salaried workers, reclassification
could reduce workers’ benefits. But the
Department notes that these newly
nonexempt workers may continue to be
paid a salary, as long as that salary is
equivalent to a base wage at least equal
to the minimum wage rate for every
hour worked, and the employee receives
a 50 percent premium on that base wage
for any overtime hours each week.
Similarly, employers may continue to
provide these workers with the same
level of benefits as previously, whether
paid on an hourly or salary basis. While
reducing benefits may be one way for
employers to offset payroll increases
associated with this rule, as shown
below, the Department estimates that
costs and payroll increases for small,
affected firms are less than 0.9 percent
of payroll and less than 0.2 percent of
estimated revenues. Therefore, the
Department does anticipate that it will
be necessarily for a significant number
of employers to reduce employee
benefits.
446 Lambert, S.J. (2007). Making a Difference for
Hourly Employees. In A. Booth, & A.C. Crouter,
Work-Life Policies that Make a Real Difference for
Individuals, Families, and Communities.
Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.
447 Balkin, D.B., & Griffeth, R.W. (1993). The
Determinants of Employee Benefits Satisfaction.
Journal of Business and Psychology, 7(3), 323–339.
448 Lambert, S.J., & Henly, J.R. (2009). Scheduling
in Hourly Jobs: Promising Practices for the TwentyFirst Century Economy. The Mobility Agenda.
Lambert, S.J. (2007). Making a Difference for Hourly
Employees. In A. Booth, & A.C. Crouter, Work-Life
Policies that Make a Real Difference for Individuals,
Families, and Communities. Washington, DC:
Urban Institute Press.
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Finally, it is unclear why career
advancement will be inhibited. As
noted above, see section VII.C.3.v.,
nothing in this rule requires employers
to limit advancement opportunities for
newly nonexempt workers. The
Department notes that if an employer
believes that career advancement
opportunities such as training are
sufficiently important, it can ensure
employees attend the trainings during
their 40-hour workweek or pay the
overtime premium where training
attendance causes the employee to work
over 40 hours in a workweek.
SBA Advocacy stated that the IRFA
was incomplete ‘‘because it d[id] not
analyze any regulatory alternatives that
would minimize the impact of the rule
for small businesses, such as lower
salary levels.’’ However, the Department
considered several regulatory
alternatives in the NPRM, describing
both the alternatives it considered,
which included lower (and higher)
thresholds for the standard salary level
and HCE total compensation
requirement, and why it chose the
earnings thresholds it proposed.449 And
it has considered and analyzed multiple
regulatory alternatives, including lower
(and higher) thresholds for the standard
salary and HCE total compensation
requirement, in this final rule as well.450
SBA Advocacy recommended that the
Department issue a Supplemental
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis to be
published in the Federal Register for
public comment addressing compliance
costs in and after the first year,
compliance costs by different sized
small entities, the current business
environment, impacts to small
nonprofits, the non-financial
consequences of the rule, and the
impacts of adopting alternative salary
thresholds on different sizes of small
businesses. The Department disagrees
with SBA Advocacy that this
rulemaking should be delayed for this
reason. The Department provided a fully
robust and transparent analysis of
estimated impacts on small entities in
its IRFA, relying on largely the same
methods and assumptions the
Department employed in drafting the
IFRA in its 2019 rulemaking.
As the Department stated in the IRFA,
it is difficult to directly evaluate
compliance cost impacts by entity size
due to lack of data concerning the
distribution of affected workers by
entity size. There are fewer affected
workers than there are small entities.
Therefore, many small entities will
employ zero affected workers; small
449 See
450 See
88 FR 62217.
section VII.C.8.
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entities that do employ affected workers
may employ one affected worker, or
have nearly all workers affected, and
anywhere in between. The number of
small entities that employ affected
workers will be inversely related to the
number of affected employees per
entity; if small entities only employ one
affected worker, more entities will be
affected, and vice versa.
Therefore, the Department evaluated a
range of potential impacts from lowest
to highest depending on whether one or
all employees are affected. Furthermore,
the Department evaluated the impact of
regulatory compliance costs plus
increased wages as a percent of payroll.
Payroll is largely proportionate to the
number of employees at the firm; if one
entity has 10 times as many employees
as another, its payroll is likely to be 10
times larger. Similarly, if an entity has
10 times more affected employees than
another firm, then it will likely incur 10
times more compliance cost and wage
impacts. Finally, firms hire more
workers to increase production and
sales, so entity revenues will be a
multiple of payroll, although that
multiple might vary by industry. If
compliance costs and increased wages
comprise 2 percent of payroll, those
costs will comprise less than 2 percent
of revenues. Thus, regardless of the size
of the small entity, regulatory impacts
should fall within the range calculated
by the Department.
The Department shows in Table 34
that with the exception of the
accommodation and the food services
and drinking places industries, if all
employees at an entity are affected by
the rule, compliance cost and increased
wages comprise less than 1.5 percent of
payroll and substantially less than 1
percent of revenues per affected small
entity. Although compliance costs and
increased wages might comprise 3.55
percent of payroll in the food services
and drinking places industry, that is
about 1.10 percent of revenues.
Performing this analysis for different
sized firms should not appreciably
change these results.
SBA Advocacy also recommended
adopting a lower standard salary level
that considers the significant small
business impacts of the rule. The
comment proposed two alternatives:
retain the current standard salary
threshold, or ‘‘adjust[ ] the standard
salary threshold by a particular industry
sector that will experience the greatest
economic costs,’’ noting that the 2019
standard salary level was based on
earnings in both the lowest-wage Census
region and the retail industry. The
comment also stated that small entities
at SBA Advocacy’s roundtable
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32947
recommended a gradual or phased
increase in the standard salary
threshold.
Although SBA Advocacy disagreed
with the standard salary level selected
by the Department, the salary level
accounts for regions and industries
likely to be most affected by the rule. As
discussed above,451 the Department is
setting the final rule standard salary
level using the lowest-wage Census
Region, instead of a national level,
ensuring the salary level is not driven
by earnings in high- or even middlewage regions of the country. The
Department believes that using earnings
data from the lowest-wage Census
Region produces a salary level that
accounts for differences across
industries and regional labor markets.
The Department thus believes that the
standard salary level is appropriate for
small businesses.
Consistent with the history of the part
541 regulations, the Department also
declines to create a lower salary level
requirement for employees employed at
small entities, or to exclude such
employees from the salary level test. As
the Department has previously noted,
while ‘‘the FLSA itself does provide
special treatment for small entities
under some of its exemptions . . . the
FLSA’s statutory exemption for whitecollar employees in section 13(a)(1)
contains no special provision based on
size of business.’’ 452 In the 86-year
history of the part 541 regulations
defining the EAP exemption, the salary
level requirements have never varied
according to the size or revenue of the
employer.453
SBA Advocacy recommended that
updates to the standard salary threshold
be made once every 4 years through a
proposed rule with a notice and
comment process for each update, as
opposed to updating the standard salary
level every three years through the
proposed updating mechanism. The
comment conveyed skepticism
regarding the lawfulness of the
Department’s proposed updating
mechanism asserting that the FLSA
requires the Department to periodically
issue regulations to set the standard
salary level. The comment also
expressed concern that the updating
provision would drive wage inflation for
salaried workers because employers
451 See
sections V.B.4.iv, VII.C.2.
81 FR 32526; 69 FR 22238.
453 See Stein Report at 5–6 (rejecting proposals to
set varying regional salary levels); see also 69 FR
22238 (stating that implementing differing salary
levels based on business size industry-by-industry
‘‘would present the same insurmountable
challenges’’ as adopting regional or populationbased salary levels).
452 See
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may raise the salaries of their newly
nonexempt workers to keep them
exempt or move them to hourly work to
comply with the rule, thereby causing
‘‘a self-perpetuating threshold, as the
salary level of the 35th percentile would
grow each iteration or three years.’’ The
comment reported small businesses at
Advocacy’s roundtable opposed the
proposed updating mechanism ‘‘because
it creates steep and unpredictable
changes to the EAP exemption and
uncertainty for employers[,]’’ and
asserted that small entities have
highlighted the administrative burdens
of reclassifying workers and tracking
employee hours. The comment also
mentioned the concern from small
construction and professional services
businesses about difficulties setting
price structures on long term federal
and private contracts.
The Department disagrees with SBA
Advocacy’s skepticism regarding the
lawfulness of the updating mechanism.
As explained in section V.A.3.i, the
Department is adopting an updating
mechanism in this rulemaking after
publishing a notice of the proposed rule
and providing opportunity for
stakeholders to comment in accordance
with the appropriate notice and
comment requirements. The Department
has received and considered numerous
comments on the proposed updating
mechanism. Future updates under the
triennial updating mechanism would
simply reset the thresholds by applying
current data to a standard already
established by regulation. Therefore, the
Department disagrees with the assertion
that a notice and comment rulemaking
must precede each future update made
through the updating mechanism even
where the methodology for setting the
compensation levels and the mechanism
for updating those levels would remain
unchanged.
The Department also disagrees with
the concern that the updating
mechanism would result in rapid
increases to the salary level solely
because of employers’ actions in
response to the rule. This assertion is
akin to the ones made by a number of
other commenters that the updating
mechanism tied to a fixed percentile
would lead to the salary level being
ratcheted upward over time due to the
resulting actions of employers. As
explained in detail in sections V.A.3.iii
and VII.C.9, there is nothing to
substantiate this assertion. On the
contrary, the Department’s analyses
shows that employers’ actions in
response to the rule will not have the
asserted impact on future updates.
Rather, the updating mechanism will
only ensure that the salary level
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continues to reflect prevailing economic
conditions.
The Department also finds
unpersuasive the assertion that the
updating mechanism will lead to
unpredictable changes and uncertainty
for employers. Unlike irregular updates
to the earnings thresholds, which may
result in drastic changes to the
thresholds, regular updates on a predetermined interval and using an
established methodology will produce
more predictable and incremental
changes. Through the updating
mechanism, the Department will reset
the standard salary level and total
annual compensation threshold using
the most recent, publicly available, BLS
data on earnings for salaried workers.
Therefore, employers will be able to
track where the thresholds would fall on
a quarterly basis by looking at the BLS
data and can estimate the changes in the
thresholds even before the Department
publishes the notice with the adjusted
thresholds in the Federal Register. The
Department believes that, compared to
the irregular updates of the past,
employers will be better positioned to
anticipate and prepare for future
updates under the updating mechanism.
SBA Advocacy also referenced that
the Department must publish a small
entity compliance guide for this rule.
Pursuant to its obligations under section
212 of SBREFA, the Department will
publish a small entity compliance guide
for this rule.
SBA Advocacy recommended the
Department add provisions to help
small nonprofits comply with the rule,
due to difficulties renegotiating
government grants and contracts. As
explained in section II.D, issues directly
related to the public financing available
for certain employers that might be
affected by this final rule are beyond the
Department’s authority to address.
However, the Department intends to
issue technical assistance to help
employers comply with the FLSA.
Finally, SBA Advocacy recommended
an extended effective date for the rule
of at least 1 year or 18 months, as small
entities indicated needing ‘‘more time to
understand and evaluate the rule, and
possibly reclassify their workforce and
budget for expenditures.’’ As discussed
in section IV, having considered
commenter feedback in response to the
NPRM, the Department has determined
that a delayed applicability date is
appropriate for the new standard salary
level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold. Specifically,
the new $1,128 per week standard
salary level and $151,164 per year HCE
total annual compensation threshold
will not be applicable until
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approximately 8 months after
publication of this final rule in the
Federal Register. The Department will
initially update those thresholds on July
1, 2024, by reapplying the
methodologies used to set those
thresholds in the 2019 rule, resulting in
an initial salary level of $844 per week
and an initial HCE total annual
compensation threshold of $132,964 per
year. Those initial thresholds will
remain in effect until the higher
thresholds become applicable.
C. Significant Issues Raised by Public
Comments in Response to the Initial
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis
Many of the issues raised by small
businesses in the public comments
received on the proposed rule are
described in the preamble and RIA
above, which are incorporated herein.
Nevertheless, significant issues raised
by representatives of small businesses
are also addressed here.
Most of the comments received
concerning small businesses centered
on the burden that the proposed salary
level would impose on small entities.
Many such commenters emphasized
that rule-related costs would
detrimentally impact small businesses.
See, e.g., Amusement and Music
Operators Association; Independent
Women’s Forum; NSBA. Some
commenters specifically asserted that
the Department underestimated
compliance costs for small entities
under the proposed rule. See, e.g., ABC;
The 4A’s. For example, NFIB contended
that the rule could cost small businesses
more than large businesses because,
among other reasons, small businesses
often have fewer resources (such as
administrative staff members,
experienced human resources
personnel, or regular access to legal
counsel). Sixteen Members of the U.S.
House of Representatives cited rulerelated costs, combined with burdens
facing small businesses, in urging the
Department to withdraw its proposal. A
number of small businesses specifically
raised concerns about the impact of the
proposed salary level on small entities
in low-wage regions and industries. See,
e.g., Nebraska Bankers Association;
National Restaurant Association. Other
commenters, including the Job Creators
Network Foundation, expressed concern
that the rule would adversely impact
small businesses by increasing inflation.
Some small businesses, raising these
and similar concerns, urged the
Department to set a special salary level
or create an exemption for small
businesses. See, e.g., Bowling
Proprietors Association of America;
WFCA. Opposition was not uniform,
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however, as some small businesses
supported the proposed rule. See, e.g. A
Few Cool Hardware Stores; BA Auto
Care; Well-Paid Maids.
For the reasons previously discussed
in detail, the Department believes its
cost estimates are appropriate and do
not provide a basis for changing the
methodology used to set the salary level
or for abandoning this rulemaking
altogether. The Department does not
agree with those commenters who
asserted that the proposal would be
ruinous for small businesses. As shown
later in this section, Department’s upper
bound estimate of the impact of this rule
per small establishment (which
assumed all employees in a small firm
are affected by the new rule) shows that
costs and payroll increases for small
affected firms were less than 0.9 percent
of payroll and less than 0.2 percent of
estimated revenues. While the affect in
some industries will be somewhat
larger, these figures reinforce that this
rule will not be unduly burdensome for
small businesses. In addition, the
Department believes that most, if not all,
small businesses, like larger businesses,
employ a mix of exempt and overtimeprotected workers. As such, to the
extent cost concerns are tied in part to
small businesses reclassifying some
employees who become nonexempt as
hourly as a result of this rule, many
employers will already have policies
and systems in place for scheduling
workers and monitoring overtime hours
worked and the corresponding overtime
premium pay. Such established
procedures, and experience gained
through fairly recent rulemakings to
increase the earnings thresholds, may
help mitigate concerns related to small
businesses requiring substantial
assistance from outside professionals to
comply with this final rule.
Additionally, the Department intends to
publish compliance assistance
materials, including a small entity
compliance guide. Industry associations
also typically become familiar with
rulemakings such as this one and often
provide compliance assistance to
association members. As to inflationary
concerns, as previously discussed, the
Department does not expect its rule to
lead to increased inflation on a national
level.
The Department recognizes that many
small employers operate in low-paying
regions or industries, and the
Department has historically accounted
for small employers when setting the
salary level.454 This final rule is no
454 See, e.g., Weiss Report at 14–15 (setting the
long test salary level for executive employees
‘‘slightly lower than might be indicated by the data’’
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exception, as the Department is setting
the salary level using the lowest-wage
Census Region. The Department
declines to adopt special exceptions or
lower salary levels for small businesses.
As stated above and as the Department
has emphasized in past rules, ‘‘‘the
FLSA’s statutory exemption for whitecollar employees in section 13(a)(1)
contains no special provision based on
size of business.’ ’’ 455 In the 86-year
history of the part 541 regulations
defining the EAP exemption, the
Department has never adopted special
salary levels for small businesses. The
Department continues to believe that
implementing differing salary levels
based on business size industry-byindustry would be inadvisable because,
among other reasons, it ‘‘would present
the same insurmountable challenges’’ as
adopting regional or population-based
salary levels.456
The Department received many
comments in response to its proposed
mechanism to update the standard
salary and HCE total annual
compensation requirements. As
discussed in section V.A.3.i, some
commenters asserted that the proposed
updating mechanism would violate the
RFA. Commenters, including
Independent Electrical Contracts, RILA,
and Seyfarth Shaw, commented that the
RFA required the Department ‘‘to
undertake a detailed economic and cost
analysis’’ and that Department’s
proposed updating mechanism would
bypass these requirements. The RFA
requires a regulatory flexibility analysis
to accompany any agency final rule
promulgated under 5 U.S.C. 553.457 In
accordance with this requirement, this
section estimates the costs of future
triennial updates using the fixed
percentile method. The RFA only
requires that such analyses accompany
rulemaking, and commenters did not
cite any RFA provision that would
require the Department to conduct a
new regulatory flexibility analysis
before each scheduled update to the
salary and annual compensation
thresholds.
Several commenters addressed the
potential effects that the proposed
updating mechanism could have on
small entities. Small Business Majority
expressed support for the proposed
updating mechanism, asserting that
‘‘[s]maller, predictable increases that are
known well in advance will allow small
in part to avoid excluding ‘‘large numbers of the
executives of small establishments from the
exemption’’).
455 See 81 FR 32526 (quoting 69 FR 22238).
456 69 FR 22238.
457 See 5 U.S.C. 603–604.
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32949
business owners to be better prepared
for any staffing or compensation
changes they need to make.’’ Business
for a Fair Minimum Wage—whose
members include many small business
owners—commented that the proposed
updating mechanism would keep the
thresholds up to date and predictable
for employers. In contrast, NFIB
asserted that ‘‘triennial updates would
result in instability in labor and
administrative costs for small
businesses in perpetuity’’ as small
businesses would have to reconsider the
classifications given to their employees
every 3 years. The 4As similarly
asserted that the updating mechanism
imposes substantial ongoing expense on
small agencies noting that ‘‘[l]ike many
small businesses, small agencies often
outsource legal, payroll, and some HR
functions to outside professionals.’’
ASTA expressed concern that ‘‘small
business owners with limited resources
to engage outside help, would have
difficulty keeping abreast of salary level
increases and could inadvertently find
themselves out of compliance.’’
As previously explained, the
Department believes the updating
mechanism adopted by this final rule
will ensure greater certainty and
predictability for the regulated
community. For all future triennial
updates, the Department will publish a
notice with the revised salary and
annual compensation thresholds not
fewer than 150 days before the new
thresholds are set to take effect.
Moreover, businesses will be able to
estimate the changes in the thresholds
by looking at BLS data even before the
Department publishes the notice with
the adjusted thresholds. The
Department believes that, compared to
the irregular updates of the past,
employers will be better positioned to
anticipate and prepare for future
updates under the updating mechanism.
As noted in section V.A.3.ii, the
alternative to Department’s updating
mechanism is not a permanent fixed
earnings threshold, but instead larger
changes to the threshold that would
occur during irregular future updates.
Since the updating mechanism will
change the thresholds regularly and
incrementally, and based on actual
earnings of salaried workers, the
Department predicts that employers will
be in a better position to be able to
adjust to the changes resulting from
triennial updates.
The Department believes that the
updating mechanism will ensure that
the earnings thresholds for the EAP
exemption will remain effective and up
to date over time. The updating
mechanism should benefit employers of
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The primary data source used to
estimate the number of small entities
and employment in these entities is the
Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB).
Alternative sources were used for
industries with asset thresholds (credit
unions,461 commercial banks and
savings institutions,462 agriculture 463),
and public administration.464 The
Department used 2017 data, when
possible, to align with the use of 2017
SUSB data. Private households are
excluded from the analysis due to lack
of data.
For each industry, the SUSB 2017
tabulates employment, establishment,
and firm counts by both enterprise
employment size (e.g., 0–4 employees,
5–9 employees) and receipt size (e.g.,
less than $100,000, $100,000–
$499,999).465 Although more recent
SUSB data are available, these data do
not disaggregate entities by revenue
sizes. The Department combined these
data with the SBA size standards to
estimate the proportion of firms and
establishments in each industry that are
considered small, and the proportion of
workers employed by a small entity.
The Department classified all firms and
establishments and their employees in
categories below the SBA cutoff as
small.466 If a cutoff fell in the middle of
a category, the Department assumed a
uniform distribution of employees
across that bracket to determine what
proportion of establishments should be
classified as small.467 The estimated
share of establishments that were small
in 2017 was applied to the more recent
2021 SUSB data on the number of small
establishments to determine the number
of small entities.468
The Department also estimated the
number of small establishments and
their employees by employer type
(nonprofit, for-profit, government). This
calculation is similar to the calculation
of the number of establishments by
industry but with different data. Instead
of using data by industry, the
Department used SUSB data by Legal
Form of Organization for nonprofit and
for-profit establishments. The estimated
share of establishments that were
calculated as small with the 2017 data
was then applied to the 2021 SUSB
counts. For governments, the
Department used the number of
governments reported in the 2017
Census of Governments.469
Table 28 presents the estimated
number of establishments/governments
and small establishments/governments
in the U.S. (hereafter, referred to as
‘‘entities’’).470 The numbers in the
following tables are for Year 1; projected
impacts are considered later. The
Department found that of the 8.2 million
entities, 80 percent (6.6 million) are
small by SBA standards. These small
entities employ 55.3 million workers,
about 37 percent of workers (excluding
self-employed, unpaid workers, and
members of the armed forces). They also
account for roughly 35 percent of total
payroll ($3.7 trillion of $10.7 trillion).471
Although the Department used 6-digit
NAICS to determine the number of
small entities and the associated
number of employees, the following
tables aggregate findings to 27 industry
categories. This was the most detailed
level available while maintaining
adequate sample sizes.472 The
Department started with the 51-industry
breakdown and aggregated where
necessary to obtain adequate sample
sizes.
458 See https://data.sba.gov/dataset/smallbusiness-size-standards/resource/d89a5f17-ab8e4698-9031-dfeb34d0a773.
459 The SBA size standard changes in 2022
primarily adjusted the standards to the 2022
NAICS, these changes were not substantive. https://
www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-09-29/pdf/
2022-20513.pdf.
460 See https://advocacy.sba.gov/resources/theregulatory-flexibility-act/rfa-data-resources-forfederal-agencies/ for details.
461 National Credit Union Association. (2018).
2018 Year End Statistics for Federally Insured
Credit Unions. Available at: https://www.cuna.org/
advocacy/credit-union---economic-data/data--statistics/credit-union-profile-reports.html.
462 Federal Depository Insurance Corporation.
(2018). Quarterly Financial Reports-Statistics On
Depository Institutions (SDI). Available at: https://
www.fdic.gov/foia/ris/id-sdi/. Data are
from 12/31/17.
463 United States Department of Agriculture.
(2019). 2017 Census of Agriculture: United States
Summary and State Data: Volume 1, Geographic
Area Series, Part 51. Available at: https://
www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/
Full_Report/Volume_1,_Chapter_1_US/usv1.pdf.
464 Census of Governments. 2017. Available at:
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/econ/gus/
2017-governments.html.
465 The SUSB defines employment as of March
12th.
466 The Department’s estimates of the numbers of
affected small entities and affected workers who are
employees of small entities includes entities not
covered by the FLSA and thus are likely
overestimates. The Department had no credible way
to estimate which enterprises with annual revenues
below $500,000 also did not engage in interstate
commerce and hence are not subject to the FLSA.
467 The Department assumed that the small entity
share of credit card issuing and other depository
credit intermediation institutions (which were not
separately represented in FDIC asset data), is
similar to that of commercial banking and savings
institutions.
468 Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2021, https://
www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html.
469 Census of Governments 2017. Available at
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/
cog.html.
470 SUSB reports data by ‘‘enterprise’’ size
designations (a business organization consisting of
one or more domestic establishments that were
specified under common ownership or control).
However, the number of enterprises is not reported
for the size designations. Instead, SUSB reports the
number of ‘‘establishments’’ (individual plants,
regardless of ownership) and ‘‘firms’’ (a collection
of establishments with a single owner within a
given state and industry) associated with
enterprises size categories. Therefore, numbers in
this analysis are for the number of establishments
associated with small enterprises, which may
exceed the number of small enterprises. The
Department based the analysis on the number of
establishments rather than firms for a more
conservative estimate (potential overestimate) of the
number of small businesses.
471 Since information is not available on employer
size in the CPS MORG, respondents were randomly
assigned as working in a small business based on
the SUSB probability of employment in a small
business by detailed Census industry. Annual
payroll was estimated based on the CPS weekly
earnings of workers by industry size.
472 The Department required at least 15 affected
workers (i.e., observations) in small entities in Year
1.
all sizes going forward by avoiding the
uncertainty and disruptiveness of larger
increases that would likely occur as a
result of irregular updates.
D. Estimate of the Number of Affected
Small Entities
1. Definition of Small Entity
The RFA defines a ‘‘small entity’’ as
(1) a small not-for-profit organization,
(2) a small governmental jurisdiction, or
(3) a small business. The Department
used the entity size standards defined
by SBA and in effect as of 2019, to
classify entities as small or large.458 The
most recent size standards were released
in 2022 and use the 2022 NAICS.
However, because the data used by the
Department to estimate the number of
small entities uses the 2017 NAICS, the
Department used the 2019 entity size
standards instead of the 2022
standards.459
SBA establishes standards for 6-digit
NAICS industry codes, and standard
size cutoffs are typically based on either
the average number of employees or
average annual receipts. However, some
exceptions exist, the most notable being
that depository institutions (including
credit unions, commercial banks, and
non-commercial banks) are classified by
total assets and small governmental
jurisdictions are defined as areas with
populations of less than 50,000.460
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2. Number of Small Entities and
Employees
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Table 28—Number of Entities and
Employees by SBA Size Standards, by
Industry and Employer Type
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Total
Agriculture,
forestry, fishing,
and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing durable goods
Manufacturing non-durable
goods
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation
and warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and
rental and
leasing
Professional and
technical
services
Management,
administrative
and waste
management
services
Educational
services
Hospitals
Health care
services, except
hospitals
Social assistance
Arts,
entertainment,
and recreation
Accommodation
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Workers (1,000s) [a]
Total
Small
Total
8,238.7
6,588.6
23.3
Annual Payroll (Billions)
Small
Business
Employed
Total
Small
147,798.7
Industry [b]
55,279.6
$10,660.7
$3,743.6
19.3
1,349.6
702.6
$66.0
$34.7
23.0
780.3
18.5
752.7
587.9
9,345.8
276.3
5,617.2
$62.3
$646.7
$28.6
$390.4
174.6
159.8
10,032.5
4,634.0
$824.9
$368.6
108.4
96.6
5,580.1
2,674.4
$435.0
$195.1
390.8
1,036.9
301.3
661.3
3,169.5
15,698.4
1,308.9
4,878.2
$250.8
$815.6
$100.9
$264.4
279.1
220.1
7,539.4
1,795.4
$476.5
$112.3
19.9
162.0
297.4
181.5
8.0
93.9
137.5
139.9
1,463.3
2,720.8
4,859.8
2,801.6
309.9
702.5
875.2
641.1
$142.3
$283.3
$533.1
$254.1
$27.2
$69.2
$99.5
$58.0
456.2
353.3
2,359.8
1,212.3
$181.8
$93.5
962.5
858.7
12,003.4
5,320.8
$1,389.8
$598.3
499.5
411.0
5,622.8
2,406.6
$310.7
$121.8
111.5
98.9
14,383.5
3,701.4
$998.1
$239.4
7.5
1.5
7,832.2
277.4
$649.1
$22.6
751.4
579.3
10,476.2
4,565.8
$672.5
$288.7
188.7
152.8
3,121.3
1,739.0
$153.9
$82.7
156.1
142.3
2,656.0
1,296.1
$138.7
$66.7
70.8
59.4
1,190.0
466.8
$57.9
$22.6
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Industry/
Employer Type
Entities (1,000s)
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Food services
and drinking
places
Repair and
maintenance
Personal and
laundry services
Membership
associations and
organizations
Public
administration
rel
675.1
524.8
8,750.2
4,952.0
$294.8
$167.6
220.0
202.3
1,736.5
1,253.6
$95.9
$68.8
254.4
226.7
1,644.1
1,286.4
$71.7
$55.5
307.0
294.8
2,038.9
1,395.3
$143.6
$96.1
90.1
65.7
8,211.2
990.3
$692.2
$70.6
Employer Type
Nonprofit,
597.3
504.5
10,692.3
4,029.0
$796.6
$264.3
private
For profit,
7,551.3
5,874.3
114,570.7
47,910.7
$8,169.1
$3,257.6
private
Government
90.1
65.7
18,284.5
3,339.9
$1,296.3
$221.7
(state and local)
Note: Establishment data are from SUSB 2021; worker and payroll data from pooled CPS MORG data
for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Excludes the self-employed, unpaid workers, and workers in private households.
[b] Summation across industries may not add to the totals reported due to suppressed values and some
entities not reporting an industry.
[c] Entity number represents the total number of governments, including state and local. Data from
Census of Governments, 2017.
3. Number of Affected Small Entities
and Employees
The calculation of the number of
affected EAP workers was explained in
detail in section VII.B. Here, the
Department focuses on how these
workers were allocated to either small
or large entities. To estimate the
probability that an exempt EAP worker
in the CPS data is employed by a small
entity, the Department assumed this
probability is equal to the proportion of
all workers employed by small entities
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in the corresponding industry. That is,
if 50 percent of workers in an industry
are employed in small entities, then on
average small entities are expected to
employ one out of every two exempt
EAP workers in this industry.473 The
Department applied these probabilities
to the population of exempt EAP
workers to find the number of workers
(total exempt EAP workers and total
affected by the rule) that small entities
employ. No data are available to
determine whether small businesses (or
small businesses in specific industries)
are more or less likely than non-small
businesses to employ exempt EAP
workers or affected EAP workers.
Therefore, the best assumption available
473 The Department used CPS microdata to
estimate the number of affected workers. This was
done individually for each observation in the
relevant sample by randomly assigning them a
small business status based on the best available
estimate of the probability of a worker to be
employed in a small business in their respective
industry.
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is to assign the same rates to all small
and non-small businesses.474 475
The Department estimated that small
entities employ 1.6 million of the 4.3
million affected workers (36.3 percent)
(Table 29). This composes 2.8 percent of
the 55.3 million workers that small
entities employ. The sectors with the
highest total number of affected workers
employed by small entities are
professional and technical services
(281,000); health care services, except
hospitals (140,000); and retail trade
(125,000). The sectors with the largest
percent of workers employed by small
entities who are affected include:
474 A strand of literature indicates that small
businesses tend to pay lower wages than larger
businesses. This may imply that workers in small
businesses are more likely to be affected than
workers in large businesses; however, the literature
does not make clear what the appropriate
alternative rate for small businesses should be.
475 Workers are designated as employed in a small
business based on their industry of employment.
The share of workers considered small in nonprofit,
for profit, and government entities is therefore the
weighted average of the shares for the industries
that compose these categories.
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Estimates are not limited to entities
subject to the FLSA because the
Department cannot estimate which
enterprises do not meet the enterprise
coverage requirements because of data
limitations. Although not excluding
such entities and associated workers
only affects a small percentage of
workers generally, it may have a larger
effect (and result in a larger
overestimate) for non-profits, because
revenue from charitable activities is not
included when determining enterprise
coverage.
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percent); and professional and technical
services (5.3 percent).
Workers (1,000s)
Industry
Total
Total
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Affected Workers (1,000s) [a]
Small
Business
Employed
147,798.7
55,279.6
Industry
Agriculture, forestry, fishing,
and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing - durable goods
Manufacturing - non-durable
goods
Wholesale trade
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Table 29—Number of Affected Workers
Employed by Small Entities, by
Industry and Employer Type
20:47 Apr 25, 2024
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Total
Small
Business
Employed
4,337.5
1,574.1
1,349.6
702.6
13.3
6.4
587.9
9,345.8
10,032.5
276.3
5,617.2
4,634.0
18.5
184.6
232.9
8.8
112.1
121.8
5,580.1
2,674.4
117.7
58.9
3,169.5
1,308.9
112.3
50.9
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insurance (7.0 percent); membership
associations and organizations (5.7
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Retail trade
Transportation and warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and rental and
leasing
Professional and technical
services
Management, administrative
and waste management services
Educational services
Hospitals
Health care services, except
hospitals
Social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and
recreation
Accommodation
Food services and drinking
places
Repair and maintenance
Personal and laundry services
Membership associations and
organizations
Public administration
15,698.4
7,539.4
1,463.3
2,720.8
4,859.8
2,801.6
4,878.2
1,795.4
309.9
702.5
875.2
641.1
377.4
113.1
39.8
132.4
276.4
198.6
124.5
30.0
7.5
34.8
43.6
45.1
2,359.8
1,212.3
89.4
51.3
12,003.4
5,320.8
676.3
280.7
5,622.8
2,406.6
151.1
47.5
14,383.5
7,832.2
3,701.4
277.4
244.1
238.9
53.4
11.4
10,476.2
4,565.8
347.0
140.1
3,121.3
1,739.0
154.2
91.4
2,656.0
1,296.1
118.3
64.6
1,190.0
466.8
26.6
12.3
8,750.2
4,952.0
83.6
42.0
1,736.5
1,644.1
1,253.6
1,286.4
21.5
23.4
16.1
14.3
2,038.9
1,395.3
117.8
79.4
Because no information is available
on how affected workers would be
distributed among small entities, the
Department estimated a range of effects.
At one end of this range, the Department
assumed that each small entity employs
no more than one affected worker,
meaning that at most 1.6 million of the
6.6 million small entities will employ
an affected worker. Thus, these
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assumptions provide an upper-end
estimate of the number of affected small
entities. (However, it provides a lowerend estimate of the effect per small
entity because costs are spread over a
larger number of entities; the impacts
experienced by an entity would increase
as the share of its workers that are
affected increases.) For the purpose of
estimating a lower-range number of
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affected small entities, the Department
used the average size of a small entity
as the typical size of an affected small
entity, and assumed all workers are
affected. This can be considered an
approximation of all employees at an
entity affected.476 The average number
476 This is not the true lower bound estimate of
the number of affected entities. Strictly speaking, a
true lower bound estimate of the number of affected
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8,211.2
990.3
227.2
25.2
Employer Type
Nonprofit, private
10,692.3
4,029.0
461.3
201.3
For profit, private
114,570.7
47,910.7
3,392.5
1,310.8
Government (state and local)
18,284.5
3,339.9
483.6
62.1
Note: Worker data are from pooled CPS MORG data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Estimation of affected workers employed by small entities was done at the most detailed industry
level available. Therefore, at the more aggregated industry level shown in this table, the ratio of
small business employed to total employed does not equal the ratio of affected small business
employed to total affected for each industry, nor does it equal the ratio for the national total because
relative industry size, employment, and small business employment differs from industry to industry.
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
of employees in a small entity is the
number of workers that small entities
employ divided by the total number of
small establishments in that industry.
The number of affected employees at
small businesses is then divided by this
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small entities would be calculated by assuming all
employees in the largest small entity are affected.
For example, if the SBA standard is that entities
with 500 employees are ‘‘small,’’ and 1,350 affected
workers are employed by small entities in that
industry, then the smallest number of entities that
could be affected in that industry (the true lower
bound) would be three. However, because such an
outcome appears implausible, the Department
determined a more reasonable lower estimate
would be based on average establishment size.
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average number of employees to
calculate 208,300 affected small entities.
Table 30 summarizes the estimated
number of affected workers that small
entities employ and the expected range
for the number of affected small entities
by industry. The Department estimated
that the rule will affect 1.6 million
workers who are employed by
somewhere between 208,300 and 1.6
million small entities; this comprises
from 3.2 percent to 23.9 percent of all
small entities. It also means that from
5.0 million to 6.4 million small entities
would incur no more than minimal
regulatory familiarization costs (i.e., 6.6
million minus 1.6 million equals 5.0
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32955
million; 6.6 million minus 208,300
equals 6.4 million, using rounded
values). The table also presents the
average number of affected employees
per establishment using the method in
which all employees at the
establishment would be affected. For the
other method, by definition, there
would always be one affected employee
per establishment. Also displayed is the
average payroll per small establishment
by industry (based on both affected and
non-affected small entities), calculated
by dividing total payroll of small
businesses by the number of small
businesses (Table 28) (applicable to both
methods).
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Table 30—Number of Small Affected
Entities and Employees by Industry and
Employer Type
Industry
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Total
1,574.1
Agriculture, forestry,
fishing, and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing - durable
goods
Manufacturing - nondurable goods
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation and
warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and rental and
leasing
Professional and technical
services
Management,
administrative and waste
management services
Educational services
Hospitals
Health care services,
except hospitals
Social assistance
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One
Affected
Employee
per Entity
[b]
20:47 Apr 25, 2024
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Per Entity
All
Employees
at Entity
Affected
[c]
Affected
Employees
[a]
Average Annual
Payroll ($1,000s)
208.3
7.6
$568.2
1,574.1
Industry
6.4
6.4
0.2
36.4
$1,796.9
8.8
8.8
112.1
112.1
0.6
15.0
15.0
7.463
$1,546.6
$518.6
121.8
121.8
4.2
29.0
$2,306.3
58.9
58.9
2.1
27.7
$2,020.1
50.9
124.5
50.9
124.5
11.7
16.9
4.3
7.4
$334.9
$399.7
30.0
30.0
3.7
8.2
$510.4
7.5
34.8
43.6
45.1
7.5
34.8
43.6
45.1
0.2
4.7
6.9
9.8
38.9
7.5
6.4
4.6
$3,415.5
$736.8
$723.6
$415.0
51.3
51.3
15.0
3.4
$264.7
280.7
280.7
45.3
6.2
$696.8
47.5
47.5
8.1
5.9
$296.4
53.4
11.4
53.4
9.9 [d]
1.4
0.1
37.4
189.1
$2,420.0
$15,377.1
140.1
140.1
17.8
7.9
$498.4
91.4
91.4
8.0
11.4
$541.3
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Affected
Workers in
Small
Entities
(1,000s)
Number of Small
Affected Entities
0,000s) fal
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Arts, entertainment, and
recreation
Accommodation
Food services and drinking
places
I Repair and maintenance
Personal and laundry
services
Membership associations
and organizations
Public administration rel
64.6
64.6
7.1
9.1
$468.5
12.3
12.3
1.6
7.9
$379.4
42.0
42.0
4.5
9.4
$319.3
16.1
16.1
2.6
6.2
$340.1
14.3
14.3
2.5
5.7
$244.8
79.4
79.4
16.8
4.7
$325.8
25.2
1.7
Employer Type
201.3
25.2
1,310.8
160.7
15.1
$1,075.1
25.2
32957
Nonprofit, private
201.3
8.0
$523.9
For profit, private
1,310.8
8.2
$554.5
Government (state and
62.1
62.1
1.2
50.8
$3,373.6
local)
Note: Establishment data are from SUSB 2021; worker and payroll data from pooled CPS MORG data
for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Estimation of both affected small entity employees and affected small entities was done at the most
detailed industry level available. Therefore, the ratio of affected small entities employees to total small
entity employees for each industry may not match the ratio of small affected entities to total small
entities at the more aggregated industry level presented in the table, nor will it equal the ratio at the
national level because relative industry size, employment, and small business employment differs from
industry to industry.
[b] This method may overestimate the number of affected entities and therefore the ratio of affected
workers to affected entities may be greater than l-to-1. However, the Department addresses this issue
by also calculating effects based on the assumption that 100 percent of workers at an entity are affected.
[c] For example, on average, a small entity in the construction industry employs 7.5 workers (5.6
million employees divided by 752,700 small entities). This method assumes if an entity is affected then
all 7.5 workers are affected. Therefore, in the construction industry this method estimates there are
15,000 small affected entities (112,100 affected small entity workers divided by 7.5).
[d] Number of entities is smaller than number of affected employees; thus, total number of entities is
,reported.
[e] Entity number represents the total number of state and local governments.
For small entities, the Department
estimated various types of effects,
including regulatory familiarization
costs, adjustment costs, managerial
costs, and payroll increases borne by
employers. The Department estimated a
range for the number of affected small
entities and the impacts they incur.
While the upper and lower bounds are
likely over- and under-estimates,
respectively, of effects per small entity,
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the Department believes that this range
of costs and payroll increases provides
the most accurate characterization of the
effects of the rule on small
employers.477 Furthermore, the smaller
estimate of the number of affected
entities (i.e., where all employees at
each affected employer are assumed to
be affected) will result in the largest
477 As noted previously, these are not the true
lower and upper bounds. The values presented are
the highest and lowest estimates the Department
believes are plausible.
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costs and payroll increases per entity as
a percent of establishment payroll and
revenue, and the Department expects
that many, if not most, entities will
incur smaller costs, payroll increases,
and effects relative to entity size.
Parameters that are used in the small
business cost analysis for Year 1 are
provided in Table 31, along with
summary data of the impacts.478
478 See section VII.C.3 for a more fulsome
discussion on these costs.
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4. Impacts to Affected Small Entities
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Table 31—Overview of Parameters
Used for Costs to Small Businesses and
the Impacts on Small Businesses
Small Business Costs
Cost
Direct and Payroll Costs
Average total cost per affected entity [a]
$4,544
$1,767-$57,218
Range of total costs per affected entity [a]
Average percent of revenue per affected entity
0.16%
Average percent of payroll per affected entity
Direct Costs
Regulatory familiarization
Time (first year)
Time (update years)
Hourly wage
Adjustment
Time (first year affected)
Hourly wage
Managerial
0.80%
1 hour per entity
10 minutes per entity
$54.82
75 minutes per newly affected worker
$54.82
10 minutes per affected worker whose
hours change
Hourly wage
$86.82
Payroll Increases
$2,773
Average payroll increase per affected entity [a]
$674-$15,532
Range of payroll increases per affected entity [a]
Time (weekly)
[a] Using the methodology where all employees at an affected small firm are affected. This
assumption generates upper-end estimates. Lower-end cost estimates are significantly smaller.
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regulatory familiarization costs (an
average cost of $54.82 per entity). The
three industries with the highest costs
(professional and technical services;
health care services, except hospitals;
and retail trade) account for about 35
percent of the costs. Hospitals are
expected to incur the largest cost per
establishment ($42,900 using the
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method where all employees are
affected), although the costs are not
expected to exceed 0.3 percent of
payroll. The food services and drinking
places industry is expected to
experience the largest effect as a share
of payroll (estimated direct costs
compose 0.69 percent of average entity
payroll).
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The Department expects total direct
employer costs will range from $368.7
million to $443.6 million for affected
small entities (i.e., those with affected
employees) in the first year (an average
cost of between $282 to $1,771 per
entity) (Table 32). Small entities that do
not employ affected workers will incur
$274.9 million to $349.7 million in
32959
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 32—Year 1 Small Establishment
Direct Costs, Total and per
Establishment, by Industry and
Employer Type
Direct Cost to Small Entities in Year 1 [a]
One Affected Employee
All Employees Affected
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Total
Agriculture,
forestry, fishing,
and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing durable goods
Manufacturing non-durable
goods
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation
and warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and
rental and
leasing
Professional and
technical
services
Management,
administrative
and waste
management
services
Educational
services
Hospitals
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Total
(Millions)
[a]
Cost per
Affected
Entity
Percent of
Annual
Payroll
Total
(Millions)
[b]
Cost per
Affected
Entity
Percent of
Annual
Payroll
$443.6
$282
0.05%
Industry
$368.7
$1,771
0.31%
$1.8
$281
0.02%
$1.5
$8,292
0.46%
$2.5
$31.6
$281
$282
0.02%
0.05%
$2.0
$26.3
$3,443
$1,751
0.22%
0.34%
$34.3
$282
0.01%
$27.9
$6,631
0.29%
$16.7
$283
0.01%
$13.5
$6,367
0.32%
$14.3
$35.1
$281
$282
0.08%
0.07%
$12.2
$29.2
$1,039
$1,731
0.31%
0.43%
$8.5
$282
0.06%
$7.0
$1,912
0.37%
$2.1
$9.8
$12.3
$12.7
$281
$281
$281
$281
0.01%
0.04%
0.04%
0.07%
$1.7
$8.1
$10.3
$10.8
$8,876
$1,750
$1,496
$1,093
0.26%
0.24%
0.21%
0.26%
$14.5
$283
0.11%
$12.5
$839
0.32%
$79.1
$282
0.04%
$66.2
$1,460
0.21%
$13.5
$284
0.10%
$11.3
$1,394
0.47%
$15.0
$281
0.01%
$12.2
$8,531
0.35%
$3.2
$281
0.00%
$2.6
$42,885
0.28%
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Industry
32960
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Health care
services, except
hospitals
Social assistance
Arts,
entertainment,
and recreation
Accommodation
Food services
and drinking
places
Repair and
maintenance
Personal and
laundry services
Membership
associations and
organizations
Public
administration
$39.5
$282
0.06%
$32.8
$1,842
0.37%
$25.7
$281
0.05%
$21.1
$2,633
0.49%
$18.2
$282
0.06%
$15.0
$2,120
0.45%
$3.5
$281
0.07%
$2.9
$1,834
0.48%
$11.9
$282
0.09%
$9.8
$2,203
0.69%
$4.5
$281
0.08%
$3.8
$1,459
0.43%
$4.0
$282
0.12%
$3.4
$1,343
0.55%
$22.4
$282
0.09%
$18.9
$1,129
0.35%
$7.1
$281
0.03%
$5.8
$3,471
0.32%
It is possible that the costs of the rule
may be disproportionately large for
small entities, especially because small
entities often have limited human
resources personnel on staff. However,
the Department expects that small
entities would rely on compliance
assistance materials provided by the
Department or industry associations to
become familiar with the final rule.
Additionally, the Department notes that
the rule is narrow in scope because the
changes all relate to the salary
component of the part 541 regulations.
Finally, the Department believes that
most entities have at least some
nonexempt employees and, therefore,
already have policies and systems in
place for monitoring and recording their
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hours. The Department believes that
applying those same policies and
systems to the workers whose
exemption status changes will not be an
unreasonable burden on small
businesses.
Average weekly earnings for affected
EAP workers in small entities are
expected to increase by about $7.06 per
week per affected worker, using the
incomplete fixed-job model 479
479 The incomplete fixed-job model reflects the
Department’s determination that an appropriate
estimate of the impact on the implicit hourly rate
of pay for regular overtime workers should be
determined using the average of Barkume’s and
Trejo’s two estimates of the incomplete fixed-job
model adjustments: a wage change that is 40
percent of the adjustment toward the amount
predicted by the fixed-job model, assuming an
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described in section VII.C.4.iii.480 This
would lead to $577.5 million in
additional annual wage payments to
employees in small entities (less than
0.5 percent of aggregate affected
establishment payroll; Table 33). The
largest payroll increases per
establishment are expected in utilities
(up to $15,500 per entity); hospitals (up
to $14,300 per entity); and
manufacturing—durable goods (up to
initial zero overtime pay premium, and a wage
change that is 80 percent of the adjustment
assuming an initial 28 percent overtime pay
premium.
480 This is an average increase for all affected
workers (both standard test and HCE), and
reconciles to the weighted average of individual
salary changes discussed in the Transfers section.
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Employer Type
Nonprofit,
$54.4
$270
0.05%
$44.8
$1,777
0.34%
private
For profit,
$394.4
$301
0.05%
$331.4
$2,062
0.37%
private
Government
$17.5
$283
0.01%
$14.2
$11,633
0.34%
(state and local)
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Direct costs include regulatory familiarization, adjustment, and managerial costs.
[b] The range of costs per entity depends on the number of affected entities. The minimum
assumes that each affected entity has one affected worker (therefore, the number of affected
entities is equal to the number of affected workers). The maximum assumes the share of workers
in small entities who are affected is also the share of small entity entities that are affected.
32961
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
$13,000 per entity). However, average
payroll increases per entity would
exceed one percent of average annual
payroll in only two sectors: food
services and drinking places (2.9
percent) and accommodation (1.1
percent).
Table 33—Year 1 Small Establishment
Payroll Increases, Total and per
Establishment, by Industry and
Employer Type
Increased Payroll for Small Entities in Year 1 [a]
Industry
Total
(Millions)
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES4
Agriculture, forestry,
fishing, and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing - durable
goods
Manufacturing - nondurable goods
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation and
warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and rental and
leasing
VerDate Sep<11>2014
Percent of
Annual
Payroll
Per Entity
$367
Industry
0.06%
$2,773
Percent
of
Annual
Payroll
0.49%
$1.2
$195
0.01%
$7,088
0.39%
$2.2
$43.6
$256
$389
0.02%
0.08%
$3,828
$2,904
0.25%
0.56%
$54.7
$449
0.02%
$13,027
0.56%
$21.9
$372
0.02%
$10,291
0.51%
$24.9
$66.2
$489
$532
0.15%
0.13%
$2,123
$3,922
0.63%
0.98%
$14.0
$468
0.09%
$3,815
0.75%
$3.0
$4.1
$12.0
$6.6
$399
$116
$274
$147
0.01%
0.02%
0.04%
0.04%
$15,532
$871
$1,746
$674
0.45%
0.12%
0.24%
0.16%
$25.7
$500
0.19%
$1,716
0.65%
$577.5
Total
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All Employees Affected
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One Affected Employee
32962
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Professional and
technical services
Management,
administrative and waste
management services
Educational services
Hospitals
Health care services,
except hospitals
Social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and
recreation
Accommodation
Food services and
drinking places
Repair and maintenance
Personal and laundry
services
$116.8
$416
0.06%
$2,577
0.37%
$14.1
$296
0.10%
$1,733
0.58%
$12.0
$0.9
$225
$76
0.01%
0.00%
$8,434
$14,333
0.35%
0.09%
$30.6
$218
0.04%
$1,721
0.35%
$12.3
$135
0.02%
$1,534
0.28%
$28.8
$446
0.10%
$4,059
0.87%
$6.6
$533
0.14%
$4,189
1.10%
$40.7
$968
0.30%
$9,136
2.86%
$8.7
$539
0.16%
$3,341
0.98%
$2.1
$148
0.06%
$841
0.34%
Membership associations
and organizations
Public administration
$19.4
$244
0.07%
$1,155
0.35%
$181
0.02%
Employer Type
$2,730
0.25%
Nonprofit, private
$47.3
0.04%
$1,879
0.36%
$4.6
$235
Table 34 presents estimated first year
direct costs and payroll increases
combined per entity and the costs and
payroll increases as a percent of average
entity payroll. The Department presents
only the results for the upper bound
scenario where all workers employed by
the entity are affected. Combined costs
and payroll increases per establishment
range from $1,800 in insurance to
$57,200 in hospitals. Combined costs
and payroll increases compose more
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than two percent of average annual
payroll in one sector, food services and
drinking places (3.6 percent).
However, comparing costs and payroll
increases to payrolls overstates the
effects on entities because payroll
represents only a fraction of the
financial resources available to an
establishment. The Department
approximated revenue per affected
small establishment by calculating the
ratio of small business revenues to
payroll by industry from the 2017 SUSB
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data then multiplying that ratio by
average small entity payroll.481 Using
this approximation of annual revenues
as a benchmark, only one sector will
have costs and payroll increases
amounting to greater than one percent of
revenues, food services and drinking
places (1.1 percent).
481 The Department used this estimate of revenue,
instead of small business revenue reported directly
from the 2017 SUSB so revenue aligned with
payrolls in 2023.
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0.07%
0.57%
For profit, private
$511.4
$390
$3,182
Government (state and
$18.8
$302
0.01%
$15,371
0.46%
local)
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Aggregate change in total annual payroll experienced by small entities under the updated
salary levels after labor market adjustments. This amount represents the total amount of (wage)
transfers from employers to employees.
32963
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 34—Year 1 Small Establishment
Direct Costs and Payroll Increases,
Total and per Entity, by Industry and
Employer Type, Using All Employees in
Entity Affected Method
Industry
Total
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Agriculture, forestry, fishing,
and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing - durable goods
Manufacturing - non-durable
goods
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation and warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and rental and
leasing
Professional and technical
services
Management, administrative
and waste management services
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$2.7
$15,381
0.86%
0.17%
$4.3
$69.9
$82.6
$7,271
$4,655
$19,659
0.47%
0.90%
0.85%
0.07%
0.21%
0.18%
$35.4
$16,658
0.82%
0.11%
$37.1
$95.4
$21.1
$4.7
$12.2
$22.2
$17.4
$3,162
$5,652
$5,726
$24,409
$2,621
$3,242
$1,767
0.94%
1.41%
1.12%
0.71%
0.36%
0.45%
0.43%
0.07%
0.14%
0.26%
0.05%
0.11%
0.13%
0.09%
$38.2
$2,554
0.97%
0.21%
$182.9
$4,038
0.58%
0.23%
$25.4
$3,127
1.06%
0.43%
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Costs and Payroll Increases for Small Affected Entities, All
Employees Affected
Percent of
Percent of
Total
Estimated
Per Entity [a]
Annual
(Millions)
Revenues
Payroll
fbl
0.80%
0.16%
$946.3
$4,544
Industry
32964
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Educational services
Hospitals
Health care services, except
hospitals
Social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and
recreation
Accommodation
Food services and drinking
places
Repair and maintenance
Personal and laundry services
Membership associations and
organizations
Public administration
$24.2
$3.5
$16,965
$57,218
0.70%
0.37%
0.29%
0.16%
$63.4
$3,564
0.72%
0.30%
$33.4
$4,167
0.77%
0.36%
$43.8
$6,179
1.32%
0.43%
$9.4
$6,023
1.59%
0.38%
$50.5
$11,339
3.55%
1.11%
$12.5
$5.5
$4,800
$2,184
1.41%
0.89%
0.40%
0.31%
$38.3
$2,284
0.70%
0.17%
$10.4
$6,201
0.58%
0.14%
Employer Type
1.00%
0.30%
Nonprofit, private
$94.40
$3,570
For profit, private
$3,532
1.00%
0.20%
$585.30
Government (state and local)
$12.20
$9,264
0.60%
0.20%
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
[a] Total direct costs and transfers for small entities in which all employees are affected. Impacts
to small entities in which one employee is affected will be a fraction of the impacts presented in
this table.
[b] Revenues estimated by calculating the ratio of estimated small business revenues to payroll
from the 2017 SUSB, and multiplying by payroll per small entity. For the public administration
sector, the ratio was calculated using revenues and payroll from the 2017 Census of Governments.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
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rule. Projected employment and
earnings were calculated using the same
methodology described in section
VII.B.3. Affected employees in small
firms follow a similar pattern to affected
workers in all entities: the number
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decreases gradually between automatic
update years, and then increases. There
are 1.6 million affected workers in small
entities in Year 1 and 2.2 million in
Year 10. Table 35 reports affected
workers in these 2 years only.
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5. Projected Effects to Affected Small
Entities in Year 2 Through Year 10
To determine how small businesses
would be affected in future years, the
Department projected costs to small
businesses for 9 years after Year 1 of the
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
32965
Table 35—Projected Number of
Affected Workers in Small Entities, by
Industry
Affected Workers in Small
entities 1 1,000s)
Year 1
Year 10
1,574.1
2,171.7
8.8
6.4
10.6
8.8
112.1
159.7
121.8
169.8
58.9
79.7
50.9
70.5
124.5
148.4
47.1
30.0
7.5
13.3
34.8
40.7
43.6
58.7
45.1
58.6
51.3
81.0
280.7
394.5
Industry
Direct costs and payroll increases for
small entities vary by year but generally
decrease between updates as the real
value of the salary and compensation
levels decrease and the number of
VerDate Sep<11>2014
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Jkt 262001
affected workers consequently
decreases. In updating years, costs will
increase due to newly affected workers
and some regulatory familiarization
costs. Direct costs and payroll increases
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for small businesses will increase in
Year 10 (an automatic update year)
compared to Year 1, $946 million in
Year 1 and $1.3 billion in Year 10 (Table
36 and Figure 10).
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ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES4
Total
Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing - durable goods
Manufacturing - non-durable goods
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation and warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and rental and leasing
Professional and technical services
Management, administrative and waste management
services
47.5
56.8
Educational services
53.4
80.9
Hospitals
11.4
16.3
Health care services, except hospitals
140.1
205.0
Social assistance
91.4
136.0
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
64.6
99.6
Accommodation
12.3
12.4
Food services and drinking places
42.0
52.4
16.1
20.5
Repair and maintenance
Personal and laundry services
14.3
17.5
Membership associations and organizations
79.4
98.7
Public administration
25.2
34.2
Note: Worker data are from Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
32966
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Table 36—Projected Direct Costs and
Payroll Increases for Affected Small
Entities, by Industry, Using All
Employees in Entity Affected Method
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES4
Total
Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting
Mining
Construction
Manufacturing - durable goods
Manufacturing - non-durable goods
Wholesale trade
Retail trade
Transportation and warehousing
Utilities
Information
Finance
Insurance
Real estate and rental and leasing
Professional and technical services
Management, administrative and waste management services
Educational services
Hospitals
Health care services, except hospitals
Social assistance
Arts, entertainment, and recreation
Accommodation
Food services and drinking places
Repair and maintenance
Personal and laundry services
Membership associations and organizations
Public administration
Note: Pooled CPS data for 2021-2023 adjusted to reflect 2023.
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E:\FR\FM\26APR4.SGM
26APR4
ER26AP24.192</GPH>
Industry
Costs and Payroll
Increases for Small
Affected Entities, All
Employees Affected
(Millions $2023)
Year 1
Year 10
$946.3
$1,263.5
$2.7
$5.8
$4.3
$4.2
$69.9
$102.7
$82.6
$113.3
$44.5
$35.4
$37.1
$67.7
$95.4
$97.3
$21.1
$35.1
$4.7
$5.5
$12.2
$14.3
$22.2
$26.6
$17.4
$16.7
$54.7
$38.2
$182.9
$236.7
$25.4
$41.1
$24.2
$33.1
$3.5
$4.4
$94.0
$63.4
$33.4
$41.3
$43.8
$65.3
$9.4
$7.9
$50.5
$59.4
$12.5
$16.9
$5.5
$10.1
$38.3
$53.3
$10.4
$11.7
32967
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
Figure 10—10-Year Projected Number
of Affected Workers in Small Entities,
and Associated Costs and Payroll
Increases
2.5
$2,000.0
$1,800.0
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$200.0
0.0
$0.0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Year
E. Projected Reporting, Recordkeeping,
and Other Compliance Requirements of
the Rule
The FLSA sets minimum wage,
overtime pay, and recordkeeping
requirements for employment subject to
its provisions. Unless exempt, covered
employees must be paid at least the
minimum wage and not less than one
and one-half times their regular rates of
pay for overtime hours worked.
Pursuant to section 11(c) of the FLSA,
the Department’s regulations at part 516
require covered employers to maintain
certain records about their employees.
Bona fide EAP workers are subject to
some of these recordkeeping
requirements but are exempt from
others related to pay and hours
worked.482 Thus, although this
rulemaking does not introduce any new
recordkeeping requirements, employers
will need to keep some additional
records for affected employees who
become newly nonexempt if they do not
presently record such information. As
indicated in this analysis, this rule
expands minimum wage and overtime
pay coverage to 4.3 million affected EAP
482 See 29 CFR 516.3 (providing that employers
need not maintain the records required by 29 CFR
516.2(a)(6) through (10) for their EAP workers).
VerDate Sep<11>2014
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Jkt 262001
-
-
Costs and transfers
workers, of which 1.6 million are
employed by a small entity. This will
result in an increase in employer burden
and was estimated in the PRA portion
(section VI) of this rule.
F. Steps the Agency Has Taken To
Minimize the Significant Economic
Impact on Small Entities
This section describes the steps the
agency has taken to minimize the
economic impact on small entities,
consistent with the stated objectives of
the FLSA. It includes a statement of the
factual, policy, and legal reasons for the
selected standard and HCE levels
adopted in the rule and why alternatives
were rejected.
In this rule, the Department sets the
standard salary level equal to the 35th
percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage
Census Region (currently the South).
Based on 2023 data, this results in a
salary level of $1,128 per week. This
approach will fully restore the salary
level’s screening function and, by
setting the salary level above the long
test salary level, ensure that fewer lower
paid white-collar employees who
perform significant amounts of
nonexempt work are included in the
exemption. At the same time, by setting
PO 00000
Frm 00127
Fmt 4701
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it below the short test salary level, the
new salary level allows employers to
continue to use the exemption for many
lower paid white-collar employees who
were made exempt under the 2004
standard duties test. Thus, the
Department believes that the new salary
level will also more reasonably
distribute between employees and their
employers the impact of the shift from
a two-test to a one-test system on
employees earning between the long
and short test salary levels. As in prior
rulemakings, the Department is not
establishing multiple salary levels based
on region, industry, employer size, or
any other factor, which stakeholders
have generally agreed would
significantly complicate the
regulations.483 Instead, the Department
is setting the standard salary level using
earnings data from the lowest-wage
Census Region, in part to accommodate
small employers and employers in lowwage industries.484
The Department is setting the HCE
total annual compensation level equal to
the 85th percentile of earnings of fulltime salaried workers nationally
($151,164 annually based on 2023 data).
483 See
484 See
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84 FR 51238; 81 FR 32527; 69 FR 22237.
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-Affected Workers in Small Entities
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The Department believes that this level
avoids costs associated with evaluating,
under the standard duties test, the
exemption statuses of large numbers of
highly-paid white-collar employees,
many of whom would have remained
exempt even under that test, while
providing a meaningful and appropriate
complement to the more lenient HCE
duties test. While the threshold is
higher than the HCE level adopted in
the 2019 rule (which was set equal to
the 80th percentile of earnings for
salaried workers nationwide), the HCE
threshold in this rule is lower than the
HCE percentile adopted in the 2004 and
2016 rules, which covered 93.7 and 90
percent of salaried workers nationwide
respectively. The Department further
believes that nearly all of the highlypaid white-collar workers earning above
this threshold ‘‘would satisfy any duties
test.’’ 485
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES4
1. Differing Compliance and Reporting
Requirements for Small Entities
This rule provides no differing
compliance requirements and reporting
requirements for small entities. The
Department strives to minimize
respondent recordkeeping burden by
requiring no specific form or order of
records under the FLSA and its
corresponding regulations. Moreover,
employers normally maintain the
records under usual or customary
business practices.
2. Least Burdensome Option or
Explanation Required
The Department believes it has
chosen the most effective option that
updates and clarifies the rule and
results in the least burden. Among the
options considered by the Department,
the least restrictive option was using the
2004 methodology (the 20th percentile
of weekly earnings of full-time
nonhourly workers in the lowest-wage
Census region, currently the South, and
in retail nationally) to set the standard
salary level, which was also the
methodology used in the 2019 rule. As
noted above, however, the salary level
produced by the 2004 methodology is
below the long test salary level, which
the Department considers to be a key
parameter for determining an
appropriate salary level in a one-test
system using the current standard duties
test. Using the 2004 methodology thus
does not address the Department’s
concerns discussed above under
Objectives of, and Need for, the Rule.
Pursuant to section 603(c) of the RFA,
the following alternatives are to be
addressed:
i. Differing Compliance or Reporting
Requirements That Take Into Account
the Resources Available to Small
Entities
The FLSA creates a level playing field
for businesses by setting a floor below
which employers may not pay their
employees. To establish differing
compliance or reporting requirements
for small businesses would undermine
this important purpose of the FLSA. The
Department makes available a variety of
resources to employers for
understanding their obligations and
achieving compliance. Therefore, the
Department is not implementing
differing compliance or reporting
requirements for small businesses.
ii. The Clarification, Consolidation, or
Simplification of Compliance and
Reporting Requirements for Small
Entities
This rule imposes no new reporting
requirements. The Department makes
available a variety of resources to
employers for understanding their
obligations and achieving compliance.
iii. The Use of Performance Rather Than
Design Standards
Under this rule, employers may
achieve compliance through a variety of
means. Employers may elect to continue
to claim the EAP exemption for affected
employees by adjusting salary levels,
hiring additional workers, spreading
overtime hours to other employees, or
compensating employees for overtime
hours worked. The Department makes
available a variety of resources to
employers for understanding their
obligations and achieving compliance.
iv. An Exemption From Coverage of the
Rule, or any Part Thereof, for Such
Small Entities
Creating an exemption from coverage
of this rulemaking for businesses with
as many as 500 employees, those
defined as small businesses under
SBA’s size standards, is inconsistent
with the FLSA, which applies to all
employers that satisfy the enterprise
coverage threshold or employ
individually covered employees,
regardless of employer size.486
IX. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
Analysis
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995 (UMRA),487 requires agencies to
prepare a written statement for
rulemaking that includes any Federal
mandate that may result in increased
expenditures by state, local, and tribal
84 FR 51250 (internal citation omitted).
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A. Authorizing Legislation
This final rule is issued pursuant to
section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA, 29 U.S.C.
213(a)(1). The section exempts from the
FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime
pay requirements ‘‘any employee
employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity
(including any employee employed in
the capacity of academic administrative
personnel or teacher in elementary or
secondary schools), or in the capacity of
outside salesman (as such terms are
defined and delimited from time to time
by regulations of the Secretary, subject
to the provisions of [the Administrative
Procedure Act] . . .).’’ 488 The
requirements of the exemption are
contained in part 541 of the
Department’s regulations. Section 3(e) of
the FLSA 489 defines ‘‘employee’’ to
include most individuals employed by a
state, political subdivision of a state, or
interstate governmental agency. Section
3(x) of the FLSA 490 also defines public
agencies to include the government of a
state or political subdivision thereof, or
any interstate governmental agency.
B. Costs and Benefits
For purposes of the UMRA, this rule
includes a Federal mandate that is
expected to result in increased
expenditures by the private sector of
more than $200 million in at least one
year and result in increased
expenditures by state, local and tribal
governments, in the aggregate, of $200
million or more in at least one year.
Based on the economic impact analysis
of this final rule, the Department
determined that Year 1 costs for state
and local governments would total
$197.7 million, of which $98.9 million
are direct employer costs and $98.8
488 29
U.S.C. 213(a)(1).
U.S.C. 203(e).
490 29 U.S.C. 203(x).
486 See
485 See
governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $200 million ($100
million in 1995 dollars adjusted for
inflation to 2023) or more in at least one
year. This statement must (1) identify
the authorizing legislation; (2) present
the estimated costs and benefits of the
rule and, to the extent that such
estimates are feasible and relevant,
present its estimated effects on the
national economy; (3) summarize and
evaluate state, local, and tribal
government input; and (4) identify
reasonable alternatives and select, or
explain the non-selection, of the least
costly, most cost-effective, or least
burdensome alternative. This rule
contains unfunded mandates as
described below.
29 U.S.C. 203(s).
487 2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.
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489 29
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
million are payroll increases (Table 37).
In subsequent years, state and local
governments may experience payroll
increases of as much as $183.7 million
(in year 10 of the rule).
The Department estimates that the
final rule will result in Year 1 costs to
the private sector of approximately $2.7
billion, of which $1.3 billion are direct
Impact
Total
32969
employer costs and $1.4 billion are
payroll increases.
Table 37—Summary of Year 1 Impacts
by Type of Employer
Government
ral
Private
Affected EAP Workers (1,000s)
Number
UMRA requires agencies to estimate
the effect of a regulation on the national
economy if, at its discretion, such
estimates are reasonably feasible and the
effect is relevant and material.491
However, OMB guidance on this
requirement notes that such
macroeconomic effects tend to be
measurable in nationwide econometric
models only if the economic effect of
the regulation reaches 0.25 percent to
0.5 percent of GDP, or in the range of
$68.4 billion to $136.8 billion (using
2023 GDP). A regulation with a smaller
aggregate effect is not likely to have a
measurable effect in macro-economic
terms unless it is highly focused on a
particular geographic region or
economic sector, which is not the case
with this rule.
The Department’s RIA estimates that
the total first-year costs (direct employer
costs and payroll increases from
employers to workers) of the final rule
would be approximately $2.7 billion for
private employers and $197.7 million
for state and local governments. Given
OMB’s guidance, the Department has
determined that a full macro-economic
analysis is not likely to show any
measurable effect on the economy.
Therefore, these costs are compared to
payroll costs and revenue to
demonstrate the feasibility of adapting
to these new rules.
491 2
U.S.C. 1532(a)(4).
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Total first-year state and local
government costs compose 0.02 percent
of state and local government
payrolls.492 First-year state and local
government costs compose 0.004
percent of state and local government
revenues (projected 2023 revenues were
estimated to be $5.0 trillion).493 Effects
of this magnitude will not result in
significant disruptions to typical state
and local governments. The $197.7
million in state and local government
costs constitutes an average of
approximately $2,200 for each of the
approximately 90,126 state and local
entities. The Department considers
these costs to be quite small both in
absolute terms and in relation to payroll
and revenue.
Total first-year private sector costs
compose 0.034 percent of private sector
payrolls nationwide.494 Total private
sector first-year costs compose 0.006
percent of national private sector
492 2020 state and local government payrolls were
$1.1 trillion, inflated to 2023 payroll costs of $1.2
trillion using the GDP deflator. State and Local
Government Finances 2020. Available at https://
www.census.gov/data/datasets/2020/econ/local/
public-use-datasets.html.
493 2020 state and local revenues were $4.3
trillion, inflated to 2023 dollars using the GDP
deflator. State and Local Government Finances
2020. Available at https://www.census.gov/data/
datasets/2020/econ/local/public-use-datasets.html.
494 Private sector payroll costs are projected to be
$8.1 trillion in 2023 based on private sector payroll
costs of $6.6 trillion in 2017, inflated to 2023
dollars using the GDP deflator. 2017 Economic
Census of the United States.
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475
$4.9
$32.6
$61.4
$98.9
$98.8
$197.7
revenues (revenues in 2023 are
projected to be $45.3 trillion).495 The
Department concludes that effects of
this magnitude are affordable and will
not result in significant disruptions to
typical firms in any of the major
industry categories.
C. Summary of State, Local, and Tribal
Government Input
Prior to issuing the NPRM, the
Department held a series of stakeholder
listening sessions between March 8,
2022, and June 3, 2022 to gather input
on its part 541 regulations. Stakeholders
invited to participate in these listening
sessions included representatives from
labor unions; worker advocate groups;
industry associations; small business
associations; state and local
governments; tribal governments; nonprofits; and representatives from
specific industries such as K–12
education, higher education, healthcare,
retail, restaurant, manufacturing, and
wholesale. Stakeholders were invited to
share their input on issues including the
appropriate EAP salary level, the costs
and benefits of increasing the salary
level to employers and employees, the
methodology for updating the salary
level and frequency of updates, and
whether changes to the duties test are
495 Private sector revenues in 2017 were $37.0
trillion using the 2017 Economic Census of the
United States. This was inflated to 2023 dollars
using the GDP deflator.
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ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES4
4,337
3,854
Direct Employer Costs (Millions)
Regulatory familiarization
$451.6
$446.7
Adjustment
$299.1
$265.9
Managerial
$685.5
$622.8
Total direct costs
$1,436.2
$1,335.3
Payroll Increases (Millions)
From employers to workers
$1,509.2
$1,402.7
Direct Employer Costs & Payroll Increases (Millions)
From employers
$2,945.4
$2,738.0
[a] Includes only state, local, and tribal governments.
ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES4
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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules and Regulations
warranted. A listening session was held
specifically for state and local
governments on April 1, 2022, and a
session for tribal governments was held
on May 12, 2022. The input received at
these listening sessions aided the
Department in drafting its rule.
The Department received mixed
feedback on the proposed rule from
state, local, and tribal government
commenters. Some state and local
government stakeholders voiced strong
support for the proposed rule. For
example, the Coalition of State AGs
supported the proposal, stating that the
current salary level is too low and that
the proposed updating mechanism ‘‘is
important for employers in our
respective states to have predictability
in their labor costs.’’ The Washington
State Department of Labor & Industries
noted that it implemented a state EAP
salary level through administrative
rulemaking which is currently $1,302.40
per week ($67,724.80 annually), stating
that ‘‘the State of Washington
considered many of the same factors’’ as
the Department to set its salary level.
Commenting on behalf of 1.4 million
members who are state and local
government employees, AFSCME
described the proposed salary level as
‘‘a modest increase that will
nevertheless benefit millions of
workers.’’
Other state and local government
stakeholders voiced opposition to the
proposed rule. The National Association
of Counties asserted that the proposed
threshold increases would have a
disproportionate impact on small and
rural county governments, emphasizing
that practical and legal constraints limit
the ability of county governments to
raise revenues to account for added
labor costs. Similarly, Ohio Township
Association commented that ‘‘[if]
townships [do] not wish to raise taxes
or residents reject a property tax levy for
such purpose, the township will be
forced to cut or eliminate services.’’ See
also Pennsylvania State Association of
Township Supervisors (providing
similar feedback). The Mississippi State
Personnel Board asserted that the
proposed rule could jeopardize
Mississippi’s use of telework to recruit
and retain certain employees for the
state government.
The Department received one
comment from a tribal government
stakeholder—Ho-Chuck Inc., a
subsidiary of the Winnebago Tribe of
Nebraska. Explaining that it operates
various establishments in the gaming
and retail industries, Ho-Chuck Inc.
expressed concern about the magnitude
of the Department’s proposed increase
to the standard salary level and of the
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NPRM’s proposed 60-day effective date.
Ho-Chuck Inc. requested the
Department to consider a smaller
increase, such as a 25 percent increase
to the current $684 per week salary level
(i.e., $855 per week), with ‘‘staggered
increases over a period of 3 to 5 years
to the higher amount.’’
As discussed in this final rule,496 the
Department agrees with commenters
such as the Coalition of State AGs that
the updating mechanism’s triennial
updates to the earnings thresholds for
exemption will provide greater certainty
and predictability for the regulated
community. The Department
appreciates that some employers, such
as state, local, and tribal governments,
may have less flexibility than others to
account for new labor costs, as well as
that employers in low-wage industries,
regions, and in non-metropolitan areas
may be more affected because they
typically pay lower wages and salaries.
However, the Department believes that
costs and transfers associated with this
rule will be manageable for and will not
result in significant disruptions to state,
local, and tribal governments. The
Department is setting the standard
salary level using earnings data from the
lowest-wage Census Region, in part to
accommodate small employers and
employers in low-wage sectors and
regions. As discussed earlier in this
section, the Department estimates that
total first-year costs for state and local
governments comprise 0.02 percent of
state and local government payrolls and
0.004 percent of state and local
government revenues. Moreover, as
discussed in this final rule,497 the
Department has determined, upon
consideration of commenter feedback,
that a delayed applicability date is
appropriate for the new standard salary
level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold. Specifically,
the new $1,128 per week standard
salary level and $151,164 per year HCE
total annual compensation threshold
will not be applicable until January 1,
2025.
D. Least Burdensome Option or
Explanation Required
This final rule has described the
Department’s consideration of various
options throughout the preamble (see
section V.B.4.iv) and economic impact
analysis (see section VII.C.8). The
Department believes that it has chosen
the least burdensome but still costeffective methodology to update the
salary level consistent with the
Department’s statutory obligation to
496 See
497 See
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section IV.
Frm 00130
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Sfmt 4700
define and delimit the scope of the EAP
exemption. Although some alternative
options considered would set the
standard salary level at a rate lower than
the finalized level, that outcome would
not necessarily be the most costeffective or least-burdensome. A salary
level equal to or below the long test
level would result in the exemption of
lower-salaried employees who
traditionally were entitled to overtime
protection under the long test either
because of their low salary or because
they perform large amounts of
nonexempt work. This approach would
also effectively place the burden of the
move from a two-test system to a onetest system on employees who
historically were nonexempt because
they earned between the long and short
test salary levels but did not meet the
long duties test.
Selecting a standard salary level in a
one-test system inevitably affects the
impact of providing overtime protection
to employees paid between the long and
short test salary levels. Too low of a
salary level shifts the impact of the
move to a one-test system to employees
by exempting lower-salaried employees
who perform large amounts of
nonexempt work. However, too high a
salary level shifts the impact of the
move to a one-test system to employers
by denying them the use of the
exemption for lower-salaried employees
who traditionally were exempt under
the long duties test, thereby increasing
their labor costs. The Department has
determined that setting the standard
salary level equivalent to the earnings of
the 35th percentile of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region will more effectively identify in
a one-test system who is employed in a
bona fide EAP capacity in a manner that
reasonably distributes among employees
earning between the long and short test
salary levels and their employers the
impact of the Department’s move from
a two-test to a one-test system. The
Department believes that the final rule
reduces burden on employers of
nonexempt workers who earn between
the current and finalized standard salary
level. Currently, employers must rely on
the duties test to determine the
exemption status of these workers.
Under this final rule, the exemption
status of these workers will be
determined based on the simpler salary
level test.
The Department is also adopting a
mechanism to regularly update the
standard salary level and HCE total
compensation requirement for wage
growth, which will ensure that the
thresholds continue to work efficiently
to help identify EAP employees. As
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noted above, the history of the part 541
regulations shows multiple, significant
gaps during which the earnings
thresholds were not updated and their
effectiveness in helping to define the
EAP exemption decreased as wages
increased. Routine updates of the
earnings thresholds to reflect wage
growth will bring certainty and stability
to employers and employees alike.
X. Executive Order 13132, Federalism
The Department has reviewed this
rule in accordance with Executive Order
13132 regarding federalism and
determined that it does not have
federalism implications. The proposed
rule would not have substantial direct
effects on the States, on the relationship
between the National Government and
the States, or on the distribution of
power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government.
XI. Executive Order 13175, Indian
Tribal Governments
This rule will not have tribal
implications under Executive Order
13175 that would require a tribal
summary impact statement. The rule
would not have substantial direct effects
on one or more Indian tribes, on the
relationship between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, or on the
distribution of power and
responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes.
List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 541
Labor, Minimum wages, Overtime
pay, Salaries, Teachers, Wages.
For the reasons set out in the
preamble, the Wage and Hour Division,
Department of Labor amends Title 29
CFR chapter V, as follows:
1. The authority citation for part 541
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 29 U.S.C. 213; Pub. L. 101–583,
104 Stat. 2871; Reorganization Plan No. 6 of
1950 (3 CFR, 1945–53 Comp., p. 1004);
Secretary’s Order 01–2014 (Dec. 19, 2014), 79
FR 77527 (Dec. 24, 2014).
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2. Add § 541.5 to read as follows:
§ 541.5
Severability.
The provisions of this part are
separate and severable and operate
independently from one another. If any
provision of this part is held to be
invalid or unenforceable by its terms, or
as applied to any person or
circumstance, or stayed pending further
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§ 541.100 General rule for executive
employees.
(a) * * *
(1) Compensated on a salary basis at
not less than the level set forth in
§ 541.600;
*
*
*
*
*
■ 4. Amend § 541.200, by revising
paragraph (a)(1) to read as follows:
§ 541.200 General rule for administrative
employees.
(a) * * *
(1) Compensated on a salary or fee
basis at not less than the level set forth
in § 541.600;
*
*
*
*
*
■ 5. Amend § 541.204, by revising
paragraph (a)(1) to read as follows:
§ 541.204
Educational establishments.
(a) * * *
(1) Compensated on a salary or fee
basis at not less than the level set forth
in § 541.600; or on a salary basis which
is at least equal to the entrance salary
for teachers in the educational
establishment by which employed; and
*
*
*
*
*
■ 6. Amend § 541.300, by revising
paragraph (a)(1) to read as follows:
§ 541.300 General rule for professional
employees.
(a) * * *
(1) Compensated on a salary or fee
basis at not less than the level set forth
in § 541.600; and
*
*
*
*
*
■ 7. Amend § 541.400, by revising the
first sentence of paragraph (b) to read as
follows:
PART 541—DEFINING AND
DELIMITING THE EXEMPTIONS FOR
EXECUTIVE, ADMINISTRATIVE,
PROFESSIONAL, COMPUTER AND
OUTSIDE SALES EMPLOYEES
■
agency action, the provision must be
construed so as to continue to give the
maximum effect to the provision
permitted by law, unless such holding
be one of utter invalidity or
unenforceability, in which event the
provision will be severable from part
541 and will not affect the remainder
thereof.
■ 3. Amend § 541.100, by revising
paragraph (a)(1) to read as follows:
§ 541.400 General rule for computer
employees.
*
*
*
*
*
(b) The section 13(a)(1) exemption
applies to any computer employee who
is compensated on a salary or fee basis
at not less than the level set forth in
§ 541.600. * * *
*
*
*
*
*
■ 8. Revise § 541.600 to read as follows:
§ 541.600
Amount of salary required.
(a) Standard salary level. To qualify
as an exempt executive, administrative,
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32971
or professional employee under section
13(a)(1) of the Act, an employee must be
compensated on a salary basis at a rate
per week of not less than the amount set
forth in paragraphs (a)(1) through (3) of
this section, exclusive of board, lodging
or other facilities, unless paragraph (b)
or (c) of this section applies.
Administrative and professional
employees may also be paid on a fee
basis, as defined in § 541.605.
(1) Beginning on July 1, 2024, $844
per week (the 20th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time nonhourly workers
in the lowest-wage Census Region and/
or retail industry nationally).
(2) Beginning on January 1, 2025,
$1,128 per week (the 35th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time nonhourly
workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region).
(3) As of July 1, 2027, the level
calculated pursuant to § 541.607(b)(1).
(b) Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico,
U.S. Virgin Islands. To qualify as an
exempt executive, administrative, or
professional employee under section
13(a)(1) of the Act, an employee in the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, or the U.S.
Virgin Islands employed by employers
other than the Federal Government must
be compensated on a salary basis at a
rate of not less than $455 per week,
exclusive of board, lodging or other
facilities. Administrative and
professional employees may also be
paid on a fee basis, as defined in
§ 541.605.
(c) American Samoa. To qualify as an
exempt executive, administrative, or
professional employee under section
13(a)(1) of the Act, an employee in
American Samoa employed by
employers other than the Federal
Government must be compensated on a
salary basis at a rate of not less than
$380 per week, exclusive of board,
lodging or other facilities.
Administrative and professional
employees may also be paid on a fee
basis, as defined in § 541.605.
(d) Frequency of payment. The salary
level requirement may be translated into
equivalent amounts for periods longer
than one week. For example, the $1,128
per week requirement described in
paragraph (a)(2) of this section would be
met if the employee is compensated
biweekly on a salary basis of not less
than $2,256, semimonthly on a salary
basis of not less than $2,444, or monthly
on a salary basis of not less than $4,888.
However, the shortest period of
payment that will meet this
compensation requirement is one week.
(e) Alternative salary level for
academic administrative employees. In
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the case of academic administrative
employees, the salary level requirement
also may be met by compensation on a
salary basis at a rate at least equal to the
entrance salary for teachers in the
educational establishment by which the
employee is employed, as provided in
§ 541.204(a)(1).
(f) Hourly rate for computer
employees. In the case of computer
employees, the compensation
requirement also may be met by
compensation on an hourly basis at a
rate not less than $27.63 an hour, as
provided in § 541.400(b).
(g) Exceptions to the standard salary
criteria. In the case of professional
employees, the compensation
requirements in this section shall not
apply to employees engaged as teachers
(see § 541.303); employees who hold a
valid license or certificate permitting
the practice of law or medicine or any
of their branches and are actually
engaged in the practice thereof (see
§ 541.304); or to employees who hold
the requisite academic degree for the
general practice of medicine and are
engaged in an internship or resident
program pursuant to the practice of the
profession (see § 541.304). In the case of
medical occupations, the exception
from the salary or fee requirement does
not apply to pharmacists, nurses,
therapists, technologists, sanitarians,
dietitians, social workers, psychologists,
psychometrists, or other professions
which service the medical profession.
■ 9. Amend § 541.601 by revising
paragraph (a), the first sentence of
paragraph (b)(1), and paragraph (b)(2) to
read as follows:
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§ 541.601
Highly compensated employees.
(a) An employee shall be exempt
under section 13(a)(1) of the Act if the
employee receives total annual
compensation of not less than the
amount set forth in paragraph (a)(1)
through (4) of this section, and the
employee customarily and regularly
performs any one or more of the exempt
duties or responsibilities of an
executive, administrative, or
professional employee identified in
subpart B, C, or D of this part:
(1) Beginning on July 1, 2024,
$132,964 per year (the annualized
earnings amount of the 80th percentile
of full-time nonhourly workers
nationally).
(2) Beginning on January 1, 2025,
$151,164 per year (the annualized
earnings amount of the 85th percentile
of full-time nonhourly workers
nationally).
(3) As of July 1, 2027, the total annual
compensation level calculated pursuant
to § 541.607(b)(2).
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(4) Where the annual period covers
periods during which multiple total
annual compensation levels apply, the
amount of total annual compensation
due will be determined on a
proportional basis.
(b)(1) Total annual compensation
must include at least a weekly amount
equal to that required by § 541.600(a)(1)
through (3) paid on a salary or fee basis
as set forth in §§ 541.602 and 541.605,
except that § 541.602(a)(3) shall not
apply to highly compensated
employees. * * *
(2) If an employee’s total annual
compensation does not total at least the
amount set forth in paragraph (a) of this
section by the last pay period of the 52week period, the employer may, during
the last pay period or within one month
after the end of the 52-week period,
make one final payment sufficient to
achieve the required level. For example,
for a 52-week period beginning January
1, 2025, an employee may earn $135,000
in base salary, and the employer may
anticipate based upon past sales that the
employee also will earn $20,000 in
commissions. However, due to poor
sales in the final quarter of the year, the
employee only earns $14,000 in
commissions. In this situation, the
employer may within one month after
the end of the year make a payment of
at least $2,164 to the employee. Any
such final payment made after the end
of the 52-week period may count only
toward the prior year’s total annual
compensation and not toward the total
annual compensation in the year it was
paid. If the employer fails to make such
a payment, the employee does not
qualify as a highly compensated
employee, but may still qualify as
exempt under subpart B, C, or D of this
part.
*
*
*
*
*
■ 10. Amend § 541.602 by revising the
first sentence of paragraph (a)(3) and the
first sentence of paragraph (a)(3)(i) to
read as follows:
§ 541.602
Salary basis.
*
*
*
*
*
(a)(3) Up to ten percent of the salary
amount required by § 541.600(a)
through (c) may be satisfied by the
payment of nondiscretionary bonuses,
incentives, and commissions, that are
paid annually or more frequently. * * *
(i) If by the last pay period of the 52week period the sum of the employee’s
weekly salary plus nondiscretionary
bonus, incentive, and commission
payments received is less than 52 times
the weekly salary amount required by
§ 541.600(a) through (c), the employer
may make one final payment sufficient
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to achieve the required level no later
than the next pay period after the end
of the year. * * *
*
*
*
*
*
■ 11. Amend § 541.604 by
■ a. Revising the second, third, and
fourth sentences of paragraph (a) and;
■ b. Revising the third sentence in
paragraph (b).
The revisions and additions read as
follows:
§ 541.604
Minimum guarantee plus extras.
(a) * * * Thus, for example under the
salary requirement described in
§ 541.600(a)(2), an exempt employee
guaranteed at least $1,128 each week
paid on a salary basis may also receive
additional compensation of a one
percent commission on sales. An
exempt employee also may receive a
percentage of the sales or profits of the
employer if the employment
arrangement also includes a guarantee
of at least $1,128 each week paid on a
salary basis. Similarly, the exemption is
not lost if an exempt employee who is
guaranteed at least $1,128 each week
paid on a salary basis also receives
additional compensation based on hours
worked for work beyond the normal
workweek. * * *
(b) * * * Thus, for example under the
salary requirement described in
§ 541.600(a)(2), an exempt employee
guaranteed compensation of at least
$1,210 for any week in which the
employee performs any work, and who
normally works four or five shifts each
week, may be paid $350 per shift
without violating the $1,128 per week
salary basis requirement. * * *
■ 12. Amend § 541.605 by revising
paragraph (b) to read as follows:
§ 541.605
Fee basis.
*
*
*
*
*
(b) To determine whether the fee
payment meets the minimum amount of
salary required for exemption under
these regulations, the amount paid to
the employee will be tested by
determining the time worked on the job
and whether the fee payment is at a rate
that would amount to at least the
minimum salary per week, as required
by §§ 541.600(a) through (c) and
541.602(a), if the employee worked 40
hours. Thus, for example under the
salary requirement described in
§ 541.600(a)(2), an artist paid $600 for a
picture that took 20 hours to complete
meets the $1,128 minimum salary
requirement for exemption since
earnings at this rate would yield the
artist $1,200 if 40 hours were worked.
■ 13. Add § 541.607 to read as follows:
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§ 541.607 Regular updates to amounts of
salary and compensation required.
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(a) Initial update—(1) Standard salary
level. Beginning on July 1, 2024, the
amount required to be paid per week to
an exempt employee on a salary or fee
basis, as applicable, pursuant to
§ 541.600(a)(1) will be not less than
$844.
(2) Highly compensated employees.
Beginning on July 1, 2024, the amount
required to be paid in total annual
compensation to an exempt highly
compensated employee pursuant to
§ 541.601(a)(1) will be not less than
$132,964.
(b) Future updates—(1) Standard
salary level. (i) As of July 1, 2027, and
every 3 years thereafter, the amount
required to be paid to an exempt
employee on a salary or fee basis, as
applicable, pursuant to § 541.600(a) will
be updated to reflect current earnings
data.
(ii) The Secretary will determine the
future update amounts by applying the
methodology in effect under
§ 541.600(a) at the time the Secretary
issues the notice required by paragraph
(b)(3) of this section to current earnings
data.
(2) Highly compensated employees. (i)
As of July 1, 2027, and every 3 years
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thereafter, the amount required to be
paid in total annual compensation to an
exempt highly compensated employee
pursuant to § 541.601(a) will be updated
to reflect current earnings data.
(ii) The Secretary will determine the
future update amounts by applying the
methodology used to determine the total
annual compensation amount in effect
under § 541.601(a) at the time the
Secretary issues the notice required by
paragraph (b)(3) of this section to
current earnings data.
(3) Notice. (i) Not fewer than 150 days
before each future update of the
earnings requirements under paragraphs
(b)(1) and (2) of this section, the
Secretary will publish a notice in the
Federal Register stating the updated
amounts based on the most recent
available 4 quarters of CPS MORG data,
or its successor publication, as
published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
(ii) No later than the effective date of
the updated earnings requirements, the
Wage and Hour Division will publish on
its website the updated amounts for
employees paid pursuant to this part.
(4) Delay of updates. A future update
to the earnings thresholds under this
section is delayed from taking effect for
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32973
a period of 120 days if the Secretary has
separately published a notice of
proposed rulemaking in the Federal
Register, not fewer than 150 days before
the date the update is set to take effect,
proposing changes to the earnings
threshold(s) and/or updating
mechanism due to unforeseen economic
or other conditions. The Secretary must
state in the notice issued pursuant to
paragraph (b)(3)(i) of this section that
the scheduled update is delayed in
accordance with this paragraph (b)(4). If
the Secretary does not issue a final rule
affecting the scheduled update to the
earnings thresholds by the end of the
120-day extension period, the updated
amounts published in accordance with
paragraph (b)(3) of this section will take
effect upon the expiration of the 120day period. The 120-day delay of a
scheduled update under this paragraph
will not change the effective dates for
future updates of the earnings
requirements under this section.
Signed this 11th day of April, 2024.
Jessica Looman,
Administrator, Wage and Hour Division.
[FR Doc. 2024–08038 Filed 4–24–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510–27–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 82 (Friday, April 26, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 32842-32973]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-08038]
[[Page 32841]]
Vol. 89
Friday,
No. 82
April 26, 2024
Part IV
Department of Labor
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wage and Hour Division
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29 CFR Part 541
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative,
Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Final Rule
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 82 / Friday, April 26, 2024 / Rules
and Regulations
[[Page 32842]]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Wage and Hour Division
29 CFR Part 541
RIN 1235-AA39
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive,
Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees
AGENCY: Wage and Hour Division, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (Department) is updating and revising
the regulations issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act implementing
the exemptions from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for
executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and computer
employees. Significant revisions include increasing the standard salary
level, increasing the highly compensated employee total annual
compensation threshold, and adding to the regulations a mechanism that
will allow for the timely and efficient updating of the salary and
compensation thresholds, including an initial update on July 1, 2024,
to reflect earnings growth. The Department is not finalizing in this
rule its proposal to apply the standard salary level to the U.S.
territories subject to the Federal minimum wage and to update the
special salary levels for American Samoa and the motion picture
industry.
DATES: The effective date for this final rule is July 1, 2024. Sections
541.600(a)(2) and 541.601(a)(2) are applicable beginning January 1,
2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Navarrete, Acting Director,
Division of Regulations, Legislation, and Interpretation, Wage and Hour
Division, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210; telephone: (202) 693-0406 (this is not
a toll-free number). Alternative formats are available upon request by
calling 1-866-487-9243. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay
services.
Questions of interpretation or enforcement of the agency's existing
regulations may be directed to the nearest Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
district office. Locate the nearest office by calling the WHD's toll-
free help line at (866) 4US-WAGE ((866) 487-9243) between 8 a.m. and 5
p.m. in your local time zone, or log onto WHD's website at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/local-offices for a nationwide listing
of WHD district and area offices.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Executive Summary
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA or Act) requires covered
employers to pay employees a minimum wage and, for employees who work
more than 40 hours in a week, overtime premium pay of at least 1.5
times the employee's regular rate of pay. Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA,
which was included in the original Act in 1938, exempts from the
minimum wage and overtime pay requirements ``any employee employed in a
bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity[.]'' \1\
The exemption is commonly referred to as the ``white-collar'' or
executive, administrative, or professional (EAP) exemption. The statute
expressly gives the Secretary of Labor (Secretary) authority to define
and delimit the terms of the exemption. Since 1940, the regulations
implementing the EAP exemption have generally required that each of the
following three tests must be met: (1) the employee must be paid a
predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because
of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed (the salary
basis test); (2) the amount of salary paid must meet a minimum
specified amount (the salary level test); and (3) the employee's job
duties must primarily involve executive, administrative, or
professional duties as defined by the regulations (the duties test).
The employer bears the burden of establishing the applicability of the
exemption.\2\ Job titles and job descriptions do not determine EAP
exemption status, nor does merely paying an employee a salary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 29 U.S.C. 213(a)(1).
\2\ See, e.g., Idaho Sheet Metal Works, Inc. v. Wirtz, 383 U.S.
190, 209 (1966); Walling v. Gen. Indus. Co., 330 U.S. 545, 547-48
(1947).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consistent with its broad authority under the Act, in this final
rule the Department is setting compensation thresholds for the standard
test and the highly compensated employee test that will work
effectively with the respective duties tests to better identify who is
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity for purposes of determining
exemption status under the Act. Specifically, the Department is setting
the standard salary level at the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of
full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region ($1,128 per
week or $58,656 annually for a full-year worker) \3\ and the highly
compensated employee total annual compensation threshold at the
annualized weekly earnings of the 85th percentile of full-time salaried
workers nationally ($151,164). These compensation thresholds are firmly
grounded in the authority that the FLSA grants to the Secretary to
define and delimit the EAP exemption, a power the Secretary has
exercised for 85 years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ In determining earnings percentiles in its part 541
rulemakings since 2004, the Department has consistently looked at
nonhourly earnings for full-time workers from the Current Population
Survey (CPS) Merged Outgoing Rotation Group (MORG) data collected by
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). As explained in section
VII.B.5.i, the Department considers data representing compensation
paid to nonhourly workers to be an appropriate proxy for
compensation paid to salaried workers, although for simplicity the
Department uses the terms salaried and nonhourly interchangeably in
this rule. The Department relied on CPS MORG data for calendar year
2022 to develop the NPRM, including to determine the proposed salary
level. The Department is using the most recent full-year data
available for this final rule, which is CPS MORG data for calendar
year 2023. The new standard salary level of $1,128 per week is $12
to $30 less than the Department estimated in the NPRM. 88 FR 62152,
62152-53 n.3 (Sept. 8, 2023).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The increase in the standard salary level to the 35th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region better fulfills the Department's obligation under the statute to
define and delimit who is employed in a bona fide EAP capacity. Upon
reflection, the Department has determined that its rulemakings over the
past 20 years, since the Department simplified the test for the EAP
exemption in 2004 by replacing the historic two-test system for
determining exemption status with the single standard test, have
vacillated between two distinct approaches: One used in rules in 2004
\4\ and 2019,\5\ that exempted lower-paid workers who historically had
been entitled to overtime because they did not meet the more detailed
duties requirements of the test that was in place from 1949 to 2004;
and one used in a rule in 2016,\6\ that restored overtime protection to
lower-paid white-collar workers who performed significant amounts of
nonexempt work but also removed from the exemption other lower-paid
workers who historically were exempt because they met the prior more
detailed duties test, an approach that received unfavorable treatment
in litigation.\7\ Having grappled with these different approaches to
setting the standard salary level, this final rule retains the
simplified standard test, the benefits of
[[Page 32843]]
which were recognized in the Department's 2004, 2016, and 2019
rulemakings,\8\ while, through a revised methodology, fully restoring
the salary level's screening function and accounting for the switch
from a two-test to a one-test system for defining the EAP exemption,
and also separately updating the standard salary level to account for
earnings growth since the 2019 rule.
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\4\ 69 FR 22122 (April 23, 2004).
\5\ 84 FR 51230 (Sept. 27, 2019).
\6\ 81 FR 32391 (May 23, 2016).
\7\ The Department never enforced the 2016 rule because it was
invalidated by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of
Texas. See Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor, 275 F.Supp.3d 795
(E.D. Tex. 2017).
\8\ See 84 FR 51243-45; 81 FR 32414, 32444-45; 69 FR 22126-28.
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The new standard salary level will, in combination with the
standard duties test, better define and delimit which employees are
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity. By setting a salary level above
what the methodology used in 2004 and 2019 would produce using current
data, the new standard salary level will ensure that, consistent with
the Department's historical approach to the exemption, fewer lower-paid
white-collar employees who perform significant amounts of nonexempt
work are included in the exemption. At the same time, by setting the
salary level below what the methodology used in 2016 would produce
using current data, the new standard salary level will allow employers
to continue to use the exemption for many lower-paid white-collar
employees who were made exempt under the 2004 standard duties test. The
combined result will be a more effective test for determining who is
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity. The applicability date of the new
standard salary level will be January 1, 2025. The Department is not
finalizing its proposal to apply the standard salary level to the U.S.
territories subject to the federal minimum wage and to update the
special salary levels for American Samoa and the motion picture
industry.\9\
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\9\ The Department proposed in sections IV.B.1 and B.2 of the
NPRM to apply the updated standard salary level to the four U.S.
territories that are subject to the federal minimum wage--Puerto
Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)--and to update the special salary
levels for American Samoa and the motion picture industry in
relation to the new standard salary level. The Department will
address these aspects of its proposal in a future final rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department is also increasing the earnings threshold for the
highly compensated employee (HCE) exemption, which was added to the
regulations in 2004 and applies to certain highly compensated employees
and combines a much higher annual compensation requirement with a
minimal duties test. The HCE test's primary purpose is to serve as a
streamlined alternative for very highly compensated employees because a
very high level of compensation is a strong indicator of an employee's
exempt status, thus eliminating the need for a detailed duties
analysis.\10\ The Department is increasing the HCE total annual
compensation threshold to the annualized weekly earnings amount of the
85th percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally ($151,164).
The new HCE threshold is high enough to reserve the test for those
employees who are ``at the very top of [the] economic ladder'' \11\ and
will guard against the unintended exemption of workers who are not bona
fide EAP employees, including those in high-income regions and
industries. The applicability date of the new HCE total annual
compensation threshold will be January 1, 2025.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ See 69 FR 22172-73.
\11\ Id. at 22174.
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In each of its part 541 rulemakings since 2004, the Department
recognized the need to regularly update the earnings thresholds to
ensure that they remain effective in helping differentiate between
exempt and nonexempt employees. As the Department observed in these
rulemakings, even a well-calibrated salary level that is not kept up to
date becomes obsolete as wages for nonexempt workers increase over
time.\12\ Long intervals between rulemakings have resulted in eroded
earnings thresholds based on outdated earnings data that were ill-
equipped to help identify bona fide EAP employees.
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\12\ 84 FR 51250-51; 81 FR 32430; see also 69 FR 22164.
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To address this problem, in the 2004 and 2019 rules the Department
expressed its commitment to regularly updating the salary levels.\13\
In the 2016 rule, it included a regulatory provision to automatically
update the salary levels.\14\ Based on its long experience with
updating the salary levels, the Department has determined that adopting
a regulatory provision for updating the salary levels to reflect
current earnings data, with an exception for pausing future updates
under certain conditions, is the most viable and efficient way to
ensure the EAP exemption earnings thresholds keep pace with changes in
employee pay and thus remain effective in helping determine exemption
status. This rule establishes a new updating mechanism. The initial
update to the standard salary level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold will take place on July 1, 2024, and will use
the methodologies in place at that time (i.e., the 2019 rule
methodologies), resulting in a $844 per week standard salary level and
a $132,964 HCE total annual compensation threshold. Future updates to
the standard salary level and HCE total annual compensation threshold
with current earnings data will begin 3 years after the date of the
initial update (July 1, 2027), and every 3 years thereafter, using the
methodologies in place at the time of the updates. The Department
anticipates that, by the time the first triennial update under the
updating mechanism occurs, assuming the Department has not engaged in
further rulemaking, the new methodologies for the standard salary level
and HCE total annual compensation requirement established by this final
rule will have become effective and the triennial update will employ
these new methodologies. The new updating mechanism will allow for the
timely, predictable, and efficient updating of the earnings thresholds.
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\13\ 69 FR 22171; 84 FR 51251-52.
\14\ 81 FR 32430.
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The Department estimates that in Year 1, approximately 1 million
employees who earn at least $684 per week but less than $844 per week
will be impacted by the initial update applying current wage data to
the standard salary level methodology from the 2019 rule, and
approximately 3 million employees who earn at least $844 per week but
less than the new standard salary level of $1,128 per week will be
impacted by the subsequent application of the new standard salary
level. See Table 25. As explained in section V.B.4.ii, for 1.8 million
of the affected employees (including the 1 million impacted by the
initial update), this rule will restore overtime protections that they
would have been entitled to under every rule prior to the 2019 rule.
The Department also estimates that 292,900 employees who are currently
exempt under the HCE test, but do not meet the standard test for
exemption, will be affected by the proposed increase in the HCE total
annual compensation level. Absent an employer increasing these
employees' pay to at or above the new HCE level, the exemption status
of these employees will turn on the standard duties test (which these
employees do not meet) rather than the minimal duties test that applies
to employees earning at or above the HCE threshold. The economic
analysis quantifies the direct costs resulting from this rule: (1)
regulatory familiarization costs; (2) adjustment costs; and (3)
managerial costs. The Department estimates that total annualized direct
employer costs over the first 10 years will be $803 million with a 7
percent discount rate. This rule will also give employees higher
earnings in the form of transfers of income from employers to
employees. The
[[Page 32844]]
Department estimates annualized transfers will be $1.5 billion, with a
7 percent discount rate.
II. Background
A. The FLSA
The FLSA generally requires covered employers to pay employees at
least the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 an hour) for all hours
worked and overtime premium pay of at least one and one-half times the
employee's regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a
workweek.\15\ However, section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA, codified at 29
U.S.C. 213(a)(1), provides an exemption from both minimum wage and
overtime pay for ``any employee employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity . . . or in the capacity of
[an] outside salesman (as such terms are defined and delimited from
time to time by regulations of the Secretary [of Labor], subject to the
provisions of [the Administrative Procedure Act] . . .).'' The FLSA
does not define the terms ``executive,'' ``administrative,''
``professional,'' or ``outside salesman,'' but rather directs the
Secretary to define those terms through rulemaking. Pursuant to
Congress's grant of rulemaking authority, since 1938 the Department has
issued regulations at 29 CFR part 541 to define and delimit the scope
of the section 13(a)(1) exemption.\16\ Because Congress explicitly gave
the Secretary authority to define and delimit the specific terms of the
exemption, the regulations so issued have the binding effect of
law.\17\
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\15\ See 29 U.S.C. 206(a), 207(a).
\16\ See Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, 143 S.Ct.
677, 682 (2023) (``Under [section 13(a)(1)], the Secretary sets out
a standard for determining when an employee is a `bona fide
executive.''').
\17\ See Batterton v. Francis, 432 U.S. 416, 425 n.9 (1977).
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The exemption for executive, administrative, or professional
employees was included in the original FLSA legislation passed in
1938.\18\ It was modeled after similar provisions contained in the
earlier National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and state law
precedents.\19\ As the Department has explained in prior rules, the EAP
exemption is premised on two policy considerations. First, the type of
work exempt employees perform is difficult to standardize to any time
frame and cannot be easily spread to other workers after 40 hours in a
week, making enforcement of the overtime provisions difficult and
generally precluding the potential job expansion intended by the FLSA's
time-and-a-half overtime premium.\20\ Second, exempt workers typically
earn salaries well above the minimum wage and are presumed to enjoy
other privileges to compensate them for their long hours of work. These
include, for example, above-average fringe benefits and better
opportunities for advancement, setting them apart from nonexempt
workers entitled to overtime pay.\21\
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\18\ See Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Pub. L. 75-718,
13(a)(1), 52 Stat. 1060, 1067 (June 25, 1938).
\19\ See National Industrial Recovery Act, Pub. L. 73-67, ch.
90, title II, 206(2), 48 Stat 195, 204-5 (June 16, 1933).
\20\ See Report of the Minimum Wage Study Commission, Volume IV,
pp. 236 and 240 (June 1981).
\21\ See id.
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Section 13(a)(1) exempts covered EAP employees from both the FLSA's
minimum wage and overtime requirements. However, because of their long
hours of work, its most significant impact is its exemption of these
employees from the Act's overtime protections, as discussed in section
VII.C.4. An employer may employ such exempt employees for any number of
hours in the workweek without paying an overtime premium. Some state
laws have stricter standards to be exempt from state minimum wage and
overtime protections than those which exist under federal law, such as
higher salary levels or more stringent duties tests. The FLSA does not
preempt any such stricter state standards.\22\ If a state establishes a
higher standard than the provisions of the FLSA, the higher standard
applies in that state.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ See 29 U.S.C. 218(a).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Regulatory History
The Department's part 541 regulations have consistently looked to
the duties performed by the employee and the salary paid by the
employer in determining whether an individual is employed in a bona
fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity. Since 1940,
the Department's implementing regulations have generally required each
of the following three prongs to be satisfied for the exemption to
apply: (1) the employee must be paid a predetermined and fixed salary
that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality
or quantity of work performed (the salary basis test); (2) the amount
of salary paid must meet a minimum specified amount (the salary level
test); and (3) the employee's job duties must primarily involve
executive, administrative, or professional duties as defined by the
regulations (the duties test).
1. The Part 541 Regulations From 1938 to 2004
The Department's part 541 regulations have always included earnings
criteria. From the first Part 541 regulations, there has been ``wide
agreement'' that the amount paid to an employee is ``a valuable and
easily applied index to the `bona fide' character of the employment for
which [the] exemption is claimed[.]'' \23\ Because EAP employees ``are
denied the protection of the [A]ct[,]'' they are ``assumed [to] enjoy
compensatory privileges'' which distinguish them from nonexempt
employees, including substantially higher pay.\24\ Additionally, the
Department has long recognized that the salary level test is a useful
criterion for helping identify bona fide EAP employees and provides a
practical guide for employers and employees, thus tending to reduce
litigation and ensure that nonexempt employees receive the overtime
protection to which they are entitled.\25\ These benefits accrue to
employees and employers alike, which is why, despite disagreement over
the appropriate magnitude of the part 541 earnings thresholds, an
``overwhelming majority'' of stakeholders have supported the retention
of such thresholds in prior part 541 rulemakings.\26\
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\23\ ``Executive, Administrative, Professional . . . Outside
Salesman'' Redefined, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of
Labor, Report and Recommendations of the Presiding Officer [Harold
Stein] at Hearings Preliminary to Redefinition (Oct. 10, 1940)
(Stein Report) at 19.
\24\ Id.; see Report of the Minimum Wage Study Commission,
Volume IV, p. 236 (``Higher base pay, greater fringe benefits,
improved promotion potential and greater job security have
traditionally been considered as normal compensatory benefits
received by EAP employees, which set them apart from non-EAP
employees.'').
\25\ See 84 FR 51237; see also Report and Recommendations on
Proposed Revisions of Regulations, Part 541, by Harry Weiss,
Presiding Officer, Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions,
U.S. Department of Labor (June 30, 1949) (Weiss Report) at 8.
\26\ 84 FR 51235; see also Stein Report at 5, 19; Weiss Report
at 9.
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The Department issued the first version of the part 541 regulations
in October 1938.\27\ The Department's initial regulations included a
$30 per week compensation requirement for executive and administrative
employees. It also included a duties test that prohibited employers
from claiming the EAP exemption for employees who performed ``[a]
substantial amount of work of the same nature as that performed by
nonexempt employees of the employer.'' \28\
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\27\ 3 FR 2518 (Oct. 20, 1938).
\28\ Id.
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[[Page 32845]]
The Department issued the first update to its part 541 regulations
in October 1940,\29\ following extensive public hearings.\30\ Among
other changes, the 1940 update newly applied the salary level
requirement to professional employees; added the salary basis
requirement to the tests for executive, administrative, and
professional employees; and introduced a 20 percent cap on the amount
of nonexempt work that executive and professional employees could
perform each workweek, replacing language which prohibited the
performance of a ``substantial amount'' of nonexempt work.\31\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\29\ 5 FR 4077 (Oct. 15, 1940).
\30\ See Stein Report.
\31\ 5 FR 4077.
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The Department conducted further hearings on the part 541
regulations in 1947 \32\ and issued revised regulations in December
1949.\33\ The 1949 rulemaking updated the salary levels set in 1940 and
introduced a second, less stringent duties test for higher paid
executive, administrative, and professional employees.\34\ Thus,
beginning in 1949, the part 541 regulations contained two tests for the
EAP exemption. These tests became known as the ``long'' test and the
``short'' test. The long test paired a lower earnings threshold with a
more rigorous duties test that generally limited the performance of
nonexempt work to no more than 20 percent of an employee's hours worked
in a workweek. The short test paired a higher salary level and a less
rigorous duties test, with no specified limit on the performance of
nonexempt work. From 1958 until 2004, the regulations in place
generally set the long test salary level at a level designed to exclude
from exemption approximately the lowest-paid 10 percent of salaried
white-collar employees who performed EAP duties in lower-wage areas and
industries and set the short test salary level significantly
higher.\35\ The salary and duties components of each test complemented
each other, and the two tests worked in combination to determine
whether an individual was employed in a bona fide EAP capacity. Lower-
paid employees who met the long test salary level but did not meet the
higher short test salary level were subject to the long duties test
which ensured that these employees were employed in an EAP capacity by
limiting the amount of time they could spend on nonexempt work.
Employees who met the higher short test salary level were considered to
be more likely to meet the requirements of the long duties test and
thus were subject to a short-cut duties test for determining exemption
status.
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\32\ See Weiss Report.
\33\ See 14 FR 7705 (Dec. 24, 1949).
\34\ Id. at 7706.
\35\ See Report and Recommendations on Proposed Revision of
Regulations, Part 541, Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, by Harry
S. Kantor, Assistant Administrator, Office of Regulations and
Research, Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions, U.S.
Department of Labor (Mar. 3, 1958) (Kantor Report) at 6-7. Under the
two-test system, the ratio of the short test salary level to the
long test salary levels ranged from approximately 130 percent to 180
percent. See 81 FR 32403.
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Additional changes to the regulations, including salary level
updates, were made in 1954,\36\ 1958,\37\ 1961,\38\ 1963,\39\ 1967,\40\
1970,\41\ 1973,\42\ and 1975.\43\ The Department revised the part 541
regulations twice in 1992 but did not update the salary thresholds at
that time.\44\ None of these updates changed the basic structure of the
long and short tests.
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\36\ 19 FR 4405 (July 17, 1954).
\37\ 23 FR 8962 (Nov. 18, 1958).
\38\ 26 FR 8635 (Sept. 15, 1961).
\39\ 28 FR 9505 (Aug. 30, 1963).
\40\ 32 FR 7823 (May 30, 1967).
\41\ 35 FR 883 (Jan. 22, 1970).
\42\ 38 FR 11390 (May 7, 1973).
\43\ 40 FR 7091 (Feb. 19, 1975).
\44\ The Department first created a limited exception from the
salary basis test for public employees. 57 FR 37677 (Aug. 19, 1992).
The Department also implemented a 1990 law requiring it to
promulgate regulations permitting employees in certain computer-
related occupations to qualify as exempt under section 13(a)(1) of
the FLSA. 57 FR 46744 (Oct. 9, 1992); see Pub. L. 101-583, sec. 2,
104 Stat. 2871 (Nov. 15, 1990).
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The Department described the salary levels adopted in the 1975 rule
as ``interim rates,'' intended to ``be in effect for an interim period
pending the completion of a study [of worker earnings] by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics . . . in 1975.'' \45\ However, those salary levels
remained in effect until 2004. The utility of the salary levels in
helping to define the EAP exemption decreased as wages rose during this
period. In 1991, the federal minimum wage rose to $4.25 per hour,\46\
which for a 40-hour workweek exceeded the lower long test salary level
of $155 per week for executive and administrative employees and equaled
the long test salary level of $170 per week for professional employees.
In 1997, the federal minimum wage rose to $5.15 per hour,\47\ which for
a 40-hour workweek not only exceeded the long test salary levels, but
also was close to the higher short test salary level of $250 per week.
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\45\ 40 FR 7091.
\46\ See Pub. L. 101-157, sec. 2, 103 Stat. 938 (Nov. 17, 1989).
\47\ See Pub. L. 104-188, sec. 2104(b), 110 Stat 1755 (Aug. 20,
1996).
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2. Part 541 Regulations From 2004 to 2019
The Department published a final rule in April 2004 (the 2004 rule)
\48\ that updated the part 541 salary levels for the first time since
1975 and made several significant changes to the regulations. Most
significantly, the Department eliminated the separate long and short
tests and replaced them with a single standard test. The Department set
the standard salary level at $455 per week, which was equivalent to the
20th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region (the South) and in the retail industry
nationally. The Department paired the new standard salary level test
with a new standard duties test for executive, administrative, and
professional employees, respectively, which was substantially
equivalent to the short duties test used in the two-test system.\49\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\48\ 69 FR 22122.
\49\ See id. at 22192-93 (acknowledging ``de minimis differences
in the standard duties tests compared to the . . . short duties
tests'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the 2004 rule, the Department acknowledged that the switch to
the single standard test for exemption was a significant change in the
regulatory structure,\50\ and noted that the shift to setting the
salary level based on ``the lowest 20 percent of salaried employees in
the South, rather than the lowest 10 percent'' of EAP employees was
made, in part, ``because of the proposed change from the `short' and
`long' test structure[.]'' \51\ The Department asserted that
elimination of the long duties test was warranted because ``the
relatively small number of employees currently earning from $155 to
$250 per week, and thus tested for exemption under the `long' duties
test, will gain stronger protections under the increased minimum salary
level which . . . guarantees overtime protection for all employees
earning less than $455 per week[.]'' \52\ The Department acknowledged,
however, that the new standard salary level was comparable to the lower
long test salary level used in the two-test system (i.e., if the
Department's long test salary level methodology had been applied to
contemporaneous data).\53\ Thus,
[[Page 32846]]
employees who would have been subject to the long duties test with its
limit on the amount of time spent on nonexempt work if the two-test
system had been updated were subject to the equivalent of the short
duties test under the new standard test. For example, under the 2004
rule's standard test, an employee who earned just over the rule's
standard salary threshold of $455 in weekly salary, and who met the
standard duties test, was exempt even if they would not have met the
previous long duties test because they spent more than 20 percent of
their time performing nonexempt work. If the Department had instead
retained the two-test system and updated the long test salary level to
$455, that same employee would have been nonexempt because they would
have been subject to the long test's more rigorous duties analysis due
to their lower salary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\50\ See id. at 22126-28.
\51\ Id. at 22167.
\52\ Id. at 22126.
\53\ Id. at 22171. The Department last set the long and short
test salary levels in 1975. Throughout this preamble, when the
Department refers to the relationship of salary levels set in this
rule and the 2004, 2016, and 2019 rules to equivalent long or short
test salary levels, it is referring to salary levels based on
contemporaneous (at the relevant point in time) data that, in the
case of the long test salary level, would exclude the lowest-paid 10
percent of exempt EAP employees in low-wage industries and areas
and, in the case of the short test salary level, would be 149
percent of a contemporaneous long test salary level. The short test
salary ratio of 149 percent is the simple average of the 15
historical ratios of the short test salary level to the long test
salary level. See 81 FR 32467 & n.149.
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In the 2004 rule, the Department also created a new test for
exemption for certain highly compensated employees.\54\ The HCE test
paired a minimal duties requirement--customarily and regularly
performing at least one of the exempt duties or responsibilities of an
EAP employee--with a high total annual compensation requirement of
$100,000, a threshold that exceeded the annual earnings of
approximately 93.7 percent of salaried workers nationwide.\55\ The
Department also ended the use of special salary levels for Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as they had become subject to the federal
minimum wage since the Department last updated the part 541 salary
levels in 1975, and set a special salary level only for American Samoa,
which remained not subject to the federal minimum wage.\56\ The
Department also expressed its intent ``in the future to update the
salary levels on a more regular basis, as it did prior to 1975.'' \57\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\54\ 69 FR 22172.
\55\ See id. at 22169 (Table 3).
\56\ Id. at 22172.
\57\ Id. at 22171.
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In May 2016, the Department issued a final rule (the 2016 rule)
that retained the single-test system introduced in 2004 but increased
the standard salary level and provided for regular updating.
Specifically, the 2016 rule (1) increased the standard salary level
from the 2004 salary level of $455 to $913 per week, the 40th
percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region (the South); \58\ (2) increased the HCE test
total annual compensation amount from $100,000 to $134,004 per year;
\59\ (3) increased the special salary level for EAP workers in American
Samoa; \60\ (4) allowed employers, for the first time, to credit
nondiscretionary bonuses, incentive payments, and commissions paid at
least quarterly towards up to 10 percent of the standard salary level;
\61\ and (5) added a mechanism to automatically update the part 541
earnings thresholds every 3 years.\62\ The Department did not change
any of the standard duties test criteria in the 2016 rule,\63\ opting
instead to adopt a standard salary level set at the low end of the
historical range of short test salary levels used in the pre-2004 two-
test system.\64\ The 2016 rule was scheduled to take effect on December
1, 2016.
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\58\ 81 FR 32404-05.
\59\ Id. at 32428.
\60\ Id. at 32422.
\61\ See id. at 32425-26.
\62\ See id. at 32430.
\63\ Id. at 32444.
\64\ In the 2016 rule, the Department estimated the historical
range of short test salary levels as from $889 to $1,231 (based on
contemporaneous earnings data). Id. at 32405.
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On November 22, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Texas issued an order preliminarily enjoining the
Department from implementing and enforcing the 2016 rule.\65\ On August
31, 2017, the district court granted summary judgment to the plaintiff
challengers, holding that the 2016 rule's salary level exceeded the
Department's authority and invalidating the rule.\66\ On October 30,
2017, the Department of Justice appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fifth Circuit, which subsequently granted the Department's
motion to hold that appeal in abeyance while the Department undertook
further rulemaking. Following an NPRM published on March 22, 2019,\67\
the Department published a final rule on September 27, 2019 (the 2019
rule),\68\ which formally rescinded and replaced the 2016 rule.
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\65\ See Nevada v. U.S. Department of Labor, 218 F. Supp. 3d 520
(E.D. Tex. 2016).
\66\ See Nevada, 275 F.Supp.3d 795.
\67\ See 84 FR 10900 (March 22, 2019).
\68\ See 84 FR 51230.
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The 2019 rule (1) raised the standard salary level from the 2004
salary level of $455 to $684 per week, the equivalent of the 20th
percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region (the South) and/or in the retail industry
nationally; (2) increased the HCE total annual compensation threshold
from $100,000 to $107,432, the equivalent of the 80th percentile of
annual earnings of full-time salaried workers nationwide; (3) allowed
employers to credit nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments
(including commissions) paid at least annually to satisfy up to 10
percent of the standard salary level; and (4) established special
salary levels for all U.S. territories.\69\ The 2019 rule did not make
changes to the standard duties test.\70\ While using the same
methodology used in the 2004 rule to set the salary threshold, the
Department did not assert that this methodology constituted the outer
limit for defining and delimiting the salary threshold. Rather, the
Department reasoned the 2004 methodology was well-established,
reasonable, would minimize uncertainty and potential legal challenge,
and would address the concerns of the district court that the 2016 rule
over-emphasized the salary level.\71\ The Department acknowledged that
the new standard salary level was, unlike the salary level set in the
2004 rule, below the long test salary level used in the pre-2004 two-
test system.\72\ As in its 2004 rule, the Department ``reaffirm[ed] its
intent to update the standard salary level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold more regularly in the future using notice-and-
comment rulemaking.'' \73\ The 2019 rule took effect on January 1,
2020.\74\
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\69\ The Department established special salary levels of $455
per week for Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the
CNMI (effectively continuing the 2004 salary level); it also
maintained the 2004 rule's $380 per week special salary level for
employees in American Samoa. Id. at 51246.
\70\ See id. at 51241-43.
\71\ See id. at 51242.
\72\ Id. at 51244.
\73\ Id. at 51251.
\74\ A lawsuit challenging the 2019 rule was filed in August
2022. The district court upheld the rule and an appeal of that
decision was pending at the time the Department issued this final
rule. See Mayfield v. U.S. Department of Labor, 2023 WL 6168251
(W.D. Tex. Sept. 20, 2023), appeal docketed, No. 23-50724 (5th Cir.
Oct. 11, 2023).
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C. Overview of Existing Regulatory Requirements
The part 541 regulations contain specific criteria that define each
category of exemption provided for in section 13(a)(1) for bona fide
executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales employees,
as well as teachers and academic administrative personnel. The
regulations also define exempt computer employees under sections
13(a)(1) and 13(a)(17). The employer bears the burden of establishing
the applicability of any exemption.\75\ Job titles and job descriptions
do not determine
[[Page 32847]]
exemption status, nor does merely paying an employee a salary rather
than an hourly rate.
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\75\ See, e.g., Idaho Sheet Metal Works, 383 U.S. at 209;
Walling, 330 U.S. at 547-48.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As previously indicated, to satisfy the EAP exemption, employees
must meet certain tests regarding their job duties \76\ and generally
must be paid on a salary basis at least the amount specified in the
regulations.\77\ Some employees, such as doctors, lawyers, teachers,
and outside sales employees, are not subject to salary tests.\78\
Others, such as academic administrative personnel and computer
employees, are subject to special, contingent earning thresholds.\79\
The standard salary level for the EAP exemption is currently $684 per
week (equivalent to $35,568 per year), and the total annual
compensation level for highly compensated employees under the HCE test
is currently $107,432.\80\ A special salary level of $455 per week
currently applies to employees in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, and the CNMI; \81\ a special salary level of $380 per week
applies to employees in American Samoa; \82\ and employers can pay a
special weekly ``base rate'' of $1,043 per week to employees in the
motion picture producing industry.\83\ Nondiscretionary bonuses and
incentive payments (including commissions) paid on an annual or more
frequent basis may be used to satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard
or special salary levels.\84\
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\76\ For a description of the duties that are required to be
performed under the EAP exemption, see Sec. Sec. 541.100 (executive
employees); 541.200 (administrative employees); 541.300,
541.303-.304 (teachers and professional employees); 541.400
(computer employees); 541.500 (outside sales employees).
\77\ Alternatively, administrative and professional employees
may be paid on a fee basis for a single job regardless of the time
required for its completion as long as the hourly rate for work
performed (i.e., the fee payment divided by the number of hours
worked) would total at least the weekly amount specified in the
regulation if the employee worked 40 hours. See Sec. 541.605.
\78\ See Sec. Sec. 541.303(d); 541.304(d); 541.500(c);
541.600(e). Such employees are also not subject to a fee basis test.
\79\ See Sec. 541.600(c)-(d).
\80\ See Sec. Sec. 541.600(a); 541.601(a)(1).
\81\ See Sec. Sec. 541.100; 541.200; 541.300.
\82\ See Sec. Sec. 541.100; 541.200; 541.300.
\83\ See Sec. 541.709.
\84\ Sec. 541.602(a)(3).
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Under the HCE test, employees who currently receive at least
$107,432 in total annual compensation are exempt from the FLSA's
overtime requirements if they customarily and regularly perform at
least one of the exempt duties or responsibilities of an executive,
administrative, or professional employee identified in the standard
tests for exemption.\85\ The HCE test applies only to employees whose
primary duty includes performing office or non-manual work.\86\
Employees considered exempt under the HCE test must currently receive
at least the $684 per week standard salary portion of their pay on a
salary or fee basis without regard to the payment of nondiscretionary
bonuses and incentive payments.\87\
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\85\ Sec. 541.601.
\86\ Sec. 541.601(d).
\87\ See Sec. 541.601(b)(1); see also 84 FR 51249.
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D. The Department's Proposal
On September 8, 2023, consistent with its statutory authority to
define and delimit the EAP exemption, the Department published a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to revise the part 541 regulations.\88\
The Department proposed to increase the standard salary level to the
35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region (currently the South), equivalent to $1,059
per week based on earnings data used in the NPRM.\89\ The Department
also proposed to apply this updated standard salary level to the four
U.S. territories that are subject to the federal minimum wage--Puerto
Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the CNMI--and to update the
special salary levels for American Samoa and the motion picture
industry in relation to the new standard salary level.\90\ The
Department additionally proposed raising the HCE test's total annual
compensation requirement to the annual equivalent of the 85th
percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers nationally,
equivalent to $143,988 per year based on earnings data used in the
NPRM. Finally, the Department proposed a new mechanism to update the
standard salary level and the HCE total annual compensation threshold
every 3 years to ensure that they remain effective tests for exemption.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\88\ See 88 FR 62152.
\89\ The Department noted that the final rule would use the most
recent earnings data available to set the standard salary level,
which would change the dollar amount of the resulting threshold. See
88 FR 62152-53 n. 3.
\90\ In this final rule the Department is not finalizing its
proposal in section IV.B.1 and B.2 of the NPRM to apply the standard
salary level to the U.S. territories subject to the federal minimum
wage and to update the special salary levels for American Samoa and
the motion picture industry. The Department will address these
aspects of its proposal in a future final rule. While the Department
is not finalizing its proposal, it is making nonsubstantive changes
in provisions addressing the territories as a result of other
changes in this final rule.
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The public comment period for the NPRM concluded on November 7,
2023. The Department received approximately 33,300 comments in response
to the NPRM during the 60-day comment period.\91\ Comments came from a
diverse array of stakeholders, including employees, employers, trade
associations, small business owners, labor unions, advocacy groups,
nonprofit organizations, law firms, academics, educational
organizations and representatives, religious organizations, economists,
members of Congress, state and local government officials, tribal
representatives, and other interested members of the public. All timely
received comments may be viewed on the https://www.regulations.gov
website, docket ID WHD-2023-0001.
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\91\ In regulations.gov, the number of comments received is
listed as 33,310 and the number of posted comments is 26,280. This
difference is because one commenter, WorkMoney, attached thousands
of comments to their one submission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commenter views on the merits of the NPRM varied widely. Some of
the comments the Department received were general statements of support
or opposition, while many others addressed the Department's proposal in
considerable detail. As with previous part 541 rulemakings, a majority
of the total comments came from comment campaigns using similar or
identical template language. Such campaign comments expressed support
or opposition to the proposed salary level, and sometimes addressed
other issues including applying the salary level to teachers,\92\ and
concerns from nonprofit agencies. However, the Department also received
thousands of unique comments. Significant issues raised in the comments
are discussed in this final rule. Comments germane to the need for this
rulemaking are discussed in section III, comments about the NPRM's
proposals are discussed in section V, and comments about the potential
costs, benefits, and other impacts of this rulemaking are discussed in
section VII. The Department has carefully considered the timely
submitted comments about the Department's proposal.
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\92\ As noted above, teachers are among the employees for whom
there is no salary level requirement under the part 541 regulations.
See Sec. 541.303(d).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department received a number of comments on topics that are
beyond the scope of this rulemaking. A significant number of commenters
(including a large comment campaign) urged the Department to newly
apply the part 541 salary criteria to teachers. The Department did not
solicit comment about the exemption criteria for teachers in the NPRM
and, as many commenters on this issue recognized, addressing this issue
would require a separate rulemaking. Other topics outside the
[[Page 32848]]
scope of this rulemaking include, for example, a request that the
Department extend the right to overtime pay to medical residents,
create exemptions from the salary level test, allow employers to credit
the value of board and lodging towards the salary level, clarify issues
related to the fluctuating workweek method of calculating overtime pay,
or create a ``safe harbor'' provision for restaurant franchisors. The
Department is not addressing these issues in its final rule.
Several stakeholders such as Catholic Charities USA and the
National Council of Nonprofits expressed concern about funding and
reimbursement rates to meet potential new overtime expenses. The
Department appreciates the concerns conveyed in these comments and the
challenges of adjusting public funding. As discussed in section
V.B.4.iv, however, the Department's EAP regulations have never had
special rules for nonprofit or charitable organizations and employees
of these organizations are subject to the EAP exemption if they satisfy
the same salary level, salary basis, and duties tests as other
employees.
III. Need for Rulemaking
The goal of this rulemaking is to set effective earnings thresholds
to help define and delimit the FLSA's EAP exemption. To achieve this
goal, the Department is not only updating the single standard salary
level to account for earnings growth since the 2019 rule, but also to
build on the lessons learned in its most recent rulemakings to more
effectively define and delimit employees employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity. To this end, the Department is finalizing its proposed
changes to the standard salary level and the HCE test's total annual
compensation requirement methodologies. Additionally, to maintain the
effectiveness of these tests, the Department is finalizing an updating
mechanism that will update these earnings thresholds to reflect current
wage data, initially on July 1, 2024 and every 3 years thereafter. The
Department's response to commenter feedback on the specific proposals
included in the NPRM is provided in section V. This section explains
the need for the Department to update the part 541 earnings thresholds
and addresses commenter feedback on whether the earnings thresholds
established in the 2019 rule should be increased.
As the Department explained in the NPRM, there is a need for the
Department to update the salary level to fully restore the salary
level's screening function and to account for the shift to a one-test
system in the 2004 rule, which broadened the exemption by placing the
entire burden of this shift on employees who historically were entitled
to the FLSA's overtime protection because they performed substantial
amounts of nonexempt work and earned between the long and short test
salary levels, but became exempt because they passed the more lenient
standard duties test. Since switching from a two-test to a one-test
system for defining and delimiting the EAP exemption in 2004, the
Department has followed different approaches to set the standard salary
level. In 2004, the Department used a methodology that produced a
salary level amount that was equivalent to the lower long test salary
level under the two-test system.\93\ This approach continued to perform
the historical screening function of the long salary test--providing
overtime protection to employees who earned less than the long test
salary level. But it broadened the exemption to include employees
earning between the long and short test salary levels who historically
had not met the long duties test (and therefore were not considered
bona fide EAP employees) and now became exempt if they met the less
rigorous standard duties test.\94\ The Department followed this same
methodology to set the standard salary level in 2019, but applying the
2004 rule's methodology to contemporaneous data in 2019 resulted in a
salary level that was lower than what would have been the equivalent of
the long test salary level and thus did not fulfill the historical
screening function for low-paid employees.\95\ This broadened the EAP
exemption even further by, for the first time, exempting a group of
white-collar employees earning below the equivalent of the long test
salary level.
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\93\ See 69 FR 22168-69.
\94\ Id. at 22214.
\95\ See 84 FR 51260 (Table 4) (showing that the salary level
derived from the Department's long test methodology would have been
$724 per week rather than the finalized $684 per week amount).
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To address the concern that the 2004 rule did not provide overtime
compensation for lower-salaried white-collar employees performing large
amounts of nonexempt work, in 2016 the Department set the standard
salary level using a methodology that produced a salary at the low end
of the historical range of short test salary levels.\96\ This approach
restored overtime protection to lower-salaried white-collar employees
who performed substantial amounts of nonexempt work, but it also made
nonexempt some employees paid below the new salary level who performed
only a limited amount of nonexempt work and would have been exempt
under the long duties test.\97\ In the challenge to the 2016 rule, the
district court expressed concern that the 2016 rule conferred overtime
eligibility based on salary level alone to a substantial number of
employees who would otherwise be exempt.\98\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\96\ 81 FR 32405.
\97\ See 84 FR 10908; 84 FR 51242.
\98\ See Nevada, 275 F.Supp.3d. at 806.
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As explained in greater detail in section V.B, setting the standard
salary level at the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region ($1,128 per week,
$58,656 annually), which is below the midpoint between the long and
short tests, will work effectively with the standard duties test to
better define and delimit the EAP exemption, in part by more
effectively accounting for the switch from a two-test to a one-test
system, and will reasonably distribute the impact of the shift by
ensuring overtime protection for some lower-salaried employees without
excluding from exemption too many white-collar employees solely based
on their salary level.\99\ The new standard salary level will also
account for earnings growth since the 2019 rule and fully restore the
historical screening function of the salary level test. At the same
time, the duties test will continue to determine exemption status for a
large majority of all salaried white-collar employees subject to the
part 541 regulations.
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\99\ See section V.A.3.
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As the Department has explained,\100\ earnings thresholds in the
part 541 regulations gradually lose their effectiveness as the salaries
paid to nonexempt employees rise over time. These impacts grow in the
absence of increases to the salary threshold that keep pace with wage
growth. Moreover, the longer it takes for the Department to implement
such increases, the larger the increases must be to restore earning
thresholds to maintain their effectiveness. More than 4 years have
passed since the 2019 final rule established the current earnings
thresholds. In the intervening years, salaried workers in the U.S.
economy have experienced a rapid growth in their nominal wages, such
that the current $684 per week salary level now corresponds to
approximately the 12th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census Region and retail nationally. The
longer the Department waits to update these earnings thresholds, the
less effective they become in helping define
[[Page 32849]]
and delimit the EAP exemption. For example, applying the 2019 standard
salary level methodology to current earnings data will result in a new
threshold of $844 per week--a 23 percent ($160 per week) increase over
the current $684 salary level. Earnings for full-time wage and salary
workers nationally have increased even more rapidly, rising by 24
percent during this period.\101\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\100\ See, e.g., 84 FR 51250-51.
\101\ Estimate based on the change in median usual weekly
earnings of full-time wage and salary workers from Q3 2019 to Q4
2023. BLS, Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary
workers by sex, quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t01.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department is also increasing the HCE total annual compensation
threshold to the annualized weekly earnings amount of the 85th
percentile of full-time salaried workers nationally ($151,164). Similar
to the standard salary level, nominal wage growth among higher-wage
workers has eroded the effectiveness of the HCE threshold; data shows
that the $107,432 threshold now corresponds to the 70th percentile of
annual earnings of full-time salaried workers nationwide. Reapplying
the 2019 methodology (annualized weekly earnings of the 80th percentile
of full-time salaried workers nationally) to current earnings data
would result in a threshold of $132,964 per year--a 24 percent increase
over the current threshold of $107,432. Increasing the HCE test's total
annual compensation threshold equivalent to the 85th percentile of
salaried worker earnings nationwide will result in an HCE threshold
reserved for employees at the top of today's economic ladder and,
unlike a lower threshold, not risk the unintended exemption of large
numbers of employees in high-wage regions.
Finally, the Department is adopting a mechanism to regularly update
the thresholds for earnings growth, which will ensure that the
thresholds continue to work effectively to help identify EAP employees.
As noted above, the history of the part 541 regulations shows multiple,
significant gaps during which the salary levels were not updated and
their effectiveness in helping to define the EAP exemption decreased as
wages increased. While the Department has generally increased its part
541 earnings thresholds every 5 to 9 years in the 37 years between 1938
and 1975, more recent decades have included long periods without
raising the salary level, resulting in significant erosion of the real
value of the threshold levels followed by unpredictable increases.
Routine updates of the earnings thresholds to reflect wage growth will
bring certainty and stability to employers and employees alike.
The Department received many comments addressing the adequacy of
the current salary and compensation thresholds set in the 2019 rule and
the need for this rulemaking. Generally, employees and affiliated
commenters, including labor unions, worker advocacy groups, plaintiff-
side law firms, and others, supported the rulemaking as an overdue
effort to restore FLSA protections that have eroded in recent decades,
though a number of commenters urged the Department to adopt higher
threshold increases than those proposed in the NPRM. By contrast, most
employers and affiliated stakeholders opposed the main aspects of the
proposal, with many urging the Department to withdraw the NPRM
altogether. Some employers supported the proposal, or stated that they
would support, or not oppose, some change to the current thresholds.
Many commenters agreed with the Department's assessment that the
current salary level is too low.\102\ See, e.g., Coalition of Gender
Justice and Civil Rights Organizations; Coalition of State Attorneys
General; Economic Policy Institute (EPI); Schuck Law LLC; Texas
RioGrande Legal Aid; United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber,
Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers
International Union (United Steelworkers). Several commenters asserted
that the current standard salary level ``fails to provide a true
incentive for employers to balance the additional hours they ask of
their workers with the costs of . . . overtime pay[,]'' which they
stated in turn undermines the FLSA's policy goals of providing ``extra
pay for extra work . . . [and] spreading employment.'' See, e.g.,
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP); Caring Across Generations;
Family Values @Work; Jobs to Move America; North Carolina Justice
Center; Workplace Justice Project. Opining that the standard salary
level ``has been increased too infrequently--and by too little[,]''
Business for a Fair Minimum Wage asserted that the ``current outdated
overtime threshold is ripe for abuse and fosters unfair pay, worker
burnout, poorer health and safety, and increased employee turnover.''
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
(AFL-CIO) asserted that the $684 per week salary level is ``so low that
it risks becoming irrelevant[.]''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\102\ Commenter views on the adequacy of the current HCE
threshold are addressed in section V.C.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, some supportive commenters provided reasons why, in their
opinion, this rulemaking is timely. A joint comment submitted by 10
Democratic members of the House of Representatives asserted that
``[o]vertime standards are long overdue for a meaningful update.'' See
also AFL-CIO (asserting that setting the salary level below the long
test level in the 2019 rule ``led to the faster irrelevance of the
current level''). The Coalition of State AGs commented that
``[r]egardless of whether [the $684 per week standard salary] level was
appropriate in 2019, economic trends in the intervening years have
rendered that level obsolete . . . [as] $684 in January 2020 has the
same buying power as $816.90 in September 2023.'' Sanford Heisler Sharp
LLP (Sanford Heisler Sharp) invoked ``the explosion of remote work
since 2020'' as support for the rulemaking, asserting that the
significant increase in telework since 2020 has meant that employers
are ``no longer constrained by the practical limitation of the worker
leaving the workplace.''
Many employer trade associations that were neutral or opposed to
the NPRM's specific proposals for increasing the compensation levels
expressed openness or support for a rulemaking to change the existing
part 541 earnings thresholds. See, e.g., Alliance for Chemical
Distribution; Growmark Comment Campaign (GROWMARK); National Cotton
Ginners Association; National Golf Course Owners Association. Reporting
on the results of a survey taken of its members, Society for Human
Resource Management (SHRM) stated that its members ``support a
reasonable increase to the rule's minimum salary threshold . . . as
only 4% of the total number of respondents indicated that they would
not support any increase.'' Independent Sector remarked that ``a
healthy and equitable nonprofit workforce requires an increase in the
salary threshold beyond $35,568.'' See also North Carolina Center for
Nonprofits (``The Center recognizes that a higher salary level
threshold would benefit people served by nonprofits and many nonprofit
employees, and we encourage the Department to move forward with a final
rule that increases the [current] salary level threshold[.]'').
National Association of Convenience Stores commented that it
``acknowledges that the minimum salary level should be revisited
occasionally, and it support[s] USDOL's approach in 2019 of doing so
approximately every four years[.]'' See also Retail Industry Leaders
Association
[[Page 32850]]
(RILA) (``We recognize that the DOL committed itself in 2019 to engage
in more regular reviews of the salary threshold level for the [EAP]
exemptions and that the DOL now is following up on that commitment.'').
Other employer stakeholders disputed the need for this rulemaking.
Many of these commenters, including the American Bus Association,
Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Construction Industry Round Table,
and National Restaurant Association, asserted that increases to the
part 541 earnings thresholds were unnecessary at this time because the
last update took effect on January 1, 2020. A number of commenters
stated that prior salary level updates have occurred less frequently.
See, e.g., National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) (never less than
5 years); National Demolition Association (on average every 9 to 10
years); National Association of Wholesale Distributors (NAW)
(historically 7 to 9 years). National Retail Federation (NRF) commented
that ``[t]here has been no increase of the federal minimum wage since
2019, and therefore, there is no need to adjust the minimum salary
threshold.'' NRF further asserted that there was no need to increase
the part 541 earnings thresholds because ``market forces have already
increased the compensation of lower-level exempt employees'' since
2019, echoing the sentiment from several individual employers that
markets should determine employee wages rather than government
regulation. See also, e.g., Casa Del Mar Beachfront Suites (opposing
changes to the regulations and stating that the wages it pays ``are
based on free enterprise and competitive business plans''); Individual
Small Business Commenter (asking the Department to ``let the market
take care of the situation''). Numerous commenters also asserted that
the Department should refrain from amending the part 541 regulations at
this time due to current conditions in specific industries or the
broader economy. See, e.g., Asian American Hotel Owners Association,
Inc.; American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA); College and
University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR); Food
Marketing Institute (FMI); Indiana Chamber of Commerce; National
Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Finally, a small number of commenters opposed this rulemaking on
the grounds that the Department lacks the legal authority to use any
salary criteria to define and delimit the EAP exemption. See, e.g.,
America First Policy Institute (AFPI); National Federation of
Independent Business (NFIB); Pacific Legal Foundation.\103\ However,
the overwhelming majority of commenters did not oppose the use of
salary criteria in the part 541 regulations or address the Department's
authority, and a number of employer representatives expressed general
support for the use of earnings thresholds. See, e.g., AHLA (``[M]oving
to a duties-only test would undoubtedly result in a more rigid duties
test . . . [and] likely result in excessive burdens on the hospitality
industry, including new and onerous recordkeeping requirements and
increased litigation costs.''); National Restaurant Association
(``[S]alary levels save investigators and employers time by giving them
a quick, short-hand test[.]''); Transportation Intermediaries
Association (``Implementing a duties-only test without considering
salary would be overly complex[.]''). This sentiment is consistent with
stakeholder feedback provided in earlier part 541 rulemakings.\104\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\103\ See discussion in section V.A.
\104\ See supra note 23.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having reviewed the comments received, the Department remains of
the view that the earnings criteria in the part 541 regulations must be
increased and disagrees with commenters that urged the Department to
withdraw its proposal. In addition to updating the salary level to
account for wage growth since 2019, an update is needed in part because
the current standard salary level is too low to fully perform its
screening role, as it is now significantly below the contemporary
equivalent of the historical long test salary level ($942 per
week).\105\ Moreover, as the Department explained in the NPRM, there is
a need for the Department to update the salary level to account for the
shift to a one-test system in the 2004 rule, which broadened the
exemption by placing the entire burden of this shift on employees who
historically were entitled to the FLSA's overtime protection because
they performed substantial amounts of nonexempt work and earned between
the long and short test salary levels, but are now exempt because they
pass the more lenient standard duties test. This effect would continue
to grow over time in the absence of an increase to the current $684 per
week standard salary level.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\105\ See sections V.B. and VII.C.8.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department disagrees with the criticism from some commenters
that this rulemaking is premature due to the relative recency of the
2019 rule. In that rule, the Department ``reaffirm[ed] its intent to
update the standard salary level and HCE total annual compensation
threshold more regularly in the future'' than it has in the past,
noting that ``long periods without updates . . . diminish the
usefulness of the salary level test and cause future increases to be
larger and more challenging for businesses to absorb.'' \106\ Notably,
the Department initially proposed in the 2019 NPRM to codify a
commitment to update the part 541 earnings thresholds on a quadrennial
basis (i.e., once every 4 years) through notice and comment
rulemaking.\107\ While that proposed commitment was not adopted in the
2019 final rule, the Department reaffirmed the importance of, and its
commitment to, regular updates in its 2019 final rule. The Department's
2019 final rule in no way suggested that increases to the part 541
earnings thresholds should occur only after some longer period of time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\106\ 84 FR 51251-52.
\107\ 84 FR 10914-15.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Relatedly, the fact that employee salaries have grown substantially
since 2019 underscores the need for this rulemaking. Commenter
assertions to the contrary, including that the federal minimum wage has
not increased since the salary level was last updated, misunderstand
the purpose of the part 541 earnings thresholds, which are intended to
assist in the identification of EAP employees based on the wages
employees presently receive.\108\ To the extent that employers have
already been providing raises to exempt EAP workers since January 1,
2020 (the effective date of the 2019 final rule), as some commenters
contended, those increases should be appropriately reflected in the
earnings thresholds to ensure their effectiveness.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\108\ The Department ``is not authorized to set wages or
salaries for executive, administrative, and professional employees .
. . [and] improving the conditions of such employees is not the
objective of the [part 541] regulations.'' Weiss Report at 11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department is sensitive to commenter concerns about the
potential impact of this rulemaking on affected employers. However, as
discussed in greater detail in the regulatory impact analysis in
section VII, the costs of this rule, while significant, are a necessary
byproduct of ensuring a salary level that works effectively with the
duties tests both now and in the future.
IV. Effective Date
The Department proposed that all aspects of the proposed rule would
become effective 60 days after publication of the final rule. This
proposed effective date was consistent
[[Page 32851]]
with the 60 days mandated for a ``major rule'' under the Congressional
Review Act and exceeded the 30-day minimum required under the
Administrative Procedure Act (APA).\109\ The Department recognized that
the 60-day proposed effective date was shorter than the effective dates
for the 2004, 2016, and 2019 rules, which were between approximately 90
and 180 days. The Department stated that a 60-day effective date was
appropriate, however, in part because employers and employees are
familiar with the procedures in the current regulations from the 2019
rulemaking and changed economic circumstances have caused a strong need
to update the standard salary level. The Department also sought
comments on whether to apply different effective dates to different
provisions of the proposed rule. The Department is finalizing an
effective date of July 1, 2024. The change to the standard salary level
methodology and the change to the HCE total annual compensation
methodology will have a delayed applicability date of January 1,
2025.\110\ Accordingly, the standard salary level and HCE total annual
compensation requirement will increase at the initial update on the
effective date July 1, 2024 (to $844 and $132,964, respectively), again
on the applicability date for the new methodologies on January 1, 2025
(to $1,128 and $151,164, respectively), and then every 3 years after
the initial update on July 1 (using the methodology in effect at the
time of each update).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\109\ See 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(3)(A); 5 U.S.C. 553(d).
\110\ The January 1, 2025 applicability date is six months after
the effective date of the rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department specifically asked for comments on whether the
effective date for the increase of the standard salary level should be
60 days after publication as proposed or instead if the increase should
be made effective at a later date, such as 6 months or 1 year after
publication of the final rule. If the effective date were longer than
60 days, the Department sought comments on ``whether it should
initially adjust the salary level to reflect recent wage growth (for
example, making an initial adjustment for wage growth 60 days after
publication of a final rule and having the final rule standard salary
level be effective 6 months or a year after publication).'' \111\ Were
it to follow such an approach, the Department sought comments on the
methodology it should use for an initial update, specifically ``whether
to implement an initial update to the standard salary level, effective
60 days after publication of a final rule, that uses the current salary
level methodology (the 20th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time
nonhourly workers in the lowest-wage Census Region and retail
nationally) and applies it to the most recent data available[.]'' \112\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\111\ 88 FR 62180.
\112\ Id. Commenters generally did not address the Department's
suggestion that a delay in the effective date for the proposed
standard salary level increase be combined with an initial update to
the existing salary level to reflect wage growth. An individual
commenter acknowledged the Department's suggestion but ``defer[ed]
to the economists and statisticians to comment as to whether, if the
effective date is later than 60 days, the Department should
initially adjust the salary level to reflect recent wage growth, and
if so, the methodology for doing so.'' See also Ho-Chunk, Inc., a
subsidiary of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department did not specifically request comment on delaying the
effective date of the proposed HCE compensation threshold beyond 60
days or on making an initial update using current data and the existing
HCE compensation methodology if it were to delay the effective date of
the new total annual compensation threshold. The Department stated that
it believed a 60-day effective date was appropriate for the proposed
increase to the HCE compensation threshold because only a relatively
small number of employees earning between the current and proposed HCE
compensation thresholds would not meet the standard duties test and be
affected by the proposed change. The Department sought comment on the
proposed effective date for the HCE compensation threshold.
Lastly, the Department proposed that the first automatic update to
the new compensation levels be effective 3 years after the proposed 60-
day effective date. The Department sought comments on whether the date
for the first automatic update should be adjusted if it were to make an
initial adjustment to any of the compensation levels.
Many commenters that objected to the proposed rule also objected to
the proposed 60-day effective date should the Department go forward
with a final rule. Commenters addressed their comments to the single
60-day effective date and generally did not suggest different effective
dates for different provisions. Several commenters suggested effective
dates between 90 and 180 days, which the NPRM noted was the range for
recent rules. See, e.g., HR Policy Association (minimum of 90 days);
International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA) (minimum of
90 days); American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) (90 to 180 days);
RILA (at least 120 days); NAIS/NBOA (at least 120 days). Several
commenters suggested a 180-day effective date. See, e.g., AASA/AESA/
ASBO; CUPA-HR; LeadingAge; NRF. The National Council of Young Men's
Christian Associations of the United States of America (YMCA) suggested
an effective date of at least 6 to 9 months. The United States Chamber
of Commerce (Chamber), National Association of Convenience Stores, and
NAFCU suggested an effective date of 12 months. Commenters including
the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy (SBA
Advocacy), National Automobile Dealers Association, and Partnership to
Protect Workplace Opportunity (PPWO) suggested an effective date of 12
to 18 months. Commenters including Seyfarth Shaw LLP (Seyfarth Shaw)
and Credit Union National Association (CUNA) suggested an effective
date of 150 days to align with the proposed notice period for future
update amounts. A number of commenters suggested tying the effective
date to the beginning of the next calendar year (January 1, 2025). See,
e.g., Seyfarth Shaw; SHRM; RILA; YMCA. Some commenters suggested a
longer time period between the publication and effective date of the
final rule for specific industries or types of employers. See, e.g.,
Boy Scouts of America (requesting at least 12 months of lead time for
nonprofit employers); Small Business Majority (180 days for small
businesses with fewer than 50 employees). A few commenters linked the
need for a longer effective date with what they asserted was
uncertainty as to the final salary amount caused by the Department's
projections in footnote 3 of the NPRM, with NRF asserting that ``[t]he
brevity of the implementation period is particularly problematic given
the Department's . . . lack of clarity about the dollar value of the
proposed threshold.'' See also HR Policy Association; RILA.
Several commenters suggested phasing in any increase in the salary
level, often in addition to an initial extension of the proposed
effective date. Commenters advocating for a phase-in suggested a range
of steps or timeframes. See, e.g., ASTA (not less than 3 years);
Chamber (3 years in even or incrementally larger steps); North Carolina
Center for Nonprofits (``multiple years''); National Council of
Nonprofits (two or more steps); PPWO (a period of years), Safe Journeys
(6 years); Washington Farm Labor Association (``multi-year''); YMCA
(proportional increases over 5 years).
Most commenters supporting the Department's proposal did not
specifically address the effective date for the Department's proposed
changes. Commenters including American Federation of Teachers (AFT),
National
[[Page 32852]]
Partnership for Women & Families (National Partnership), and National
Women's Law Center (NWLC) urged the Department to finalize the rule
``without delay.'' American Federation of State, County, and Municipal
Employees (AFSCME) specifically supported the 60-day effective date as
proposed. A number of commenters in the home and community-based health
services sector, that were generally supportive of the Department's
intent but expressed concerns with its proposal, advocated for a longer
effective date. ANCOR suggested a 2-year delayed effective date
followed by a 3-to-5-year phase-in of the new salary level. See also
Advancing States (18-month to 2-year effective date); National
Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services
(NASDDDS) (18- to 24-month effective date for providers of services to
individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities); United
Cerebral Palsy (phase-in or transition period for the Department to
work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the
Administration for Community Living to minimize impact on access to
services). BrightSpring Health Services urged the Department to delay
the effective date for 2 years and to consider an enforcement delay for
the sector as it did in 2016.
As discussed below, the Department believes it is important to
update the standard salary level in part to account for substantial
earnings growth since the Department last updated the salary level in
the 2019 rule. It has been more than 4 years since the Department
updated the salary level, and economic conditions have changed
significantly since then as evidenced by the salary increase that would
result by applying current data to the 2019 salary level methodology
($844 per week, an increase of $160 per week over the existing salary
level). These economic conditions have also impacted employees subject
to the HCE exemption. Applying current data to the 2019 HCE
compensation methodology would result in an annual compensation
threshold of $132,964 (an increase of $25,551 over the existing
compensation threshold).
At the same time, the Department is also mindful of the desire
expressed by multiple commenters to extend the effective date of the
new standard salary and annual compensation methodologies from the
proposed 60-day period to 6-to-12 months (or more). A longer effective
date for the new standard salary level and HCE compensation
methodologies would provide employers with more time to make
adjustments after they are informed of the exact levels of the
thresholds set in this final rule.
After considering the comments, the Department has determined that
the final rule will be effective on July 1, 2024, but the new standard
salary level methodology and the new HCE total annual compensation
methodology will not be applicable until January 1, 2025. The
Department is setting the effective date on July 1, 2024 rather than a
set number of days after publication in the Federal Register because it
will further administrability for employers to have the effective date
coincide with the first of a month and some employers' budget years
also begin on that date.\113\ While the rule will be effective on July
1, 2024, the Department is extending by an additional 6 months the time
for employers to comply with the new standard salary level methodology
and the HCE total annual compensation methodology. Accordingly, the
applicability date for Sec. 541.600(a)(2), which sets out the new
standard salary level of the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of
full-time nonhourly workers in the lowest-wage Census Region, and Sec.
541.601(a)(2), which sets out the new HCE total annual compensation
level of the annualized earnings amount of the 85th percentile of full-
time nonhourly workers nationally, will be January 1, 2025. The
Department decided to delay application of the new HCE total annual
compensation methodology so that the new methodologies for both the
standard salary level and the HCE compensation level take effect at the
same time. The delayed applicability date will allow employers 6
additional months beyond the proposed 60-day effective date in which to
evaluate employees who will be affected by the new standard salary
level methodology and the new HCE compensation level methodology and
make any adjustments.
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\113\ Future updates will occur every three years on July 1.
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New Sec. 541.607, Regular updates to amounts of salary and
compensation required, will be applicable on the effective date July 1,
2024. Because the current standard salary and HCE annual compensation
levels have not been updated in more than 4 years, and economic
conditions have changed markedly during that time, the first update
will occur on that same date (Sec. 541.607(a)). Subsequent updates
will occur every 3 years after this date starting on July 1, 2027
(Sec. 541.607(b)). As discussed in section V.A, regular updating of
the standard salary and HCE annual compensation levels to reflect
current wage data is imperative to ensure that they continue to work
effectively in combination with the duties tests in defining bona fide
EAP employees. In light of the approximately 8-month delay in
applicability of the new standard salary and HCE total compensation
methodologies, the initial update will use the current methodologies
from the 2019 rule, which result in a salary level of $844 per week and
an HCE total annual compensation threshold of $132,964. Accordingly,
the requirement that an exempt employee be compensated on a salary
basis at a salary level of at least $844 per week, set forth in Sec.
541.600(a)(1), and that an employee receive total annual compensation
of at least $132,964 per year to qualify for the HCE exemption, set
forth in Sec. 541.601(a)(1), will apply on July 1, 2024. The
Department believes that this date for the initial update is
appropriate because it will use methodologies that employers are
familiar with. Subsequent triennial updates will apply the most recent
four quarters of data to the standard salary and HCE total annual
compensation levels in effect at the time of the updates. The
Department anticipates that at the time of the first triennial update,
the salary and compensation methodologies that are in effect will be
the methodologies described in Sec. Sec. 541.600(a)(2) and
541.601(a)(2) of this final rule. The Department notes that the
standard salary and HCE compensation levels need to be updated
regularly based on up-to-date earnings data to ensure that they
continue to function effectively regardless of the methodology used to
set the levels.
Except for the specific provisions discussed in this section that
will become applicable on January 1, 2025, all other provisions of this
final rule will be applicable on the effective date on July 1, 2024.
V. Discussion of Final Regulatory Revisions
Consistent with its statutory duty to define and delimit the EAP
exemption, the Department is making several changes to the earnings
thresholds provided in the part 541 regulations. As explained in
greater detail below, the Department is setting the standard salary
level at the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census Region (currently the South). The
Department additionally is raising the HCE test's total annual
compensation requirement to the annualized equivalent of the 85th
percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers nationally.
Finally, the
[[Page 32853]]
Department is adopting a new mechanism to update the standard salary
level and the HCE total annual compensation threshold, initially on
July 1, 2024 and every 3 years thereafter to ensure that they remain
effective tests for exemption. The Department is not making substantive
changes to any provisions related to the salary basis or job duties
tests.
The primary changes to the existing regulations are in Sec. Sec.
541.5, 541.600, 541.601, and newly added Sec. 541.607. In addition,
the Department is making conforming changes throughout part 541 to
update references to the applicable salary level requirements.\114\ The
discussion below begins with the new updating provision (Sec.
541.607), which will make an initial update to the salary and
compensation thresholds on July 1, 2024, followed by discussion of
changes to the standard salary level methodology (Sec. 541.600(a)(2))
and HCE total annual compensation threshold methodology (Sec.
541.601(a)(2)), which will become applicable on January 1, 2025. As
noted in these sections, the Department intends for the changes in this
final rule to be severable. Severability is addressed more fully at the
end of the discussion of final revisions with a discussion of the new
severability provision (Sec. 541.5).
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\114\ The Department is also revising Sec. Sec. 541.100,
541.200, and 541.300 to reflect that an executive, administrative,
or professional employee must be compensated on a salary or fee
basis at not less than the level set forth in Sec. 541.600 (rather
than referencing a specific salary level amount). Similarly, it is
revising Sec. 541.204 and Sec. 541.400 to reflect that an employee
employed in a bona fide administrative capacity and a computer
employee may qualify for the section 13(a)(1) exemption if they are
compensated on a salary or fee basis at not less than the level set
forth in Sec. 541.600 (rather than referencing a specific salary
level amount). The Department is also updating cross-references to
Sec. 541.600(a) in Sec. Sec. 541.602 and 541.605 to reference
Sec. 541.600(a)-(c). Finally, the Department is revising Sec.
541.604, which explains the circumstances under which an employer
may provide an exempt employee with additional compensation without
violating the salary basis requirement, and Sec. 541.605, which
sets forth the conditions under which an administrative or
professional employee may be compensated on a fee basis, with
examples that reflect the new standard salary level amount of $1,128
per week.
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A. Updating the Standard Salary Level and Total Annual Compensation
Threshold
As the Department stated in the NPRM, it has long recognized the
need to regularly update the earnings thresholds to ensure that they
remain useful in helping differentiate between exempt and nonexempt
white-collar employees. In each of its part 541 rulemakings since 2004,
the Department has observed that a salary level that is not kept up to
date becomes obsolete as wages for nonexempt workers increase over
time.\115\ Long intervals between rulemakings have resulted in eroded
earnings thresholds based on outdated earnings data that were ill-
equipped to help identify bona fide executive, administrative, and
professional employees. This problem was most clearly illustrated by
the stagnant salary levels in the regulations from 1975 to 2004, during
which period increases in the federal minimum wage meant that by 1991,
earnings of a worker paid the federal minimum wage exceeded the long
test salary level for a 40-hour workweek and came close to equaling the
short test salary level.\116\
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\115\ 84 FR 51250-51; 81 FR 32430; 69 FR 22164. See also, 88 FR
62176.
\116\ See section II.B.1.
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The Department proposed in the NPRM a mechanism to regularly update
the earnings thresholds to maintain their effectiveness. In a new Sec.
[thinsp]541.607(a)(1) and (b)(1), the Department proposed to update the
standard salary level and the HCE total annual compensation requirement
every 3 years to reflect current earnings data. The Department proposed
in Sec. 541.607(a)(2) and (b)(2) to make the triennial updates using
the methodologies proposed to set the thresholds in the NPRM--i.e., the
35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time nonhourly workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region (currently the South) for the standard
salary level and the annualized weekly earnings of the 85th percentile
of full-time nonhourly workers nationally for the HCE total annual
compensation requirement.\117\ The NPRM also outlined in proposed Sec.
541.607(c) the manner in which the Department would publish advance
notice of the updated thresholds and included a pause mechanism in
proposed Sec. 541.607(d) that could be triggered to delay a scheduled
update under certain circumstances.
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\117\ Observing that the proposed special salary level for
American Samoa and the base rate for the motion picture industry are
set in relation to the standard salary level, the Department also
proposed that those earnings thresholds reset at the time the
standard salary level was updated. The Department is not finalizing
its proposal to apply the standard salary level to the U.S.
territories subject to the federal minimum wage and to update the
special salary levels for American Samoa and the motion picture
industry. See supra note 9. Therefore, the updating mechanism
finalized in this rule will not apply to the special salary levels
at this time.
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The Department proposed to make the first update under its proposed
updating mechanism 3 years after the effective date of the final rule.
The effective date of the final rule was in turn proposed to be 60 days
after publication and to apply to all aspects of the proposed rule,
including the proposed methodologies for the standard salary level and
the HCE total annual compensation threshold. As discussed in section
IV, the Department specifically sought comments on whether the
effective date for the proposed change to the standard salary level
methodology (to the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region) should be 60 days
after publication as proposed or if the change should be made effective
at some later date, such as 6 months or 1 year after publication of the
final rule.\118\ If the effective date were longer than 60 days, the
Department sought comments on ``whether it should initially adjust the
salary level to reflect recent wage growth (for example, making an
initial adjustment for wage growth 60 days after publication of a final
rule and having the final rule standard salary level be effective 6
months or a year after publication).'' \119\ The Department also sought
comments on what methodology to use for the initial update, were it to
follow such an approach. In particular, the Department invited comments
on ``whether to implement an initial update to the standard salary
level, effective 60 days after publication of a final rule, that uses
the current salary level methodology (the 20th percentile of weekly
earnings of full-time nonhourly workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region and retail nationally) and applies it to the most recent data
available ($822 per week based on current data).'' \120\
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\118\ 88 FR 62180
\119\ Id.
\120\ Id.
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The Department received numerous comments on its proposed updating
mechanism. Many organizations representing employee interests as well
as some employers generally supported the updating mechanism, while
most organizations representing employer interests opposed it. Many of
the commenters opposing the proposed updating mechanism asserted that
the Department lacked the authority to institute such a mechanism.
After considering the comments received, the Department is finalizing
the updating mechanism, with some modifications as discussed below, to
keep the salary and compensation thresholds up to date with current
data and maintain their effectiveness.
The first update under new Sec. 541.607 will occur on July 1,
2024. As discussed in section IV, the new standard salary level and HCE
total annual compensation threshold methodologies will not be
applicable until January 1, 2025 (a total of approximately 8 months
[[Page 32854]]
after publication of this final rule). Accordingly, Sec. 541.607(a)
establishes an initial update on July 1, 2024 to the standard salary
level and the HCE total annual compensation threshold using the
methodologies in place at that time (i.e., the 2019 rule
methodologies), which results in a $844 per week standard salary level
and a $132,964 HCE total annual compensation threshold. Section
541.607(b) further establishes future updates to the standard salary
level and HCE total annual compensation threshold with current earnings
data beginning 3 years after the date of the initial update, and every
3 years thereafter, using the methodologies in place at the time of the
updates. The Department anticipates that by the time the first
triennial update under the updating mechanism occurs on July 1, 2027,
assuming the Department has not engaged in further rulemaking, the new
methodologies for the standard salary level and HCE total annual
compensation requirement established by this final rule will be
effective and the triennial update would employ these new
methodologies. In response to commenter concerns, the Department is
also adding clarifying language from the NPRM preamble to the final
regulatory text of the delay provision.
1. The Department's Authority To Adopt a Salary Level Test
The updating mechanism in new Sec. 541.607 will maintain the
effectiveness of the salary and compensation thresholds set in
Sec. Sec. 541.600 and 541.601 by adjusting them regularly to reflect
current economic data. At the outset, a small number of commenters
contended the Department lacked authority under section 13(a)(1) to
even include a salary level test in the regulations, advocating for the
Department to withdraw this rulemaking. See, e.g., AFPI; Job Creators
Network Foundation; NFIB; Pacific Legal Foundation. These commenters
asserted that the express terms of section 13(a)(1) do not permit the
Department to include any compensation-based requirements.
The Department maintains its longstanding position that the
Secretary's express authority to ``define[ ]'' and ``delimit[ ]'' the
terms of the EAP exemption includes the authority to use a salary level
test as one criterion for identifying employees who are employed in a
``bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity.'' The
Department has used a salary level test since the first part 541
regulations in 1938. From the FLSA's earliest days, stakeholders have
generally favored the use of a salary test,\121\ and the Department's
authority to use a salary test has been repeatedly upheld,\122\
including recently in Mayfield v. U.S. Dept. of Labor.\123\ Despite
numerous amendments to the FLSA over the past 85 years, Congress has
not restricted the Department's use of the salary level tests in the
regulations. Significant regulatory changes involving the salary
requirements since 1938 include adding a separate salary level for
professional employees in 1940, adopting a two-test system with
separate short and long test salary levels in 1949, and creating a
single standard salary level test and establishing a new HCE exemption
test in 2004. These changes were all made through regulations issued
pursuant to the Secretary's authority to define and delimit the
exemption. Despite having amended the FLSA numerous times over the
years, Congress has not amended section 13(a)(1) to alter these
regulatory compensation requirements.
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\121\ See Stein Report at 5, 19. As discussed in section
V.B.4.i, the vast majority of employer commenters in this
rulemaking, whether favoring no increase or a smaller increase,
presumed the salary level test's continued existence and utility,
with some, such as the National Restaurant Association, expressly
referencing their support for the 2019 rule's salary level increase.
Many commenters acknowledged the salary level's longstanding
function of screening obviously nonexempt employees from the
exemption. See section V.B.4.ii. Other commenters that opposed the
proposal nonetheless cited benefits of having a salary level test,
including helping to ensure that the EAP exemption is not abused,
see, e.g., AASA/AESA/ASBO, Bellevue University, and ``sav[ing]
investigators and employers time by giving them a quick, short-hand
test[.]'' See National Restaurant Association.
\122\ See, e.g., Wirtz v. Miss. Publishers Corp., 364 F.2d 603,
608 (5th Cir. 1966); Fanelli v. U.S. Gypsum Co., 141 F.2d 216, 218
(2d Cir. 1944); Walling v. Yeakley, 140 F.2d 830, 832-33 (10th Cir.
1944).
\123\ 2023 WL 6168251 (W.D. Tex. Sept. 20, 2023), appeal
docketed, No. 23-50724 (5th Cir. Oct. 11, 2023).
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The FLSA gives the Secretary power to ``define[]'' and
``delimit[]'' the terms ``bona fide executive, administrative, or
professional capacity'' through regulation. Congress thus ``provided
that employees should be exempt who fell within certain general
classifications''--those employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity--and authorized the Secretary
``to define and delimit those classifications by reasonable and
rational specific criteria.'' \124\ Therefore, the Department ``is
responsible not only for determining which employees are entitled to
the exemption, but also for drawing the line beyond which the exemption
is not applicable.'' \125\
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\124\ Walling, 140 F.2d at 831-32; see Ellis v. J.R.'s Country
Stores, Inc., 779 F.3d 1184, 1199 (10th Cir. 2015) (approvingly
quoting Walling); see also Auer v. Robins, 519 U.S. 452, 456 (1997)
(``The FLSA grants the Secretary broad authority to `defin[e] and
delimi[t]' the scope of the exemption for executive, administrative,
and professional employees.'').
\125\ Stein Report at 2.
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2. Initial Update to the Standard Salary Level and Total Annual
Compensation Threshold To Reflect the Change in Earnings Since the 2019
Rule
The Department received many comments regarding its proposed
regulatory mechanism for updating the standard salary level and the HCE
total annual compensation requirement to maintain their effectiveness.
While commenters disagreed on how and when the salary and total annual
compensation thresholds should be updated, commenters generally did not
dispute that the earnings thresholds need to be periodically updated to
reflect current economic conditions. Many commenters that opposed the
proposed updating mechanism nonetheless agreed that the thresholds in
the regulations need to be periodically updated. See, e.g., ASTA; FMI;
SBA Advocacy; SHRM; TechServe Alliance; World Floor Covering
Association (WFCA).
In the context of addressing the Department's proposed standard
salary level methodology, several commenters generally expressed
support for--or in opposing the salary level suggested in the
alternative--an increase to the salary level using the 2019
methodology. See, e.g., Bellevue University; Center for Workplace
Compliance (CWC); RILA; YMCA. CWC noted that the 2019 methodology is
well-established and already familiar to employees and employers, and
Bellevue University similarly stated that this methodology ``has been
previously field-tested on the U.S. economy[.]'' As noted in section
IV, commenters generally did not address applying the 2019 methodology
through the updating mechanism.
The Department remains convinced that effective salary and
compensation thresholds must use up-to-date earnings data. This
position is long-standing. When the Department updated its salary level
tests in 1949, for example, it explained that the ``relative
ineffectiveness of these tests in recent years is the result of changed
economic conditions rather than any inherent weakness in the tests[,]''
and that the ``increase in wage rates and salary levels gradually
weakened the effectiveness of the present salary tests as a dividing
line between exempt and nonexempt employees.'' \126\ The principle that
effective tests for exemption must use
[[Page 32855]]
up-to-date earnings data remains as true today as it was 75 years ago.
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\126\ Weiss Report at 8.
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The Department's need to update the standard salary level and HCE
total annual compensation requirement for current data in this
rulemaking is distinct from its decision to establish new methodologies
for setting those thresholds. The current salary and compensation
levels have been in place for more than 4 years and need to be updated
to reflect current wage data to maintain their effectiveness.\127\
Since the Department's last rulemaking in 2019, there has been
significant change in salaried worker earnings.\128\ The $684 standard
salary level is far below what constitutes the 20th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the South and/or in
the retail industry nationally using current data, which greatly
undermines the utility of the threshold as a means of helping
distinguish exempt from nonexempt employees. The same is true for the
HCE total annual compensation threshold. Updating the existing
thresholds to reflect current earnings data is consistent with the
intent the Department has expressed repeatedly in its past part 541
rulemakings, including in the 2019 rule, to periodically update the
thresholds.
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\127\ The standard salary level and HCE total annual
compensation threshold in the 2019 rule were set using pooled data
for July 2016 to June 2019, adjusted to reflect 2018/2019. 84 FR
51250.
\128\ See section VII.
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For these reasons, the Department is revising final Sec.
541.607(a) to provide for an initial update to the standard salary
level and HCE total annual compensation requirement with current
earnings data on July 1, 2024. Specifically, the standard salary level
will be updated to the 20th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the South and/or in the retail industry nationally
using the most recent data, resulting in a standard salary level of
$844 per week. The HCE total annual compensation threshold will be
updated to the 80th percentile of full-time salaried worker earnings
nationwide using the most recent data, resulting in an annual
compensation threshold of $132,964. The Department believes that the
July 1, 2024 effective date provides sufficient time for employers to
adjust to this initial update because the methodology used for the
initial update to the standard salary level has been used since 2004
and is familiar to the regulated community. The size of the initial
increase to the standard salary level, which is $160 per week, is also
less (in nominal terms) than the $229 per week change that resulted
from the 2019 rule.\129\
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\129\ Consistent with the 2019 rule, the Department used pooled
data for the most recent 3 years (2021, 2022, 2023), adjusting them
to reflect 2023, for the initial updates to both the standard salary
level and HCE total annual compensation threshold. See 84 FR 51250.
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The initial update on July 1, 2024 and the change in the standard
salary level and HCE total annual compensation methodologies on January
1, 2025 will result in two increases in the compensation thresholds
within a 12-month period. The Department recognizes that for some
employers both changes to the compensation thresholds may occur in the
same budget year. Because both the amount of the initial update and the
subsequent increase to the thresholds are set forth in this final rule,
some employers may choose to make a single adjustment at the first date
that encompasses both the initial update and the impending change to
the standard salary level and the HCE total annual compensation
threshold.\130\
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\130\ Although the Department's approach is not a phase-in, the
effect of increasing the salary level twice in 8 months is, from a
timing perspective, not altogether different from the request from
some commenters to phase in the salary level in more than one step.
See, e.g., Argentum & ASHA; Associated General Contractors; SBA
Advocacy.
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The Department intends for the initial update of the standard
salary level and the HCE total annual compensation requirement, using
current earnings data applied to the 2019 rule methodologies, to be
severable from future triennial updates to the thresholds under Sec.
541.607(b), as well as from the revision to the methodologies for the
standard salary level and the HCE total annual compensation threshold
discussed in section V.B and section V.C. In implementing the initial
update, the Department intends to account for changes in earnings since
the 2019 rule. In changing the methodology for the standard salary
level, the Department further intends to fully restore the salary
level's historic screening function and account for the shift in the
2004 rule from a two-test to a one-test system for defining and
delimiting the EAP exemption.\131\ Lastly, in changing the methodology
for the HCE total annual compensation threshold, the Department intends
to ensure the HCE threshold's role as a streamlined alternative for
those employees most likely to meet the standard duties test by
excluding all but those employees ``at the very top of [the] economic
ladder[.]'' \132\ These are independent objectives of this rulemaking
and the provisions implementing them can each stand alone. Therefore,
the Department intends for the initial update to remain in force even
if the methodologies for the standard salary level and/or the HCE total
annual compensation threshold established by this final rule are stayed
or do not take effect. Similarly, the Department intends for the
initial update to remain in effect even if future triennial updates
under Sec. 541.607(b) are stayed or do not take effect.
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\131\ See section V.B.
\132\ See section V.C.
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The initial update will take effect approximately 60 days after the
publication of the final rule, immediately coming out of this notice
and comment rulemaking. As such, the notice procedures set forth in
Sec. 541.607(b)(3) will not apply. As discussed below, future
triennial updates will be preceded by advance publication of a notice
of the updated salary level and HCE total annual compensation threshold
in the Federal Register. For the initial update, this final rule
provides notice of the updated salary and compensation levels.\133\
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\133\ The NPRM included updating the 2019 rule standard salary
level and HCE annual compensation threshold using 2022 data as a
regulatory alternative, stating that applying the methodologies
would result in a standard salary level of $822 per week and a HCE
annual compensation threshold of $125,268. See 88 FR 62218.
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3. Future Triennial Updates To Keep the Standard Salary Level and Total
Annual Compensation Threshold Up to Date
As the Department previously explained, the earnings thresholds are
only an effective indicator of exempt status if they are kept up to
date. Left unchanged, the thresholds become substantially less
effective in helping identify exempt EAP employees as wages for workers
increase over time. To that end, the Department proposed to triennially
update the standard salary level and HCE total annual compensation
threshold by applying the most recent earnings data to the
methodologies set forth in proposed Sec. 541.600(a)(1) and Sec.
541.601(a)(1), while any change to the methodologies used to set the
standard salary level and HCE annual compensation threshold would be
effectuated through future rulemaking.
The Department received many comments on its proposed triennial
updating mechanism for keeping the thresholds up to date in the future,
which are addressed below. The comments were sharply divided on this
aspect of the NPRM. After considering the comments received, the
Department concludes that establishing a mechanism for resetting the
standard salary level and HCE total annual compensation requirement
based on
[[Page 32856]]
current earnings data, and on a regular 3-year schedule, will ensure
that the thresholds remain effective into the future and thus better
serve to help define and delimit the EAP exemption.
i. The Department's Authority To Update the Standard Salary Level and
Total Annual Compensation Threshold With Current Data in the Future
The Department received many comments regarding its authority to
update the earnings thresholds through the proposed triennial updating
mechanism. A majority of the commenters opposing the updating mechanism
challenged the Department's authority to adopt such a provision. Most
commenters that supported the updating mechanism did not specifically
discuss the Department's authority to institute such a mechanism. As to
commenters supporting the proposed triennial updating mechanism that
addressed the issue, they supported the Department's authority.
Commenters favoring automatic updating, such as AFL-CIO and EPI,
agreed with the Department that just as the Department has authority to
set salary thresholds for the EAP exemption, it also has authority to
provide for regular updates to ensure the thresholds do not erode over
time. Some supportive commenters further emphasized that future updates
would make no change to the standard (i.e., methodology) by which the
Department implements the FLSA, but rather merely ensure that the
standard accounts for current economic conditions. See, e.g.,
Administrative Law Professors; Democracy Forward Foundation; EPI. The
Administrative Law Professors similarly asserted that automatic
adjustments to the earnings thresholds fall within the Secretary's
authority to define and delimit ``what it means to function in a `bona
fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity[.]' ''
Observing that even a so-called ``static'' salary threshold expressed
in ``non-indexed dollar terms'' is constantly changing as a matter of
economic value, the Administrative Law Professors asserted that ``if a
non-indexed salary threshold is lawful, as nobody seriously questions,
so too is a standard pegged to income percentile.'' The Administrative
Law Professors observed ``it is arguably more rational'' for the
Department to ``proffer a regulation that expressly accounts for the
inevitably dynamic nature of every salary threshold . . . rather than
to permit arbitrarily fluid macroeconomic conditions to dictate the
threshold's true economic worth.''
On the other hand, many commenters opposing the proposed updating
mechanism asserted that the Department lacks statutory authority to
update the thresholds in this manner. Some of these commenters
contended that since the FLSA does not expressly authorize the
Department to index the earnings thresholds unlike, for example, the
Social Security Act or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
it follows that the FLSA does not authorize the Department to
automatically update the thresholds.\134\ See, e.g., CUPA-HR;
International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA); PPWO; RILA; Seyfarth
Shaw. Several commenters pointed out that Congress did not provide for
automatic updating of any of the earnings requirements under the FLSA,
such as the minimum wage under section 6, the tip credit wage under
section 3(m), or the hourly wage for exempt computer employees under
section 13(a)(17). See, e.g., AFPI; FMI. Commenters including National
Restaurant Association and PPWO further asserted that Congress never
amended the FLSA to grant the Department explicit authority to index
the salary level despite knowing that the Department has updated the
salary level on an irregular schedule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\134\ In contrast, the Administrative Law Professors highlighted
that ``[a]utomatic updating is a common feature of regulations
pegged to monetary values, even when the relevant authorizing
statutes make no specific reference to indexing or automatic
adjustment.'' Some of the examples cited by the Administrative Law
Professors to illustrate this point include: 79 FR 63317 (2014)
(establishing automatic inflationary adjustments to the minimum
amount set by the regulation to define ``adverse credit history'');
76 FR 23110 (2011) (establishing automatic adjustments to the amount
of ``Denied Boarding Compensation'' airlines must pay affected
passengers); 88 FR 35150 (2023) (adopting once-every-five year
inflation adjustments to the revenue threshold for defining a
``small business''); and Amusement & Music Operators Ass'n v.
Copyright Royalty Tribunal, 676 F.2d 1144 (7th Cir. 1982), cert.
denied, 103 S. Ct. 210 (1982) (upholding a rule promulgated by the
Copyright Royalty Tribunal establishing a $50 compulsory royalty fee
to be paid by jukebox operators, and which would be subject to
future inflationary adjustments).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the Department stated in the NPRM, the Department's authority to
update the salary level tests for the EAP exemption by regularly
resetting them based on existing methodologies is grounded in section
13(a)(1), which expressly gives the Secretary broad authority to define
and delimit the scope of the exemption. Using this broad authority, the
Department established the first salary level tests by regulation in
1938. Despite numerous amendments to the FLSA over the past 85 years,
Congress has not restricted the Department's use of the salary level
tests. As just discussed, significant changes involving the salary
requirements made through regulations issued pursuant to the
Secretary's authority to define and delimit the exemption include
adding a separate salary level for professional employees in 1940,
adopting the two-test system in 1949, and switching to the single
standard test and adding the new HCE test in 2004. Despite having
amended the FLSA numerous times over the years, Congress has not
amended section 13(a)(1) to alter these regulatory salary requirements.
Unlike the statutes some of the commenters referenced explicitly
providing for indexing, or the statutory FLSA wage rates--i.e., the
minimum wage under section 6, the tip credit wage under section 3(m),
or the hourly wage for exempt computer employees under section
13(a)(17)--the part 541 earnings thresholds are established in the
regulations. Therefore, it is not surprising that the FLSA contains no
specific reference to the indexing or automatic adjustments of these
thresholds. The Department agrees with the Administrative Law
Professors and other commenters that stated that the Department has the
authority to establish a mechanism to automatically adjust the earnings
thresholds to ensure their continued effectiveness, using a process
established through notice and comment rulemaking, just as it has the
authority to initially set them. The Department believes the updating
mechanism in this final rule fulfills its statutory obligation to
define and delimit the EAP exemptions by preventing the thresholds from
becoming obsolete and providing predictability and clarity for the
regulated community.
Many of the commenters opposed to the updating mechanism also
asserted that automatically updating the earnings thresholds would
violate the APA's rulemaking requirements expressly incorporated by
reference in section 13(a)(1). See, e.g., AFPI; FMI; National Club
Association; and Wage and Hour Defense Institute. These and other
commenters claimed that the Department cannot lawfully update the
salary level without engaging in notice and comment rulemaking for each
update. See, e.g., AASA/AESA/ASBO; Competitive Enterprise Institute;
CWC; RILA. IFDA, for example, asserted that notice and comment
rulemaking needs to precede each future update so that stakeholders
have the opportunity to comment on and adequately prepare for any
changes that will affect them. AHLA commented that the proposal to
update the thresholds triennially without a preceding opportunity for
comment is
[[Page 32857]]
``drastic and troublesome'' and that ``notice and comment will help
ensure that the knowledge, expertise, and vital input of interested
stakeholders will be considered before moving forward with increases.''
Relatedly, AFPI, NRF, and SBA Advocacy asserted that automatic
updating would violate the directive under section 13(a)(1) that the
Department define and delimit the EAP exemption ``from time to time''
by regulations. NRF, for example, noted that Congress asked the
Department to revisit the EAP exemptions from time to time ``expecting
the Department to use its deep knowledge of the U.S. economy in
general, and labor market in particular, to establish appropriate
parameters for the exemptions'' and contended that by implementing
automatic updates the Department evades that decision-making process.
AFPI similarly asserted that the ``directive, `from time to time,' does
not allow the Department to set it and forget it.''
The Department disagrees with the assertion that triennial updates
using the compensation methodologies adopted in the regulations
improperly bypass the APA's--and section 13(a)(1) by reference--
requirements for notice and comment rulemaking. The Department is
adopting an updating mechanism in this rulemaking after publishing a
notice of the proposed rule and providing opportunity for stakeholders
to comment in accordance with the APA's notice and comment
requirements. The Department has received and considered numerous
comments on the proposed updating mechanism. Future updates under the
triennial updating mechanism would simply reset the thresholds by
applying current data to a standard already established by notice and
comment regulation, providing clarity for the regulated community as to
future changes in the thresholds. Therefore, the Department disagrees
with commenters that claimed that notice and comment rulemaking must
precede each future update made through the updating mechanism even
where the methodology for setting the compensation levels and the
mechanism for updating those levels would remain unchanged.\135\ The
updating mechanism will not alter the Department's ability to engage in
future rulemaking to change the updating mechanism or any other aspect
of the part 541 regulations at any point.
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\135\ Some commenters, such as Independent Electrical
Contractors, RILA, and U-Haul, further asserted that automatic
updates improperly bypass the requirements of the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (``RFA'') and executive orders requiring the
Department to undertake a detailed economic and cost analysis. The
Department disagrees. Pursuant to the RFA, the Department has
included in this final rule as well as in the NPRM detailed
estimates for the future costs of updates under the updating
mechanism. See section VII and VIII; 88 FR 62224. Similarly, as
relevant here, Executive Order 13563 directs agencies to take
certain steps when promulgating regulations, including using the
``best available techniques to quantify anticipated present and
future benefits and costs as accurately as possible'' and adopting
regulations ``through a process that involves public
participation.'' 76 FR 3821 (Jan. 18, 2011). The current rulemaking
fully satisfies all aspects of Executive Order 13563. See section
VII; 88 FR 62182. The RFA and Executive Order 13563 do not require
notice and comment rulemaking to precede future triennial updates
made through the updating mechanism established in this rulemaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department also disagrees with commenters that claimed section
13(a)(1)'s ``time to time'' language precludes the Department from
adopting an updating mechanism. The updating mechanism would only
ensure the standard salary level and total annual compensation
threshold remain at the percentiles established through rulemaking.
This does not preclude the Department from engaging in future
rulemaking ``from time to time'' if it determines that there is a need
to change the underlying methodologies for setting the standard salary
level or HCE total annual compensation threshold, the updating
mechanism, or any other substantive change to part 541, as the
Department did, for instance, in 1940, 1949, 1958 1975, 2004, 2016, and
2019.
Many commenters opposing the updating mechanism referenced the
Department's prior statements to further support their assertion that
the Department lacks authority to implement automatic updating. In
particular, commenters pointed to the Department's decision not to
institute an automatic updating mechanism in the 2004 rule and its
statement that ``the Department finds nothing in the legislative or
regulatory history that would support indexing or automatic
increases.'' See, e.g., NAM; NFIB; SBA Advocacy. Others, like PPWO,
further asserted that automatic updates are contrary to the
Department's statement in the 2004 rule that ``[t]he salary levels
should be adjusted when wage survey data and other policy concerns
support such a change.''
As stated in the NPRM, the Department's decision not to institute
an automatic updating mechanism in the 2004 and 2019 rulemakings in no
way suggests that it lacks the authority to do so. In its 2004 rule,
the Department stated that it found nothing in the legislative or
regulatory history that would support indexing or automatic
increases.\136\ As the Department elaborated in its 2016 rulemaking,
there was likewise no such authority prohibiting automatic
updating.\137\ The 2004 rule did not discuss the Department's statutory
authority to promulgate an updating mechanism through notice and
comment rulemaking or explore in detail whether automatic updates to
the salary levels posed a viable solution to problems created by lapses
between rulemakings. As the Department explained in the 2016 rule, the
Department's reference in the 2004 rule to automatic updating simply
reflected the Department's conclusion at that time that an inflation-
based updating mechanism, such as one based on changes in the prices of
consumer goods, that unduly impacts low-wage regions and industries,
would be inappropriate. Such concerns are not implicated here, where
the mechanism will update the salary level to keep it at the same
percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers. As for concerns
that the salary level should be updated only when wage data warrants
it, the updating mechanism does just that--as the earnings thresholds
will change only to the extent earnings data in the relevant data sets
have changed, whether upward or downward as conditions dictate.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\136\ 69 FR 22171.
\137\ See 81 FR 32432-33 (noting that ``instituting an automatic
updating mechanism . . . is an appropriate modernization and within
the Department's authority.'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Similarly, the Department declined to adopt automatic updating in
the 2019 rule because it ``believe[d] that it is important to preserve
the Department's flexibility to adapt to different types of
circumstances,'' \138\ and not because it lacked authority to do so.
While the Department decided not to institute an updating mechanism in
its 2019 rule, it never said that it lacked the statutory authority to
do so. Upon further consideration, the Department concludes that the
best way to ensure the standard salary level and HCE total compensation
threshold remain up to date is a triennial updating mechanism that
maintains the Department's flexibility to adapt to different
circumstances and change course as necessary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\138\ 84 FR 51252.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. Rationale for Continuing To Update the Standard Salary Level and
Total Annual Compensation Threshold With Current Data in the Future
The Department explained in the NPRM that its proposed updating
[[Page 32858]]
mechanism would allow for regular and more predictable updates to the
earnings thresholds, which would benefit both employers and employees
and would better fulfill the Department's statutory duty to define and
delimit the EAP exemption by preventing the erosion of those levels
over time. The Department noted that its regulatory history, marked in
many instances by lengthy gaps between rulemakings, underscored the
difficulty with updating the earnings thresholds as quickly and
regularly as necessary to keep pace with changing employee earnings and
to maintain the full effectiveness of the thresholds. Through the
proposed updating mechanism, the Department explained it would be able
to timely and efficiently update the standard salary level and the HCE
total annual compensation requirement by using the same methodologies
as initially proposed and adopted through notice and comment rulemaking
to set the thresholds. The Department noted that updating the
thresholds in this manner would prevent the more drastic and
unpredictable increases associated with less frequent updates and
ensure that future salary level increases occur at a known interval and
in more gradual increments. The Department received many comments on
the rationale for implementing the proposed triennial updating
mechanism.
Several organizations representing employee interests as well as a
handful of employers agreed with the Department that an updating
mechanism would ensure the thresholds keep pace with wages and retain
their usefulness. See, e.g., Coalition of Gender Justice and Civil
Rights Organizations; National Partnership; National Education
Association (NEA); National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA);
National Employment Law Project (NELP); Uncommon Goods; W.S. Badger
Company. Nichols Kaster, PLLP (Nichols Kaster) noted the updating
mechanism protects the thresholds from becoming outdated and
irrelevant, although it believed that annual updates would better
reflect the economy. NELA commented that ``indexing represents the only
simple and accurate'' way to preserve the real value of the standard
salary level and the HCE total compensation threshold through time,
although they contended that the proposed methodologies should be
higher earnings percentiles.
Many commenters supportive of the updating mechanism also asserted
that regular updates would provide greater predictability for employers
and employees alike. See, e.g., AFL-CIO; Center for WorkLife Law at
University of California Law and Partner Organizations (Family
Caregiving Coalition); Justice at Work; NEA. Small Business Majority
expressed support for the proposed updating mechanism noting that
smaller, predictable increases that are known well in advance--as
opposed to ``large and sudden'' increases--would allow small business
owners to be better prepared for any staffing or compensation changes
they need to make. Nineteen Democratic Senators commented that an
updating mechanism is the most effective way to provide consistency and
stability for both workers and businesses. See also, e.g., EPI;
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries. CLASP similarly
noted the proposed updating provision would enable employers to know
exactly what to expect and when to expect it.
In contrast, many organizations representing employer interests
disagreed with the Department's rationale for the proposed updating
mechanism. Several of these commenters criticized the Department for
stating that the updating mechanism is a more ``viable and efficient''
means of updating the thresholds by asserting that the Department is
trying to avoid its obligation to engage in notice and comment
rulemaking simply because such rulemaking is resource-intensive. See,
e.g., IDFA; National Restaurant Association; PPWO. The Chamber
similarly commented that the Department's history of long gaps in
rulemaking is not an adequate justification for adopting what it
characterized as ``a historically unprecedented change.''
Commenters including AHLA, FMI, the National Beer Wholesalers
Association, and Seyfarth Shaw, asserted automatic updating would lead
to uncertainty that would pose administrative and compliance burdens on
employers. Some commenters, such as HR Policy Association and PPWO,
asserted the proposed mechanism would make it difficult to ascertain
exactly what the threshold will be every 3 years. Other commenters,
including CUPA-HR, FMI, IDFA, and SHRM, asserted triennial updates
would have a significant financial impact on employers as they would
need to account for the cost of salaries or potential overtime as well
as the cost of conducting reclassification analysis and implementing
the necessary changes every 3 years. Some nonprofit organizations and
providers of home and community-based health services expressed concern
that future updates would be difficult for the nonprofit sector because
of their funding sources. See, e.g., Allegheny Children's Initiative;
ANCOR.
Some commenters opposing the updating mechanism claimed automatic
updates would hinder the Department from considering economic
circumstances when making updates. Ten Republican Senators asserted
automatic updates ``blind the administration to critical considerations
about the state of the economy and the workforce, including the
unemployment rate, inflation, job vacancies, or whether employers are
in a position to adjust to the increases without shedding jobs.'' Some
commenters, including Illinois College, ISSA, and the Society of
Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, expressed concern that the
proposed mechanism could lead to updates happening at a time of
economic downturn or a recession and could further exacerbate those
economic conditions. Others expressed concern that the updating
mechanism would hinder future rulemaking to change the earnings
thresholds. See, e.g., Chamber; National Association of Convenience
Stores.
The Department continues to believe that the updating mechanism
will ensure the earnings thresholds keep pace with changes in earnings
and remain useful in the future in helping to delineate EAP employees
from non-EAP employees. Whereas a fixed salary level threshold becomes
less effective over time as the data used to set it grows outdated, a
fixed methodology remains relevant if applied to contemporaneous data.
The Department agrees with the commenters that stated that the updating
mechanism's triennial updates would provide greater certainty and
predictability for the regulated community. Unlike irregular updates to
the earnings thresholds, which may result in drastic changes to the
thresholds, regular updates on a pre-determined interval and using an
established methodology will produce more predictable and incremental
changes. For this reason, the Department disagrees with the assertion
by some commenters that regular updates will lead to unpredictable
adjustments and ongoing uncertainty. The Department also disagrees with
commenters like HR Policy Association that claimed the proposed
mechanism will make it difficult to ascertain what exactly the
threshold will be every 3 years. Through the updating mechanism, the
Department will reset the standard salary level and total annual
compensation threshold using the most recent, publicly available, U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on earnings for salaried workers.
Therefore,
[[Page 32859]]
stakeholders will be able to track where the thresholds would fall on a
quarterly basis by looking at the BLS data \139\ and can estimate the
changes in the thresholds even before the Department publishes the
notice with the adjusted thresholds in the Federal Register. The
Department believes that, compared to the irregular updates of the
past, stakeholders will be better positioned to anticipate and prepare
for future updates under the updating mechanism.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\139\ See https://www.bls.gov/cps/research/nonhourly/earnings-nonhourly-workers.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moreover, the Department does not agree with the assertion that
routine updates would lead to undue increases at a time of economic
downturn or recession. If anything, the Department's new updating
mechanism will ensure that the thresholds match the earnings data as
they exist at the time of the update, whether by increasing or
decreasing the earnings thresholds as warranted by the data. As
discussed below, the Department's decision to deviate from the 2016
rule by adopting a mechanism for pausing future updates further guards
against such concerns. Similarly, nothing about the updating mechanism
precludes the Department from revisiting the standard salary level and
HCE total annual compensation methodologies in the future when
conditions warrant. Having considered the comments received, the
Department remains convinced that an updating mechanism providing for
regular updates on a triennial basis is the best means of ensuring that
the salary and compensation tests continue to provide an effective
means, in tandem with the duties tests, to distinguish between EAP and
non-EAP employees.
iii. Specific Features of the Updating Mechanism
The Department received many comments regarding the various aspects
of the proposed updating mechanism, including the updating frequency,
methodology, notice period, and pause mechanism. The Department
proposed in Sec. 541.607(a) and (b) to update the earnings thresholds
every 3 years by using the same methodology used in the regulations to
set the thresholds. Specifically, proposed Sec. 541.607(a)(2) and
(b)(2) stated that the methodologies for setting the standard salary
level and HCE annual compensation threshold in the NPRM would be used
for future updates.
Many commenters that supported the proposed updating mechanism
expressed a preference for more frequent updates. See, e.g., Coalition
of State AGs; Jobs to Move America; NEA; NELP. Commenters including
AFL-CIO, National Partnership, and Nichols Kaster asserted annual
updates, compared to triennial updates, offered better predictability
and would ensure that the salary threshold keeps pace with the changes
in wages. EPI similarly observed that annual updates would ensure that
the salary threshold more closely adheres to the chosen percentile
``rather than slipping further and further behind in between triennial
updates[.]''
Most commenters that opposed updating did not separately comment on
the updating frequency, but some addressed it in the context of
discussing the impact of the updating mechanism on employers. Many of
these commenters claimed triennial updates would impose substantial
financial and compliance burdens on employers as they would need to
engage in reclassification analysis and implement necessary changes to
adjust to the updated thresholds every 3 years. See, e.g., ABC; CUPA-
HR; HR Policy Association; NAM. Most of the commenters opposing the
updating mechanism did not suggest an alternative updating frequency.
Notwithstanding their objection to automatic updating, however, a few
commenters, including AHLA, ASTA, WFCA, and YMCA, suggested a longer
updating frequency ranging from 4 to 6 years.
The Department agrees with the commenters that stated annual
updates would keep the salary level more up to date given that employee
earnings are constantly changing. However, as stated in the NPRM, the
Department is also mindful of the potential burden that possible
changes to the tests for exemption on an annual basis would impose on
employers, including costs associated with evaluating the exemption
status of employees on an annual basis. Conversely, the Department is
not convinced by commenter claims that triennial updates would impose
an undue financial and compliance burden on employers. Many of these
commenters did not address the fact that the alternative to automatic
updating is not a permanent fixed earnings threshold, but instead
larger changes to the threshold that could occur during irregular
future updates. Since the updating mechanism will change the thresholds
regularly and incrementally, and based on actual earnings of salaried
workers, the Department predicts that employers will be in a better
position to be able to adjust to the changes resulting from triennial
updates. The Department remains persuaded that triennial updates are
frequent enough to ensure that the part 541 earnings thresholds are
kept up to date--and continue to serve the purpose of helping to
identify exempt employees--while not being overly burdensome for
employers. The final rule, therefore, adopts an updating frequency of 3
years as proposed.
The comments regarding the method through which the Department's
proposed updating mechanism would reset the salary and compensation
thresholds were also divided. Commenters favoring routine updates also
supported the proposal to update the thresholds using the fixed
percentile approach--to keep the thresholds at the same percentile of
earnings of full-time salaried worker as established by the
regulations. NELA, for example, asserted that updating the thresholds
using a fixed percentile of earnings ``is the fairest way to maintain
consistency in workers' FLSA eligibility in light of inevitable
economic change.'' EPI similarly noted updating the thresholds through
the proposed methodology ensures that the standard under the
Department's rule ``is simply preserved--neither strengthened nor
weakened.''
Commenters that opposed automatic updating opposed the proposed
updating methodology. Several of these commenters reiterated an
assertion from comments on the 2016 rulemaking that the proposed
updating mechanism--tied to a fixed percentile--would result in the
salary level being ``ratcheted'' upward over time due to the resulting
actions of employers. See, e.g., Chamber; NAM; NRF (including a report
by Oxford Economics); SBA Advocacy. The commenters contended that in
response to each automatic update, most employers would either
reclassify employees earning below the new salary level to hourly
status or raise the salaries of those employees to keep their exempt
status. These responses, the commenters claimed, would skew the
relevant data for future updates in favor of substantial increases
because those employees who were reclassified as hourly would fall out
of the data pool causing the data pool to be smaller and skew towards
higher-paid workers. See, e.g., Chamber; National Association of
Convenience Stores; National Restaurant Association; NRF. While
expressing a strong preference that automatic updates be abandoned
altogether, some of the commenters concerned about this possible effect
suggested that the Department adopt an updating mechanism tied to an
inflation-related index. See Seyfarth Shaw; SHRM.
The Department notes that very similar comments concerning an
alleged
[[Page 32860]]
``ratcheting'' effect were received during the 2016 rulemaking, which
also proposed an updating mechanism based on earnings percentiles. In
response to those comments, the Department examined historical data to
determine the impact of its previous salary increase.\140\
Specifically, the Department looked at the share of full-time white-
collar workers paid on an hourly basis before and after the 2004 rule
(January-March 2004; January-March 2005) both below and above the
standard salary level. The Department found that following the 2004
rule, the share of full-time white-collar workers being paid hourly
actually decreased marginally in the group below the standard salary
level and increased slightly in the group above the standard salary
level.\141\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\140\ 81 FR 32441.
\141\ See id. at 32441, 32507-08.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department finds the claim that updating with a fixed
percentile methodology would lead to the ``ratcheting'' upward of the
thresholds to be unsubstantiated. The ``ratcheting'' claim is almost
entirely based on the assumption that employers will respond to an
automatically updated salary level by converting all or a large number
of newly nonexempt workers to hourly status, thus removing them from
the data set of full-time salaried workers. Yet none of the commenters
advancing this claim presented any tangible data or evidence to support
their assumption. Even those few commenters that provided economic
analyses rested their views on the same unsubstantiated assumption that
employers will generally reclassify newly nonexempt employees as
hourly. See, e.g., NRF (including a report by Oxford Economics); PPWO
(quoting a study by Edgeworth Economics).\142\ The results of the
Department's close examination of the impact of the 2004 salary level
increase provide no evidence that salary level increases due to regular
triennial updating will result in employers converting significant
numbers of affected EAP workers to hourly pay status and thus raising
potential concerns about skewing future updates. Although many
commenters made nearly identical ratcheting claims in this rulemaking,
none of the commenters addressed the Department's analysis in response
to those same claims in the 2016 rule.
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\142\ The Edgeworth Economic study that was quoted by PPWO and a
few other commenters seemed to assume, without any support, that all
affected workers or newly nonexempt workers who earn between $684
and $1,059 per week will be reclassified as hourly employees.
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Having found no merit in the ``ratcheting'' claim, the Department
declines to adopt the alternative methodologies suggested such as an
updating mechanism tied to an inflation-related index. As noted in the
NPRM, the fixed percentile approach, as opposed to other methods such
as indexing the thresholds for inflation, eliminates the risk that
future levels will deviate from the underlying salary setting
methodology established through rulemaking. During the 2016 rule, the
Department extensively considered whether to update the thresholds
based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
(CPI-U)--a commonly used economic indicator for measuring
inflation.\143\ The Department chose to update the thresholds using the
same methodology used to initially set them in that rulemaking (i.e., a
fixed percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region), observing that the objectives that
justify setting the salary level using a fixed percentile methodology
also supported updating the thresholds using the same methodology.\144\
The Department is persuaded that updating the earnings thresholds by
applying the same methodology used to originally set the levels instead
of indexing them for inflation best ensures that the earnings
thresholds continue to fulfill their objective of helping effectively
differentiate between bona fide EAP employees and those who are
entitled to overtime pay and work appropriately with the duties test.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\143\ See 81 FR 32438-41.
\144\ See id. at 32440.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Sec. 541.607 therefore establishes triennial updates of the
standard salary level and the HCE total compensation threshold using
the same methodologies used to set those thresholds. Assuming the
Department has not engaged in further rulemaking, the Department
anticipates the second update under the updating mechanism--which will
occur 3 years after the date of the initial update discussed in section
V.A--will use the methodologies established by this final rule as those
will become effective before the second update. Accordingly, the second
update will reset the standard salary level to the 35th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time workers in the lowest-wage Census Region
and will reset the HCE total annual compensation threshold to the
annualized weekly earnings of the 85th percentile of full-time salaried
workers nationally based on contemporaneous data at that time.
The Department further proposed to publish in the Federal Register
a notice with the adjusted standard salary level and the HCE total
annual compensation threshold at least 150 days before the date the
adjusted thresholds are set to take effect and to publish the updated
thresholds on WHD's website no later than their effective date. The
Department proposed to update both thresholds using the most recent
available 4 quarters of data, as published by BLS, preceding the
publication of the Department's notice with the adjusted levels. The
Department received fewer comments regarding these aspects of the
proposal than on the updating mechanism itself.
Most commenters supporting the proposed updating mechanism did not
separately comment on the 150-day notice period. Some commenters
opposing automatic updates asserted that the 150-day notice period
would not be adequate time to prepare for compliance with the new
updated thresholds. See, e.g., Association of Public and Land-grant
Universities (APLU) (suggesting 180-day advance notice); Chamber
(suggesting at least 1 year notice); National Association of
Convenience Stores (same); The American Association of Advertising
Agencies (The 4As) (same). Regarding the data set, EPI suggested the
Department use the most recent quarter of data asserting that the
salary threshold would be ``suppressed'' for 2 out of every 3 years if
the Department adopts triennial updates. On the other hand, the
National Association of Convenience Stores, while opposing automatic
updating, recommended the Department use the most recent 6 quarters of
data, or those quarters minus the 2 most recent, to account for changes
it claimed employers may make preemptively to adjust to an upcoming
update for budgetary reasons.
After considering the comments received, the Department is
persuaded that a notice period of not less than 150 days provides
sufficient time for employers to make the necessary adjustments to
comply with the updated thresholds. This is especially true given that
employers will be able to access the data set that will be used to make
the adjustments as published by BLS and anticipate the extent of the
adjustment even before the Department publishes the notice. A period
substantially longer than 150 days would hinder the Department's
ability to ensure that the thresholds that take effect are based on the
most up-to-date data. Similarly, the Department believes that using the
most recent available 4 quarters of data will account for the
Department's goal that
[[Page 32861]]
the thresholds reflect prevailing economic conditions while balancing
the concerns of commenters that wanted a longer or shorter period for
the data set. Therefore, the final rule establishes that for future
updates under the updating mechanism, the Department will publish in
the Federal Register a notice with the adjusted thresholds not fewer
than 150 days before the date the new adjusted thresholds are set to
take effect and will publish the updated thresholds on the WHD website
no later than their effective date. The updates will be based on the
most recent available 4 quarters of data as published by BLS.
Lastly, the Department's proposal included a provision providing
for the delay of a scheduled update under the updating mechanism while
the Department engages in notice and comment rulemaking to change the
earnings requirements and/or updating mechanism, where economic or
other conditions merit. The Department explained that the delay would
be triggered if the Department publishes an NPRM proposing to change
the salary level methodology and/or modify the updating mechanism by
the date on which it publishes the notice of the revised salary and
compensation thresholds. In that instance, the notice with the adjusted
thresholds must state that the scheduled update will be paused for 120
days from the day the update was set to occur while the Department
engages in rulemaking, and that the pause will be lifted on the 121st
day unless the Department finalizes a rule changing the salary level
methodology and/or automatic updating mechanism by that time. In the
event the Department does not issue a final rule by the prescribed
deadline, the pause on the scheduled update will be lifted and the new
thresholds will take effect on the 121st day after they were originally
scheduled to take effect. The Department also explained the 120-day
pause would not affect the date for the next scheduled triennial update
given the relative shortness of the delay and so as not to disrupt the
updating schedule. The next update, therefore, would occur 3 years from
the date on which the delayed update would have originally been
effective.
The Department received somewhat mixed comments regarding its
proposed pausing mechanism. For example, notwithstanding their
objection to automatic updating (and in some cases, certain aspects of
the pause mechanism), some employer organizations such as CUNA, AHLA,
and the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents commended
the Department for recognizing that there may be circumstances that may
require temporarily delaying a scheduled update. Some commenters that
supported the updating proposal agreed. For example, the Coalition of
State AGs described the delay provision as ``a fail-safe mechanism''
that would provide the Department flexibility to adjust to changed
circumstances as necessary. On the other hand, Sanford Heisler Sharp,
while otherwise favoring the updating mechanism, objected to the pause
feature asserting that it would ``inject uncertainty into the
administration of the threshold, undermining the stated purpose of the
NPRM to simplify enforcement of overtime and minimum wage
protections.''
Some commenters took issue with the phrase ``unforeseen economic or
other conditions'' in the NPRM's preamble which generally described the
circumstances in which the Department may trigger the pause mechanism.
AHLA, CUNA, and NAIS/NBOA asserted it is not clear what circumstances
would constitute ``unforeseen economic or other conditions.'' AFPI
similarly pointed out the phrase was found only in the preamble and not
in the proposed Sec. 541.607. American Council of Engineering
Companies expressed concern that the proposed pause mechanism does not
provide sufficient flexibility for the Department to respond to
unexpected economic conditions and recommended that the provision be
modified to allow the Secretary ``to suspend automatic updates if
economic conditions warrant.'' RILA asserted the pause feature is an
inflexible process asserting that if a catastrophic event were to occur
within 150 days of the date of a scheduled update, the Department would
have no flexibility or ability to delay or stop the update. A few
commenters claimed that the 120-day pause period is not sufficient time
to provide the Department the flexibility it needs to adjust to
unforeseen circumstances or complete a rulemaking. See, e.g., National
Association of Convenience Stores; NRF.
Most of the comments objecting to or otherwise criticizing the
pause mechanism seem to assume the only way the Department can alter a
scheduled update or change any other aspect of the rule is through the
updating mechanism's pause provision. That is not correct. Nothing in
the proposed updating mechanism limits the Department's ability to
engage in future rulemaking to change any aspect of the part 541
regulations at any time. The pause mechanism offers the Department
added flexibility--in addition to its ability to engage in rulemaking
at any time to change the rule--by allowing it the ability to delay a
scheduled update as it engages in rulemaking. As the Department noted
in the NPRM, the pause mechanism offers the Department 270 days--150
days before, and 120 days after, the effective date for the scheduled
update--to complete the rulemaking process. The Department can still
engage in rulemaking outside of this period and through that rulemaking
can stop or delay a scheduled update or change any other aspect of the
part 541 regulations. This is true regardless of whether the Department
adopts the delay provision. The Department believes that the pause
provision will provide additional flexibility in the context of the
triennial updates and will not impact the Department's normal
rulemaking powers.
The Department recognizes that the phrase ``unforeseen economic or
other conditions'' was not in proposed Sec. 541.607 and agrees that
the lack of this language in the regulatory text creates ambiguity
about the standard for pausing a triennial update. Therefore, the
Department is revising Sec. 541.607(d) to include similar language.
The Department believes this revision clarifies the standard for when
the pause mechanism may be triggered but does not impinge on the
Department's normal authority to engage in rulemaking for other
reasons. The Department is disinclined to further define what
circumstances would trigger the pause mechanism, as some commenters
suggested. In proposing the pause mechanism, the Department was mindful
of previous statements from stakeholders, and the Department's own
prior statements, about the need to preserve flexibility to adapt to
unanticipated circumstances. As an example, the Department referenced
the COVID pandemic and its widespread impact on workplaces. However, it
is not feasible for the Department to outline every possible
circumstance that could warrant a delay of a scheduled update. Doing so
would unduly limit the Department's flexibility to adjust to truly
unanticipated circumstances.
For these reasons, the Department has concluded that the proposed
pause mechanism, with the modification noted above, provides the
Department sufficient flexibility to adopt to unforeseen circumstances
where necessary. Therefore, the new Sec. 541.607(b)(4) establishes
that the Department can trigger the pause, where unforeseen economic or
other
[[Page 32862]]
conditions warrant, by issuing an NPRM proposing to change the salary
level methodology and/or modify the updating mechanism by the date on
which it publishes the notice with the adjusted salary and compensation
thresholds. Section 541.607(b)(4) further clarifies that the notice
with the adjusted thresholds must state that the scheduled update will
be paused for 120 days from the day the update was set to occur while
the Department engages in rulemaking, and that the pause will be lifted
on the 121st day unless the Department finalizes a rule changing the
salary level methodology and/or automatic updating mechanism by that
time.
Lastly, as discussed in more detail in section V.D, the Department
intends for the triennial updates of the standard salary level and the
HCE total annual compensation threshold using current earnings data to
be severable from the revision to those methodologies discussed in
section V.B and section V.C. In implementing routine triennial updates,
the Department intends to ensure that the salary and compensation
thresholds set in the regulations reflect changes in earnings data and
continue to function effectively in helping identify exempt white-
collar employees. As already noted, the Department has different
objectives for changing the methodologies for setting the standard
salary level and HCE total annual compensation threshold. Specifically,
in changing the methodology for the standard salary level, the
Department intends to fully restore the salary level's historic
screening function and account for the shift in the 2004 rule from a
two-test to a one-test system for defining and delimiting the EAP
exemption.\145\ In changing the methodology for the HCE total annual
compensation threshold, the Department intends to ensure the HCE
threshold's role as a streamlined alternative for those employees most
likely to meet the standard duties test by excluding all but those
employees ``at the very top of [the] economic ladder[.]'' \146\ These
are independent objectives of this rulemaking and the provisions
implementing them can each stand alone. Therefore, the Department
intends for the triennial updates to remain in force even if the
methodologies for the standard salary level and the HCE total annual
compensation threshold established by this final rule are stayed or do
not take effect. Similarly, the Department intends for the triennial
updates under Sec. 541.607(b) to remain in force even if the initial
update for wage growth in Sec. 541.607(a) is stayed or does not take
effect.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\145\ See section V.B.
\146\ See section V.C.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Standard Salary Level
In its NPRM, the Department proposed to update the salary level by
setting it equal to the 35th percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region (the South),
resulting in a proposed salary level of $1,059 per week ($55,068 for a
full-year worker). The proposed salary level methodology built on
lessons learned in the Department's most recent rulemakings to more
effectively define and delimit employees employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity. Specifically, the Department's intent in the NPRM was to
fully restore the salary level's screening function and account for the
switch in the 2004 rule from a two-test system to a one-test system for
defining the EAP exemption, while also updating the standard salary
level for earnings growth since the 2019 rule.
The Department is finalizing the proposed standard salary level
methodology and applying it to the most recent available earnings data,
resulting in a salary level of $1,128 per week ($58,656 for a full-year
worker). Setting the standard salary level at the 35th percentile of
weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census
Region will, in combination with the standard duties test, better
define and delimit which employees are employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity in a one-test system. Because the salary level is above the
equivalent of the long test salary level, the final rule will (unlike
the 2004 and 2019 rules) ensure that lower-paid white-collar employees
who perform significant amounts of nonexempt work, and were
historically considered by the Department not to be employed in a bona
fide EAP capacity because they failed the long duties test, are not all
included in the exemption. At the same time, by setting the salary
level well below the equivalent of the short test salary level, the
final rule will address potential concerns that the salary level test
should not be determinative of EAP exemption status for too many white-
collar employees. The combined result will be a more effective test for
exemption. The final salary level will also reasonably distribute
between employees and their employers what the Department now
understands to be the impact of the 2004 shift from a two-test to a
one-test system on employees earning between the long and short test
salary levels.
1. History of the Salary Level
The FLSA became law in 1938 and the first version of the part 541
regulations, issued later that year, set a minimum compensation
requirement of $30 per week for executive and administrative
employees.\147\ Since then, the Department has increased the salary
levels eight times--in 1940, 1949, 1958, 1963, 1970, 1975, 2004, and
2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\147\ 3 FR 2518.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1940, the Department maintained the $30 per week salary level
for executive employees but established a higher $200 per month salary
level test for administrative and professional employees. In selecting
these thresholds, the Department used salary surveys from Federal and
state government agencies, experience gained under the National
Industrial Recovery Act, and Federal government salaries to determine
the salary level that was a reasonable ``dividing line'' between
employees performing exempt and nonexempt work.\148\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\148\ See Stein Report at 20-21, 31-32.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1949, recognizing that the ``increase in wage rates and salary
levels'' since 1940 had ``gradually weakened the effectiveness of the
present salary tests as a dividing line between exempt and nonexempt
employees,'' the Department calculated the percentage increase in
weekly earnings from 1940 to 1949, and then adopted new salary levels
at a ``figure slightly lower than might be indicated by the data'' to
protect small businesses.\149\ In 1949, the Department also established
a short test for exemption, which paired a higher salary level with a
less rigorous duties test. The justification for this short test was
that employees who met the higher salary level were more likely to meet
all the requirements of the exemption (including the 20 percent limit
on nonexempt work), and thus a ``short-cut test of exemption . . .
would facilitate the administration of the regulations without
defeating the purposes of section 13(a)(1).'' \150\ Employees who met
only the lower long test salary level, and not the higher short test
salary level, were required to satisfy the long duties test, which
included a limit on the amount of nonexempt work that an exempt
employee could perform. The two-test system remained part of the
Department's regulations until 2004. In 1958, the Department reiterated
that salary is a ``mark of [the] status'' of an exempt employee and
reinforced the importance of salary as an enforcement tool, adding that
the Department had
[[Page 32863]]
``found no satisfactory substitute for the salary tests.'' \151\ To set
the salary levels, the Department considered data collected during 1955
WHD investigations on the ``actual salaries paid'' to employees who
``qualified for exemption'' (i.e., met the applicable salary and duties
tests in place at the time) and set the salary levels at $80 per week
for executives and $95 per week for administrative and professional
employees.\152\ The Department set the long test salary levels so that
only a limited number of employees performing EAP duties (about 10
percent) in the lowest-wage regions and industries would fail to meet
the new salary level and therefore become entitled to overtime
pay.\153\ In laying out this methodology, often referred to as the
``Kantor'' methodology and generally referenced in this rule as the
``long test'' methodology, the Department echoed its prior comments
stating that the salary tests ``simplify enforcement by providing a
ready method of screening out the obviously nonexempt employees.''
\154\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\149\ Weiss Report at 8, 14.
\150\ Id. at 22-23.
\151\ Kantor Report at 2-3.
\152\ Id. at 6, 9.
\153\ Id. at 6-7.
\154\ Id. at 2-3; see Weiss Report at 8.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department followed a similar methodology when determining the
appropriate long test salary level in 1963, using data regarding
salaries paid to exempt workers collected in a 1961 WHD survey.\155\
The salary level for executive and administrative employees was
increased to $100 per week, and the professional exemption salary level
was increased to $115 per week.\156\ The Department noted that these
salary levels approximated the methodology used in 1958 to set the long
test salary levels.\157\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\155\ 28 FR 7002 (July 9, 1963).
\156\ Id. at 7004.
\157\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department continued to use a similar methodology when it
updated the salary levels in 1970. After examining data from 1968 WHD
investigations, 1969 BLS wage data, and information provided in a
report issued by the Department in 1969 that included salary data for
executive, administrative, and professional employees,\158\ the
Department increased the long test salary level for executive and
administrative employees to $125 per week and increased the long test
salary level for professional employees to $140 per week.\159\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\158\ See 34 FR 9934, 9935 (June 24, 1969).
\159\ 35 FR 885.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1975, instead of following the previous long test methodology,
the Department set the long test salary levels ``slightly below'' the
amount suggested by adjusting the 1970 salary levels for inflation
based on increases in the Consumer Price Index.\160\ The long test
salary level for executive and administrative employees was set at
$155, while the professional level was set at $170. The salary levels
adopted were intended to be interim levels ``pending the completion and
analysis of a study by [BLS] covering a six-month period in 1975[,]''
and were not meant to set a precedent for future salary level
increases.\161\ The envisioned process was never completed, however,
and the ``interim'' salary levels remained unchanged for the next 29
years.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\160\ 40 FR 7091.
\161\ Id. at 7091-92.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The short test salary level increased in tandem with the long test
level throughout the various rulemakings between 1949 and 2004. Because
the short test was designed to capture only those white-collar
employees whose salary was high enough to indicate a stronger
likelihood of being employed in a bona fide EAP capacity and thus
warrant a less stringent duties requirement, the short test salary
level was always set significantly higher than the long test salary
level (approximately 130 percent to 180 percent of the long test
level).
When the Department updated the part 541 regulations in 2004, it
created a single standard test for exemption instead of retaining the
two-test system from prior rulemakings. The Department set the new
standard salary level at $455 per week and paired it with a duties test
that was substantially equivalent to the less rigorous short duties
test. The Department set a salary level that would exclude from
exemption roughly the bottom 20 percent of full-time salaried employees
in each of two subpopulations: (1) the South and (2) the retail
industry nationally. In setting the salary level the Department looked
to earnings data for all white-collar workers--exempt and nonexempt--
and looked to a higher percentile than the long test methodology (10th
percentile of exempt workers in low-wage industries and areas). The
Department acknowledged, however, that the salary arrived at by this
method was, at the time, equivalent to the salary derived from the long
test method using contemporaneous data.\162\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\162\ See 69 FR 22168. The 2004 rule looked to the 20th
percentile of a data set of all full-time salaried workers and the
long test methodology looked to the lowest paid 10 percent of exempt
salaried workers. The two methodologies resulted in equivalent
salary levels because exempt salaried workers generally have higher
earnings than nonexempt salaried workers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the 2016 rule, the Department set the standard salary level
equal to the 40th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census Region (the South). This resulted in
a standard salary level of $913 per week, which was at the low end of
the historic range of short test salary levels. The Department
explained that the increase in the standard salary level was needed
because, in moving from a two-test to a one-test system, the 2004 rule
exempted lower-salaried employees performing large amounts of nonexempt
work who had historically been, and should continue to be, covered by
the overtime compensation requirement.\163\ Since the standard duties
test was equivalent to the short duties test, the Department asserted
that a salary level in the short test salary range--traditionally 130
to 180 percent of the long test salary level--was necessary to address
this effect of the 2004 rule. As explained earlier, the U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of Texas held the 2016 rule invalid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\163\ 81 FR 32405.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the 2019 rule, the Department reapplied the methodology for
setting the standard salary threshold from the 2004 rule, setting the
salary level equal to the 20th percentile of weekly earnings of full-
time salaried workers in the South and/or in the retail sector
nationwide.\164\ This methodology addressed concerns that had been
raised that the 2016 methodology excluded too many employees from the
exemption based on their salary alone and produced the current standard
salary level of $684 per week (equivalent to $35,568 per year).\165\
Unlike in 2004, however, where the 20th percentile of weekly earnings
of full-time salaried workers in the South and retail nationally was
essentially the same as the long test, in 2019 this methodology now
produced a salary level amount that was lower than the equivalent of
the long test salary level using contemporaneous data ($724 per week,
$37,648 per year). Put another way, the salary level set in the 2019
rule was $40 per week below the long test level (used to validate the
salary level in the 2004 rule) and $292 per week below the low end of
the short test range (used to set the salary level in the 2016 rule).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\164\ See 84 FR 51260 (Table 4).
\165\ Id. at 51238.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Standard Salary Level Proposal
In its NPRM, the Department proposed to update the salary level by
setting it equal to the 35th percentile of earnings of full-time
salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census Region (the
[[Page 32864]]
South), resulting in a proposed salary level of $1,059 per week
($55,068 for a full-year worker). The Department's proposal explained
that fully restoring the salary level's screening function required
setting a salary level at least equal to the long test salary level.
The Department elaborated that prior to the 2019 rule (when the
Department set the salary level $40 per week below the long test
level), employees who earned below the long test salary level were
screened from the EAP exemption by virtue of their pay--either by the
long test salary level itself or, in the case of the 2004 rule, a
standard salary level set equal to the long test salary level. The
Department stated that the long test salary level provided what it
believed should be the lowest boundary of the new salary level
methodology because it would ensure the salary level's historic
screening function was restored.
In selecting the proposed salary level methodology, the Department
also considered the impact of its switch in 2004 to a one-test system
for determining exemption status. The Department explained that a
single-test system cannot fully replicate both the two-test system's
heightened protection for employees performing substantial amounts of
nonexempt work and its increased efficiency for determining exemption
status for employees who are highly likely to perform EAP duties.
Rather than reinstate the long duties test with its limitation on
nonexempt work, the Department examined earnings ventiles that would
produce a salary level between the long and short test salary levels
(which were, respectively, equivalent to between the 26th and 27th
percentiles, and the 53rd percentile, of full-time salaried worker
earnings in the lowest-wage Census Region). The Department explained
that the long and short tests had served as the foundation for nearly
all the Department's prior rulemakings, either directly under the two-
test system, or indirectly as a means of evaluating the Department's
salary level methodology under the one-test system, and therefore were
useful parameters. The Department concluded that setting the salary
level equal to the 35th percentile would, in combination with the
standard duties test, more effectively identify in a one-test system
who is employed in a bona fide EAP capacity in a manner that reasonably
distributes among employees earning between the long and short test
salary levels and their employers the impact of the Department's move
to a one-test system.
After reviewing the comments received, the Department is finalizing
its proposal to set the standard salary level equal to the 35th
percentile of full-time salaried worker earnings in the lowest-wage
Census Region (the South), which is below the midpoint of the long and
short test salary levels. Applying this methodology to data for
calendar year 2023 results in a salary level of $1,128 per week
($58,656 annually for a full-year worker). This approach will fully
restore the salary level's function of screening obviously nonexempt
workers from the EAP exemption, and account for the switch in the 2004
rule to a one-test system in a way that reasonably distributes the
impact of this shift among employees earning between the long and short
test salary levels and their employers. The resulting salary level will
work effectively with the standard duties test to better define who is
employed in a bona fide EAP capacity.
3. Salary Level Test Function and Effects
For 85 years, the Department's regulations have consistently looked
at both the duties performed by the employee and the salary paid by the
employer in defining and delimiting who is a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional employee exempt from the FLSA's minimum
wage and overtime protections. From 1949 to 2004, the Department
determined EAP exemption status using a two-test system comprised of a
long test (a lower salary level paired with a more rigorous duties test
that limited performance of nonexempt work to no more than 20 percent
for most employees) and a short test (a higher salary level paired with
a less rigorous duties test that looked to the employee's primary duty
and did not have a numerical limit on the amount of nonexempt work).
The two-test system facilitated the determination of whether white-
collar workers across the income spectrum were employed in a bona fide
EAP capacity, and employees who met either test could be classified as
EAP exempt.
In a two-test system, the long test salary level screens from the
exemption the lowest-paid white-collar employees, thereby ensuring
their right to overtime compensation. The Department has often referred
to many of the employees who are screened from the exemption by virtue
of their earning below the lower long test salary level as ```obviously
nonexempt employees[.]' '' \166\ The long test salary level helped
distinguish employees who were not employed in a bona fide EAP capacity
because the Department found that employees who were screened from
exemption by the long test salary level generally did not meet the
other requirements for exemption.\167\ Since 1958, the long test salary
level was generally set to exclude from exemption approximately the
lowest-paid 10 percent of salaried white-collar employees who performed
EAP duties in the lowest-wage regions and industries.\168\ The long
test salary level also served as a line delimiting the population of
white-collar employees for whom the duties test determined their
exemption status. In the two-test system, this duties analysis included
an examination of the amount of nonexempt work performed by lower-
salaried employees, which ensured that these employees were employed in
an EAP capacity by limiting the amount of time they could spend on
nonexempt work. The duties and salary level tests worked in tandem to
properly define and delimit the exemption: lower-paid workers had to
satisfy a more rigorous duties test with strict limits on nonexempt
work, and higher-paid employees were subject to a less rigorous duties
test because they were more likely to satisfy all the requirements of
the exemption (including the limit on nonexempt work).\169\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\166\ See id. at 51237 (quoting Kantor Report at 2-3).
\167\ See Kantor Report at 2-3; Weiss Report at 8 (``In an
overwhelming majority of cases, it has been found by careful
inspection that personnel who did not meet the salary requirements
would also not qualify under other sections of the
regulations[.]'').
\168\ See 84 FR 51236.
\169\ Weiss Report at 22-23.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because employees who met the short test salary level were paid
well above the long test salary level, the short test salary level did
not perform the same function as the long test salary level of
screening obviously nonexempt employees. Instead, the short test salary
level was used to determine whether the full duties test or the short-
cut duties test would be applied to determine EAP exemption status. The
exemption status of employees paid more than the long and less than the
short test salary levels was determined by applying the more rigorous
long duties test that ensured overtime protections for employees who
performed substantial amounts of nonexempt work. The exemption status
of employees paid at or above the higher short test salary level was
determined by the less rigorous short duties test that looked to the
employee's primary duty and did not cap the amount of nonexempt work an
employee could perform. The short test thus provided a faster and more
efficient duties test based on the Department's experience
[[Page 32865]]
that employees paid at the higher short test salary level ``almost
invariably'' met the more rigorous long duties test, including its 20
percent limit on nonexempt work, and therefore a shortened analysis of
duties was a more efficient test for exemption status.\170\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\170\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2004, rather than updating the two-test system, the Department
chose to establish a new, single-test system for determining exemption
status. The new single standard test for exemption used a duties test
that was substantially equivalent to the less rigorous short duties
test in the two-test system.\171\ Since the creation of the standard
test, the Department has taken two different approaches to set the
standard salary level that pairs with the standard duties test.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\171\ 69 FR 22214.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2004, as noted above, the Department set the new salary level
roughly equivalent to the 20th percentile of weekly earnings of full-
time salaried workers in the South and in the retail industry
nationwide.\172\ The Department acknowledged that the salary level
($455 per week) was, in fact, equivalent to the lower long test salary
level amount under the two-test system using contemporaneous data.\173\
Because it was equivalent to the long test salary level, the standard
salary test continued to perform the same initial screening function as
the long test salary level: employees who historically were entitled to
overtime compensation because they earned below the long test salary
level remained nonexempt under the new standard test.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\172\ See id. at 22168-69.
\173\ See id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Without a higher salary short test, however, all employees who met
the standard salary level were subject to the same duties test. Since
the single standard duties test was equivalent to the short duties
test, some employees who previously did not meet the long duties test
met the standard duties test. As a result, the shift from a two-test to
a one-test system significantly broadened the EAP exemption because
employees who historically had not been considered bona fide EAP
employees were now defined as falling within the exemption and would
not be eligible for overtime compensation. This broadening specifically
impacted lower-paid, salaried white-collar employees who earned between
the long and short test salary levels and performed substantial amounts
of nonexempt work. Under the two-test system, these employees had been
entitled to overtime compensation if their nonexempt duties exceeded
the long test's strict 20 percent limit on such work. Under the 2004
standard test, these employees became exempt because they met both the
low standard salary level and the less rigorous standard duties test,
which does not have a numerical limit on the amount of nonexempt work.
The Department's discussion of the elimination of the long duties
test in the 2004 rule focused primarily on the minimal role played by
the long test at that time due to the erosion of the long salary level,
and on the difficulties employers would face if they were again
required to track time spent on nonexempt work when the dormancy of the
long duties test meant that they had generally not been performing such
tracking for many years.\174\ While asserting that employees who were
then subject to the long test would be better protected under the
higher salary level of the new standard test, the Department in the
2004 rule did not compare the protection lower salaried employees would
receive under the standard test with the protection they would have
received under an updated long test with a salary level based on
contemporaneous data and the existing long duties test.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\174\ See 69 FR 22126-27.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
To address the concern that lower-salaried employees performing
large amounts of nonexempt work historically were not considered bona
fide EAP employees and thus should be entitled to overtime
compensation, in 2016 the Department set the standard salary level at
the 40th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in
the lowest-wage Census Region (the South). This methodology produced a
salary level ($913 per week) that was at the low end of the historical
range of short test salary levels, which had traditionally been paired
with the short duties test, and above the midpoint between the long and
short test salary levels.\175\ This approach restored overtime
protection for employees performing substantial amounts of nonexempt
work who earned between the long and short test salary levels, as they
failed the new salary level test. However, this approach generated
potential concerns that the salary level test should not be
determinative of exemption status for too many individuals.
Specifically, the 2016 rule's narrowing of the exemption prevented
employers from using the exemption for employees who earned between the
long test salary level and the low end of the short test salary range
and would have met the more rigorous long duties test. Prior to 2004,
employers could use the long test to exempt these employees, and under
the 2004 rule these employees remained exempt under the one-test
system. Thus, while the 2016 rule accounted for the absence of the long
duties test by restoring overtime protections to employees earning
between the long test salary level and the low end of the short test
salary range who perform significant amounts of nonexempt work, it also
made a group of employees who had been exempt under the two-test system
newly nonexempt under the one-test system: employees earning between
the long test level and the short test salary range who perform only
limited nonexempt work.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\175\ 81 FR 32405, 32467.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In its 2019 rule, the Department determined that the 2016 rule had
not sufficiently considered the impact of the increased standard salary
level on employers' ability to use the exemption for this group of
lower-paid employees who performed only limited amounts of nonexempt
work.\176\ The Department emphasized that ``[f]or most . . . employees
the exemption should turn on an analysis of their actual functions, not
their salaries,'' and that the 2016 rule's effect of making nonexempt
lower-paid, white-collar employees who traditionally were exempt under
the long test ``deviated from the Department's longstanding policy of
setting a salary level that does not `disqualify[] any substantial
number of' bona fide executive, administrative, and professional
employees from exemption.'' \177\ To address these concerns, the
Department simply returned to the 2004 rule's methodology for setting
the salary threshold. Applying the 2004 method to the earnings data
available in 2019 produced a standard salary level of $684 per week,
which was below the equivalent of what the long test salary level would
have been using contemporaneous data ($724 per week).\178\ The 2019
rule was the first time the Department paired the standard duties test
with a salary level that was not at least equivalent to the long test
level.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\176\ 84 FR 10908.
\177\ Id. (quoting Kantor Report at 5).
\178\ 84 FR 51260.
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The 2019 rule, like the 2004 rule, exempted all employees who
earned between the long and short test salary levels and performed too
much nonexempt work to meet the long duties test, but passed the
standard duties test (equivalent to the short duties test). The 2019
rule also for the first time permitted the exemption of a group of low-
paid white-collar employees (those
[[Page 32866]]
earning between $684 and $724 per week) who had always been protected
by the salary level test's initial screening function--either under the
long test or under the 2004 rule salary level that was equivalent to
the long test salary level. The Department stated that the standard
salary level's ``fairly small difference'' from the long test level did
not justify using the long test methodology to set the salary level and
emphasized that its approach preserved the salary level's principal
function as a tool for screening from exemption obviously nonexempt
employees.\179\ In response to commenter concerns about the 2019 rule
exempting employees who traditionally earned between the long and short
test salary levels and received overtime compensation because they did
not meet the long duties test, the Department cited the legal risks
posed by the 2016 methodology (drawing on the district court's
decisions as evidence) and explained that such employees were already
exempt in the years leading up to 2004 because the Department's
outdated salary levels had rendered the long test with its more
rigorous duties requirement largely dormant.\180\ As in the 2004 rule,
the Department did not address the protection such lower salaried
employees would have received had the Department updated the long test
using contemporary data.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\179\ Id. at 51244.
\180\ Id. at 51243.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As explained in the NPRM, the Department's experience with a one-
test system shows that it is less nuanced than the two-test system,
which allowed for finer calibration in defining and delimiting the EAP
exemption. In a two-test system, there are four variables (two salary
levels and two duties tests) that can be adjusted to define and delimit
the exemption. In a one-test system, there are only two variables (one
salary level and one duties test) that can be adjusted, necessarily
yielding less nuanced results. The loss in precision does not impact
the lowest-paid white-collar employees, who were screened from
exemption by the long test salary level, because they maintain their
right to overtime pay so long as the standard salary level is set at
least equivalent to the lower long test salary level--a condition that
was met by the 2004 rule's salary level but not by the 2019 rule's
salary level. Instead, the Department's experience shows that the shift
from a two-test system to a one-test system impacts employees earning
between the long and short test salary levels and, in turn, employers'
ability to use the exemption for these employees.
In the two-test system, employees who earned between the long and
short test salary levels and performed large amounts of nonexempt work
were protected by the long duties test, while bona fide EAP employees
in that earnings range who performed only limited amounts of nonexempt
work were exempt. Meanwhile, the short test provided a time-saving
short-cut test for higher-earning employees who would almost invariably
pass the more rigorous, and thus more time consuming, long duties test.
But the more rigorous long duties test, with its limitation on the
amount of nonexempt work that could be performed, was always core to
the two-test system, with the higher short test salary level and less
rigorous short duties test serving as a time-saving mechanism for
employees who would likely have met the more rigorous long duties
test.\181\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\181\ Numerous employer organizations supported the Department's
decision in 2004 to move to a one-test system. See 69 FR 22126-27.
Commenters likewise opposed returning to the two-test structure in
the 2016 and 2019 rulemakings. See 84 FR 10905; 81 FR 32444.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As explained in the NPRM, one way in a one-test system to ensure
appropriate overtime protection to lower-salaried employees earning
between the long and short test salary levels who were historically
entitled to overtime compensation under the long test would be to
reinstate the long duties test with its limitation on nonexempt work. A
one-test system with a more rigorous duties test would appropriately
emphasize the important role of duties in determining exemption status.
However, the Department did not propose in this rulemaking to replace
the standard duties test with the long duties test or to return to a
two-test system with the long duties test. The Department has not had a
one-test system with a limit on nonexempt work other than from 1940 to
1949,\182\ when the Department replaced this approach with its two-test
system, and the two-test system was replaced 20 years ago. Returning to
the two-test system would eliminate the benefits of the current duties
test, including having a single test with which employers and employees
are familiar.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\182\ See 5 FR 4077.
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In light of these considerations, the Department's goal in this
rulemaking is not only to update the single standard salary level to
account for earnings growth since the 2019 rule through the use of the
updating mechanism, but also to build on the lessons learned in its
most recent rulemakings to more effectively define and delimit
employees employed in a bona fide EAP capacity. Consistent with its
broad authority under section 13(a)(1), the Department's aim is to have
a single salary level test that will work effectively with the standard
duties test to better define who is employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity and will both fully perform the salary level's initial
screening function and account for the change to a single-test system.
4. Discussion of Comments and Final Standard Salary Level
i. Overall Commenter Feedback
The Department received a significant number of comments in
response to its proposal to set the standard salary level equal to the
35th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers in the
lowest-wage Census Region. Numerous commenters supported the
Department's proposed salary level. Supporters included thousands of
individual employees, writing separately or as part of comment
campaigns, and many groups representing employees or employee
interests. See, e.g., American Association of Retired Persons (AARP);
AFSCME; AFT; NEA; Restaurant Opportunities Center United; United Auto
Workers Region 6; United Steelworkers; WorkMoney. Many other
commenters, including advocacy groups, academics, and State officials
also supported the Department's proposal. See, e.g., Administrative Law
Professors; CLASP; Coalition of Gender Justice and Civil Rights
Organizations; Coalition of State AGs; Common Good Iowa; EPI; The
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; National Partnership;
NWLC. A number of supportive commenters urged the Department to set a
higher salary level than the one it proposed. See, e.g., AFL-CIO;
Demos; Nichols Kaster; Sanford Heisler Sharp; SEIU; Winebrake &
Santillo, LLC (Winebrake & Santillo). A minority of employers,
including most notably a campaign of small business commenters, also
supported the proposed salary level. See, e.g., Business for a Fair
Minimum Wage; Dr. Bronners; Firespring; Small Business Majority. Some
members of Congress also commented in support of the proposed salary
level. See 19 Democratic Senators; 10 Democratic Representatives; U.S.
Representative Maxwell Frost (D-FL).
Commenters that supported increasing the salary level often
emphasized that the FLSA's minimum wage and overtime requirements are
fundamental employee protections, intended to spread employment to more
workers and provide extra
[[Page 32867]]
compensation (above the statutory minimum) to employees who work more
than 40 hours in a week. See, e.g., AARP; AFL-CIO; Coalition of State
AGs; NELA; NELP; Nichols Kaster; United Steelworkers. Some supportive
commenters, including Sanford Heisler Sharp, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid,
and Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, stressed that
the EAP exemption was premised in part on the expectation that exempt
employees received high salaries and other privileges to compensate for
their long hours of work and lack of FLSA protections. Other commenters
similarly stressed that the exemption is intended for employees who,
based on the nature of their work and their compensation, have
sufficient bargaining power not to need the Act's protections. See,
e.g., Business for a Fair Minimum Wage; CLASP; NELP; NWLC.
Supportive commenters often also emphasized that the salary level
test has an important and longstanding role in helping define which
employees are employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or
professional capacity. Some commenters, including AARP and NELA,
stressed that the salary level provides an important ``bright line''
test for helping determine exemption status, and NWLC similarly stated
that the salary level provides a ``clear, objective, and
straightforward'' test that is ``easy for employers to apply and for
employees to understand[.]'' NELP, quoting testimony from EPI at a 2015
Congressional hearing on this issue, stated that salary level tests
have been used since the Department's earliest part 541 regulations
because the `` `final and most effective check on the validity of the
claim for exemption is the payment of a salary commensurate with the
importance supposedly accorded the duties in question.' '' The
Coalition of State AGs stated that a salary level that is too low ``no
longer accurately delimits the boundaries of who is an EAP'' employee.
The vast majority of employers and commenters supporting employer
interests opposed the proposed salary level. As discussed in section
III, many employer representatives opposed any salary level increase
and urged the Department to withdraw its proposal. See, e.g., AHLA;
Americans for Prosperity; Chamber; CUPA-HR; FMI; NAM; National
Restaurant Association; Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association;
PPWO; Wisconsin Bankers Association. Some Members of Congress also
opposed the proposed salary level and urged that the proposal be
withdrawn. See 10 Republican Senators; 16 Republican Representatives;
U.S. Senator Mike Braun (R-IN). Some commenters opposed to the
proposal, writing separately or as part of comment campaigns, expressed
general opposition to the rule but did not specifically address what,
if any, salary level increase they would support in a final rule. See,
e.g., American Dental Association; Humane Society of Manatee County;
National Sporting Goods Association. Others that opposed or questioned
any salary level change stated, in the alternative, what method they
preferred if the Department updated the salary level in the final rule.
Most such commenters favored applying the methodology that the
Department used to set the salary level in its 2004 and 2019
rulemakings (the 20th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the South and in the retail industry nationally) or updating
for inflation the current salary level, which was set using that
methodology. See, e.g., ABC; CWC; NAM; National Restaurant Association.
A handful of employer commenters supported, or stated that they did not
oppose, an increase based on the 2004/2019 methodology (resulting in a
salary level of $822 per week based on data used in the NPRM), citing,
for example, that this approach promoted predictability, see RILA, and
accounted for regional and industry-specific differences, see YMCA. See
also, e.g., SHRM; WFCA. Others supported or suggested a salary level
that was higher, but below the Department's proposed level. See, e.g.,
American Society of Association Executives; Ho-Chunk, Inc.; University
System of Maryland.
Commenters that opposed the Department's proposal almost always
objected to the size and/or timing of the proposed salary level
increase rather than to the existence of the salary test itself. Most
employer commenters, whether favoring no increase or a smaller
increase, presumed the salary level test's continued existence and
lawfulness, with some, such as National Restaurant Association,
expressly referencing their support for the 2019 rule's salary level
increase. As discussed in detail below, many commenters acknowledged
the salary level's longstanding function of screening obviously
nonexempt employees from the exemption. See section V.B.4.ii. Other
commenters that opposed the proposal nonetheless cited benefits of
having a salary level test, including helping to ensure that the EAP
exemption is not abused, see, e.g., AASA/AESA/ASBO, Bellevue
University, and ``sav[ing] investigators and employers time by giving
them a quick, short-hand test[.]'' See National Restaurant Association.
APLU recognized ``DOL's mission and responsibility to update the Fair
Labor Standards Act overtime regulations and ensure a baseline of
protections for our nation's workers, including periodic updates to the
minimum salary threshold for overtime exemptions.'' In rather stark
contrast, AFPI asserted that employee ``[c]ompensation is no more
helpful than would be a dress code test'' in determining exemption
status. AFPI was one of only a small number of commenters, as
previously discussed in section V.A.1, that asserted the Department
lacks authority under section 13(a)(1) to adopt a salary level test.
See, e.g., Job Creators Network Foundation; NFIB; Pacific Legal
Foundation.
As the Department stated in its 2019 rule, an employee's salary
level ``is a helpful indicator of the capacity in which an employee is
employed, especially among lower-paid employees.'' \183\ The amount an
employee is paid is also a ``valuable and easily applied index to the
`bona fide' character of employment for which exemption is claimed,''
as well as the principal ``delimiting requirement . . . prevent[ing]
abuse'' of the exemption.\184\ As the Department has explained, if an
employee ``is of sufficient importance . . . to be classified'' as a
bona fide executive employee, for example, and ``thereby exempt from
the protection of the [A]ct, the best single test of the employer's
good faith in attributing importance to the employee's services is the
amount [it] pays for them.'' \185\ Employee compensation is a relevant
indicator of exemption status given that, as many commenters observed,
the EAP exemption is premised on the understanding that individuals who
are employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional
capacity typically earn higher salaries and enjoy other privileges to
compensate them for their long hours of work, setting them apart from
nonexempt employees entitled to overtime pay.\186\
[[Page 32868]]
Accordingly, the Department agrees with the overwhelming majority of
commenters that, explicitly or implicitly, supported the salary level
continuing to have a role in helping determine whether employees are
employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional
capacity.\187\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\183\ 84 FR 51239 (internal quotation marks omitted).
\184\ Stein Report at 19, 24; see also 81 FR 32422.
\185\ Stein Report at 19; see also id. at 26 (``[A] salary
criterion constitutes the best and most easily applied test of the
employer's good faith in claiming that the person whose exemption is
desired is actually of such importance to the firm that he is
properly describable as an employee employed in a bona fide
administrative capacity.'').
\186\ See Report of the Minimum Wage Study Commission, Vol. IV,
at 236, 240; see also, e.g., Stein Report at 19 (explaining that the
``term `executive' implies a certain prestige, status, and
importance'' denoted by pay ``substantially higher than'' the
federal minimum wage).
\187\ Consistent with its longstanding practice, the Department
declines requests from commenters, including Defiance College,
International Bancshares Corporation, Rachel Greszler, and WFCA,
that suggested the Department adopt multiple salary level tests for
different regions, industries, and/or small businesses, rather than
a single salary level that applies to all entities nationwide. See
84 FR 51239; 81 FR 32411; 69 FR 22171.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department nonetheless recognizes that commenters had a wide
range of views about the salary level test and that no salary level
methodology can satisfy all stakeholders. As discussed below, competing
commenter views were often grounded in differing opinions about the
salary level test's role in defining the EAP exemption. Broadly
speaking, commenters that opposed the proposal generally favored a far
more limited role for the salary level test and emphasized perceived
negative effects on employers of the proposed increase, while
commenters that supported the proposal or urged the Department to set a
higher salary level often deemed the proposal modest by historical
standards and emphasized perceived positive effects on employees of the
proposed increase. Against this backdrop, the Department has reviewed
the comments received on its proposed methodology, with particular
focus on feedback on the NPRM's rationale that the proposed methodology
will better define and delimit the EAP exemption by fully restoring the
salary level's screening function and accounting for the switch from a
two-test to a one-test system.
ii. Fully Restoring the Salary Level's Screening Function
Some employer advocates that opposed the Department's proposal
emphasized the salary level's limited function of screening obviously
nonexempt employees from the EAP exemption. See, e.g., Independent
Community Bankers of America; IFDA; National Council of Farmer
Cooperatives (NCFC); SHRM. Many employer representatives stated that
the proposed salary level exceeded this purpose by excluding from the
exemption too many employees who pass the duties test, particularly in
low-wage regions and industries. See, e.g., Chamber; NAW; PPWO; RILA;
Seyfarth Shaw. AFPI quoted the statement in the Department's 2019 rule
that any salary level increase must ``have as its primary objective the
drawing of a line separating exempt from nonexempt'' employees, and the
Chamber asserted that to the extent employee ``protection or fairness''
concerns motivated the proposed increase, such considerations exceed
the Department's statutory authority.
Employer representatives that focused on the salary level's
screening function often contrasted the Department's proposal with
prior rules that they stated met this objective. CWC referenced the
Department's 1958 and 2004 rules as such examples, while AHLA stated
more broadly that the Department historically set a salary level that
was ``intentionally low'' to screen out nonexempt employees, and that
the Department's proposed methodology ``is objectively not the low end
of the salary range as that has been understood since 2004[.]'' Other
commenters similarly cited the 2004 and 2019 rules as fulfilling the
salary level test's screening function, with National Restaurant
Association, for example, emphasizing the salary level's screening
function when explaining that the ``2004 methodology's chief virtue is
its consistency with historical practice.'' See also, e.g., Bellevue
University. Some commenters, including NCFC and PPWO, stated that the
proposed salary level would change the salary level from a ``screening
device'' to a ``de facto sole test'' for exemption, while others
cautioned that the salary level set in the 2016 rule was declared
invalid for exceeding this screening function. See also, e.g., Argentum
& ASHA; NAM.
Though some employee representatives addressed the salary level's
screening function, they generally emphasized other considerations that
they believed justified setting a salary level equal to or higher than
what the Department proposed. A number of commenters stated that, along
with the duties test, the salary level ``is intended to set a guardrail
so that employers do not incorrectly classify lower-paid salaried
employees as'' exempt. See, e.g., AFSCME; Family Values @ Work; North
Carolina Justice Center; United Steelworkers; Yezbak Law Offices.
Similarly alluding to the salary level's screening function, AFL-CIO
emphasized that until 2019 the Department had never set the salary
level below the long test level and that as a result more than half of
the employees affected by the proposed salary level would have been
nonexempt under every prior rule (because they earned below the long
test or long test-equivalent salary level). EPI similarly stated that
the 2019 rule set a salary level ``that was even lower than what the
long-test methodology would have yielded.'' See also Coalition of State
AGs (referencing the salary level's screening function).
The Department has considered commenter feedback about the salary
level test's screening function. The Department agrees with all
commenters that emphasized the salary level test's function of
screening obviously nonexempt employees from the exemption, a principle
that, as the Department observed in the 2019 rule and in the NPRM,
``has been at the heart of the Department's interpretation of the EAP
exemption for over 75 years.'' \188\ Fully effectuating the salary
level's screening function is a key part of ensuring that the salary
level sets an appropriate dividing line separating exempt and nonexempt
employees. In response to the Chamber's concern about the motivations
underlying the proposed salary level, the Department notes that while
its proposal protects employees and promotes fairness (by helping
ensure that only employees employed in a bona fide executive,
administrative, or professional capacity are deprived of the FLSA's
minimum wage and overtime protections), these beneficial effects are a
byproduct of any higher salary level, not a basis for the proposed
salary level.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\188\ 88 FR 62165 (citing 84 FR 51241).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the Department explained in its NPRM, the concept of the salary
level's screening function dates back to the two-test system, when the
lower long test salary level provided ``a ready method of screening out
the obviously nonexempt employees, making an analysis of duties in such
cases unnecessary.'' \189\ When the Department updated the long test in
1958, it reaffirmed the long test salary's function as a screening
tool.\190\ When the Department moved to a one-test system in 2004, the
standard salary test had to perform the initial screening function that
the long test salary level performed in the two-test system. In the
2004 rule, the Department reaffirmed its historical statements
emphasizing the salary level's critical screening function and, most
significantly, used the long test salary level methodology to validate
its new salary level of $455 per week.\191\ The Department stressed in
its final rule that both the 2004 rule standard salary level
methodology and the long test salary level methodology ``are capable of
[[Page 32869]]
reaching exactly the same endpoint'' and demonstrated that the two
methods, in fact, produced equivalent salary levels using
contemporaneous data.\192\ By setting a salary level equivalent to the
long test level, the Department ensured that employees earning at
levels that would have entitled them to overtime compensation under the
two-test system because they earned below the long test salary level
remained screened from the exemption by the new standard salary test,
regardless of whether they met the less rigorous standard duties test.
The Department rejected requests from commenters that supported a
salary level that was $30 to $95 lower than the level the Department
ultimately adopted,\193\ thus maintaining the historic screening
function by declining to set a salary level lower than the long test
level.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\189\ Weiss Report at 8.
\190\ Kantor Report at 2-3.
\191\ 69 FR 22165-22166.
\192\ See id. at 22167-71 (showing that for all full-time
salaried employees, $455 in weekly earnings corresponded to just
over the 20th percentile in the South and the 20th percentile in
retail, and that for employees performing EAP duties, $455 in weekly
earnings corresponded to just over the 8th percentile in the South
and the 10th percentile in retail). AFPI commented that in the 2003
NPRM the Department ``acknowledged that `equivalency to either the
current long or short test salary levels is not appropriate' because
of the switch to a one-test system.'' (quoting 68 FR 15560, 11570
(Mar. 31, 2003)). However, the Department shifted in its final rule
and validated its chosen methodology using the long test salary
level.
\193\ See 69 FR 22164.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In its 2019 rule, the Department reemphasized the salary level's
screening function.\194\ The Department distinguished the 2016 rule,
which was invalidated because it `` `untethered the salary level test
from its historical justification' of `[s]etting a dividing line
between nonexempt and potentially exempt employees' by screening out
only those employees who, based on their compensation level, are
unlikely to be bona fide executive, administrative, or professional
employees.'' \195\ In contrast, the Department explained, reapplying
the 2004 methodology to contemporaneous data was likely to pass muster
because the district court that invalidated the 2016 rule ``endorsed
the Department's historical approach to setting the salary level'' and
``explained that setting `the minimum salary level as a floor to
screen[ ] out the obviously nonexempt employees' is `consistent with
Congress's intent.' '' \196\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\194\ 84 FR 51237.
\195\ Id. at 51231 (quoting 84 FR 10901).
\196\ Id. at 51241 (quoting 275 F. Supp.3d at 806).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In its NPRM, the Department explained that it needed to set a
salary level at least equal to the long test--$925 per week, equating
to between the 26th and 27th percentiles of weekly earnings of full-
time salaried workers in the South--to fully restore the salary level's
screening function. As noted above, employer commenters that emphasized
the salary level's screening function generally viewed this function
(which they often construed narrowly) as a justification for limiting
the size of any potential salary increase. However, such commenters did
not directly address the NPRM's explanation of the long test salary
level's key role in the salary level's screening function or the
relationship between the 2004/2019 methodology and the long test. Other
commenters that endorsed the screening function as embodied in the 2004
rule did not grapple with the fact that in the 2019 rule, that
methodology did not fully fulfill that function because it no longer
arrived at the same endpoint as prior rules (i.e., a long test or long-
test equivalent salary level).
The Department's position remains that a core function of the
salary level test is to screen from the EAP exemption employees who,
based on their low pay, should receive the FLSA's overtime protections.
For decades under the Department's two-test system, the long test
salary level performed this screening function. In the 2004 rule, the
Department used a different approach to reach the same outcome--setting
a single salary level test that was equivalent to, and thus set the
same line of demarcation as, the long test salary level. The Department
deviated from this approach in 2019, setting a salary level that was
$40 per week below the level produced using the long test
methodology.\197\ In doing so, the Department for the first time
expanded the exemption to include employees who were paid below the
equivalent of the long test salary level.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\197\ Id. at 51244.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department reaffirms its position stated in the NPRM that the
salary level test must equal at least the long test salary level in
order to fulfill its historical screening function. From 1938 to 2019,
all salaried white-collar employees paid below the long test salary
level were entitled to the FLSA's protections, regardless of the duties
they performed. This was true from 1938 to 1949 under the salary level
test that became the long test; \198\ from 1949 to 2004 under the long
test; and from 2004 to 2019 under the standard salary level test that
was set equivalent to the long test level--a key fact that commenters
that opposed the Department's proposal generally did not address.
Setting the salary level below the long test level as was done in the
2019 rule--because the 2004 methodology no longer matched the long test
salary level based on contemporaneous data--departed from this history
by enlarging the exemption to newly include employees who earned less
than the long test salary level. As an initial step, the new salary
level methodology must fully restore the salary level's screening
function by ensuring that employees who were nonexempt because they
earned less than the long test or long test-equivalent salary level are
also nonexempt under the standard test. Achieving this objective
requires a standard salary level amount at least equal to the long test
level ($942 per week using current data, which equates to approximately
the 25th percentile of full-time salaried worker earnings in the
South).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\198\ During this period the Department used a one-test system
that paired a lower salary level with a more rigorous duties test.
See, e.g., 5 FR 4077.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As discussed in section V.B.5.iii, fully restoring the salary
level's screening function would affect 1.8 million employees. These
are currently exempt employees who earn between $684 (the current
salary level) and $942 per week (the long test level calculated using
current data) and would become nonexempt absent intervening action by
their employers. In every rule prior to 2019, employees who earned
below the long test or long-test equivalent salary level have always
been excluded from the exemption based on their salary alone--even if
they passed the standard duties test or (prior to 2004) the more
rigorous long duties test. The Department's approach does not, as
commenters asserted, create an impermissible ``de facto'' salary-only
test or make nonexempt too many employees who pass the duties test, and
is compatible with the district court decision's emphasis on the salary
level test's historic screening function.\199\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\199\ The district court was principally concerned with the 2016
rule exceeding the salary level's screening function and making too
many employees nonexempt based on salary alone. See Nevada 275
F.Supp.3d at 806 & n.6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
iii. Accounting for the Shift to a One-Test System
In addition to fully restoring the salary level test's screening
function, the Department's proposed salary level methodology also
accounted for the shift from a two-test to a one-test system for
determining who is employed in a bona fide executive, administrative,
or professional capacity. Commenters that supported the proposed salary
level and specifically addressed this rationale agreed with it. A group
of Administrative Law Professors stated that the Department's move to a
one-test system in 2004 ``significantly expanded the number of
relatively low-income
[[Page 32870]]
workers who might fall within the exemption . . . despite engaging in
substantial nonexempt work[,]'' and concluded that the Department's
proposal was ``reasonably geared'' to restoring nonexempt status to
this class of workers. The Coalition of State AGs similarly stated that
the proposal ``does more to take into account the shift to a one-test
system in 2004 and establishes more of a middle ground between . . .
the previous short- and long-test methodologies.'' They elaborated that
``the balance struck is a more appropriate one'' because most salaried
white-collar employees paid less than the proposed standard salary
level do not meet the duties test, whereas a substantial majority of
salaried white-collar employees earning above the proposed standard
salary level meet the duties test. Some commenters asserted that this
aspect of the Department's rationale supported setting a salary level
higher than proposed. For example, AFL-CIO stated that the proposed
salary level captures only ``a portion of workers who have been wrongly
excluded from nonexempt status since the 2004 elimination of the long
and short test in favor of a single test,'' and Sanford Heisler Sharp
stated that the proposal ``does not go far enough towards meeting [the]
goal'' of ```ensur[ing] that fewer white-collar employees who perform
significant amounts of nonexempt work and earn between the long and
short test salary levels are included in the exemption.' '' \200\ NELA
similarly urged the Department to adopt its 2016 methodology to more
fully account for the shift to a one-test system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\200\ Quoting 88 FR at 62158.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Employer commenters that directly addressed the shift to a one-test
system generally rejected the premise that any adjustment for this
change was warranted or appropriate. Some commenters emphasized that
the long test's limit on nonexempt work became inoperative in 1991 and/
or that the Department fully accounted for the move to the standard
duties test in its 2004 rule. See Bellevue University; Chamber; NAM;
RILA. The National Association of Convenience Stores, which likewise
emphasized that the short and long tests have not existed since 2004,
stated that to ``the extent the two-test system still has any limited
relevancy to the current inquiry, it is that the salary level should be
closer to what the pre-2004 long test would have produced'' rather than
``to what the pre-2004 `short' test would have produced'' today. AFPI
asserted that ``[a]ny salary level that excludes employees who are not
`obviously nonexempt' is invalid[,]'' that the long test salary level
is a ``made-up concept[,]'' and that the `` `long test' and the `short
test' are terms [that have not been] considered since the Department's
regulatory changes in 2004 . . . [and] should have no place in
determining an appropriate increase to the minimum salary level for
exemption today.'' \201\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\201\ NRF included an Oxford Economics report that questioned
the Department's long test figure ($925 per week), and, observing
that the long test methodology varied over time, stated that a
``more reasonable'' approach for replicating the long test would be
to adjust the 1975 long test level for inflation (which it concluded
would result in a salary level of $843 per week in 2022 dollars).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department agrees with commenters that supported the NPRM's
objective of updating the salary level in part to account for the move
to a one-test system. As previously explained in detail in the NPRM and
in section V.B.3 of this preamble, the Department traditionally
considered employees earning between the long and short test salary
levels to be employed in a bona fide EAP capacity only if they were not
performing substantial amounts of nonexempt work. With the adoption of
a duties test based on the less rigorous short duties test, the shift
to a single-test system significantly decreased the examination of the
amount of nonexempt work employees performed. Following this shift, the
Department has taken two approaches to setting the salary level to pair
with the standard duties test. The approach taken in the 2004 rule
permitted the exemption of all employees earning above the long test
salary level who met the standard duties test--including many employees
who performed substantial amounts of nonexempt work and traditionally
were protected by the long duties test. The approach taken in the 2016
rule was challenged and criticized as making employees earning between
the long test salary level and the low end of the short test salary
range nonexempt--including employees who performed very little
nonexempt work and would have been exempt under the long duties test.
The Department recognizes that a single-test system cannot fully
replicate both the two-test system's heightened protection for
employees performing substantial amounts of nonexempt work and its
increased efficiency for determining exemption status for employees who
are highly likely to perform EAP duties. Inevitably, any attempt to
pair a single salary level with the current duties test will result in
some employees who perform substantial amounts of nonexempt work being
exempt, and some employees who perform almost exclusively exempt work
being nonexempt.\202\ But such a result is inherent in setting any
salary level. The Department continues to believe that it can better
identify which employees are employed in a bona fide EAP capacity by,
in combination with the current duties test, using a salary level
methodology that accounts for the shift to a one-test system, and that
doing so will both restore overtime eligibility for many individuals
who perform substantial amounts of nonexempt work and historically
would have been protected by the long duties test, and address
potential concerns that the salary level test should not be
determinative of exemption status for too many individuals. Such a
salary level will also more reasonably distribute between employees and
their employers what the Department now understands to be the impact of
the shift to a one-test system on employees earning between the long
and short test salary levels.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\202\ See Stein Report at 6 (``In some instances the rate
selected will inevitably deny exemption to a few employees who might
not unreasonably be exempted, but, conversely, in other instances it
will undoubtedly permit the exemption of some persons who should
properly be entitled to benefits of the act.'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department disagrees with commenters that disputed this aspect
of the NPRM based on their view that the only valid salary level
function is to screen from exemption obviously nonexempt employees.
Section 13(a)(1)'s broad grant of statutory authority for the
Department to define and delimit the EAP exemption provides the
Department a degree of latitude in determining an appropriate salary
level for identifying individuals who are employed in a bona fide EAP
capacity. As discussed in section V.B.3, for decades, the short test
salary level did not perform a screening function, but rather was used
to determine whether the full duties test or the short-cut duties test
would be applied to determine EAP exemption status. In a one-test
system, the Department can change the duties test, the salary level, or
both, to ensure that the test for exemption appropriately distinguishes
bona fide EAP employees from nonexempt workers. As discussed at length
in the NPRM,\203\ while acknowledging that it could lessen the salary
level test's role by returning to a duties test that explicitly limited
the amount of nonexempt work that could be performed, the Department
ultimately declined to propose changes
[[Page 32871]]
to the duties test in this rulemaking. Given that decision, it is
appropriate for the Department to choose to better define the EAP
exemption by accounting for the shift to a one-test system, and to
select a salary level methodology that excludes from exemption some
employees who historically were nonexempt because of the more rigorous
long duties test. The 2004 and 2019 rules' significant broadening of
the statutory exemption (a fact employer commenters generally did not
address) to permit all salaried employees earning between the long and
short tests who passed the standard duties test to be exempt was not
unlawful, but it leaves room for refinement. Section 13(a)(1) does not
require the Department to forever maintain the regulatory choice it
made 20 years ago to pair the current duties test with a salary level
that places the entire burden of the move to a one-test system on
employees who historically were entitled to the FLSA's overtime
protection because they performed substantial amounts of nonexempt work
and earned between the long and short test salary levels.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\203\ 88 FR 62164-65. Although some commenters addressed changes
to the duties test, see, e.g., AFL-CIO, AHLA, NELA, FMI, such
changes are beyond the scope of the current rulemaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department continues to believe that the long and short tests
provide useful parameters for determining the new salary level test
methodology in this rulemaking. The Department disagrees with AFPI that
variations in the long test methodology render it a ``made-up concept''
or that the long and short tests have ``no place'' in determining the
new salary level. The long test salary level has played a crucial role
in defining the EAP exemption for the better part of a century, either
directly under the two-test system or indirectly under the one-test
system. As the Department explained in detail in its 2004 rule, the
long test salary level ``regulatory history reveals a common
methodology used, with some variations, to determine appropriate salary
levels[,]'' and (with the exception of the 1975 rule) beginning in 1958
``the Department set the [long test] salary levels to exclude
approximately the lowest-paid 10 percent of exempt salaried employees''
in low-wage areas and industries.\204\ The Department ``[u]se[d] this
regulatory history as guidance'' in its 2003 NPRM and, most
importantly, validated its chosen methodology in the 2004 rule by
showing that it produced the same salary level as the long test
methodology--a critical fact employer representatives generally did not
address in their comments.\205\ While the Department agrees with AFPI
and the Oxford Economics report that the data set used to set the long
test salary level was not exactly the same in each regulatory update,
just as in 2004, minor historical variations do not deprive the long
test of its usefulness in helping determine an appropriate salary level
now. The Oxford Economics report's suggestion to calculate the long
test by updating the 1975 long test salary level for inflation would
not faithfully replicate the long test because it would produce a
salary level below the 10th percentile of exempt workers in low-wage
regions and industries and would conflict with the Department's
historical practice of avoiding the use of inflation indicators in
updating the salary level.\206\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\204\ 69 FR 22166.
\205\ See id. at 22166-70; see also section V.B.3.
\206\ See, e.g., 84 FR 51245; 69 FR 22167.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department also disagrees with commenters who asserted that no
adjustment is needed to account for the shift to a one-test system
because the long test became largely dormant in 1991. In the 2004 rule,
the Department acknowledged this dormancy resulting from its outdated
salary levels and asserted that employees who were then subject to the
long test would be better protected under the higher salary level of
the new standard test.\207\ But as previously explained, section V.B.3,
in the 2004 rule the Department did not compare the overtime protection
lower-salaried employees would receive under the standard test with the
protection they would have received had the Department updated the long
test with a salary level based on contemporaneous data and kept the
existing long duties test. Instead, the Department's discussion of the
elimination of the long duties test in the 2004 rule focused primarily
on the minimal role played by the long test at that time due to the
erosion of the long salary level, and on the difficulties employers
would face if they were again required to track time spent on nonexempt
work when the dormancy of the long duties test meant that they had
generally not been performing such tracking for many years.\208\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\207\ See 69 FR 22126.
\208\ See id. at 22126-27.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department also disagrees with commenters that asserted that
the 2004 rule fully accounted for the move to the standard duties test.
Because the 2004 rule did not fully account for the lessened overtime
protection for employees who would have been nonexempt under an updated
long test (as just described), it created a group of employees with
lessened protection under the standard test--those who earned between
the long and short test salary levels. These employees were
traditionally nonexempt because they failed the long duties test, but
were exempt under the 2004 rule because they passed the more lenient
standard duties test.\209\ By setting the standard salary level
equivalent to the long test salary, the 2004 rule in effect created a
group of employees who bore the impact of the change from the two-test
to the one-test system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\209\ The Chamber asserted that the Department's decision to
adjust the salary level to account for the shift to a one-test
system ``fails to appreciate the continued importance of the
`primary duty' principles, the application of which includes an
analysis of non-exempt work performed and its relation to the
employee's exempt work.'' Although the Chamber is correct that the
standard duties test accounts for nonexempt work, it does so in a
less rigorous manner than the long duties test, resulting in some
lower-paid white-collar employees who pass the standard duties test
but (due to their nonexempt work) would have failed the long duties
test.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
iv. Selecting the Salary Level Methodology
In its NPRM, the Department explained that fully restoring the
salary level's screening function and accounting for the move to a one-
test system supported setting the salary level at the 35th percentile
of full-time salaried worker earnings in the lowest-wage Census Region
(the South)--resulting in a proposed salary level of $1,059 per week.
Commenters provided competing views on this proposed increase.
Employers and employer representatives that opposed the proposed salary
level often characterized it as ``too much, too soon''--stating that an
increase of 54.8 percent (or 69.3 percent, based on the $60,209
projected salary level figure included in footnote 3 of the NPRM) \210\
less than 4 years after the most recent increase was unnecessary and
unprecedented. See, e.g., Air Conditioning Contractors of America;
Americans for Prosperity; Joint Comment from Argentum and American
Seniors Housing Association; CUPA-HR; International Sign Association;
NRF. Some commenters, including American Association of Community
Colleges and Associated Builders and Contractors, observed that, by
contrast, prior salary level updates have ranged from 5 to 50 percent,
and others commented that the proposed increase greatly exceeded the
rate of inflation since the 2019 rule, see Independent Community
Bankers of America, Ohio
[[Page 32872]]
Township Association. Many employer organizations asserted that the
Department was trying to resurrect a methodology akin to the
invalidated 2016 rule and that, like that rule, the proposed salary
level (which many stressed is a higher dollar figure than the level set
in the 2016 rule) would unlawfully supplant the duties test. See, e.g.,
Americans for Prosperity; National Restaurant Association; PPWO.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\210\ Several commenters criticized the Department for providing
projected salary level figures in footnote 3. See, e.g., PPWO; NRF.
NAM stated that footnote 3 was ``inconsistent'' with the
Administrative Procedure Act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commenters that opposed the proposed salary level were particularly
concerned about the impact of this change on specific industries and on
businesses in low-wage regions. Some commenters, such as the American
Outdoors Association, CUPA-HR, NAHB, and SHRM, provided information
from internal surveys to support how the proposal would negatively
affect their members. SBA Advocacy similarly summarized concerns
received from small businesses. See also, e.g., NFIB. Some commenters
emphasized the proposal's impact on particular occupations in their
industries, including first-line supervisors, see, e.g., AHLA, NAHB,
and entry-level managers, see, e.g., NAM, NRF. Emphasizing the proposed
salary level's geographic impact, National Restaurant Association and
PPWO warned that the proposal would exclude from exemption a high
percentage of employees who pass the duties test in lower-wage regions,
and could result in employees in the same job classification being
treated differently based on where they live. A number of educational
institutions opposed the proposed increase due to cost-related concerns
specific to the educational sector. See, e.g., American Association of
Community Colleges; Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities of Ohio; National Association of Independent Colleges and
Universities. The National Association of Counties raised similar
concerns about the impact of the increased salary level on local
governments. Nonprofit sector feedback was more mixed, with the
National Council of Nonprofits characterizing the industry response as
one of ``moral support'' and ``operational anxiety.'' Some nonprofit
organizations opposed the proposal, see, e.g., Children's Alliance of
Kentucky, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG), some
supported it, see, e.g., CLASP, Justice at Work, and some agreed with
the Department's intent but raised cost and other concerns, see, e.g.,
Catholic Charities, Open Roads Bike Program.
Commenters had different suggestions for how the Department should
account for such regional and industry-specific differences. For
example, RILA urged the Department to include the retail industry in
its data set, AFPI suggested setting the salary level equal to the 20th
percentile of non-hourly employee earnings in the ten lowest-wage
states, and Seyfarth Shaw recommended using the East South Central
Census Division. The Chamber asked the Department to focus on data from
the lowest-wage types of entities (such as small businesses, small
nonprofits or small public employers), in the lowest-wage industries,
in rural areas, in the lowest-wage Census Region. The Chamber and
National Association of Convenience Stores favored excluding nonexempt
workers from the data set (and using a lower earnings percentile) and
questioned the Department's use of Current Population Survey (CPS)
Merged Outgoing Rotation Group (MORG) data for nonhourly earnings for
full-time workers as a proxy for salaried worker earnings.
Commenters that supported increasing the salary level viewed the
Department's proposal very differently than employer representatives.
Whereas many employer representatives focused on specific regions or
industries to assert that the proposed salary level was too high,
supportive commenters focused on the national impact to assert that the
salary level was appropriate or too low. Many supportive commenters
considered it ``modest.'' See, e.g., AFSCME; CLASP; Family Caregiving
Coalition; National Partnership. Others stated that the salary level
``could have reasonably been significantly higher and still within
historical precedent.'' See, e.g., Common Good Iowa; Jobs to Move
America; Louisiana Budget Project; Maine Center for Economic Policy;
North Carolina Justice Center. The statistic most often cited to
support that the proposal was conservative by historical standards was
that whereas 62.8 percent of full-time salaried workers earned less
than the short test salary level in 1975, 28.2 percent of full-time
salaried workers earned less than the proposed standard salary level
(and several of these commenters noted that only approximately 9
percent earned less than the current salary level). See, e.g., EPI;
National Center for Law and Economic Justice; Worker Justice Center of
New York; Workplace Justice Project. AFL-CIO and others highlighted
that the proposed salary level was 19 percent lower than the inflation-
adjusted value of the 1975 short test salary level, and EPI stated
that, on average, the proposed salary level was 16 percent lower than
inflation-adjusted short test salary levels set from 1949 and 1975.
Some supportive commenters stressed that a significant salary level
increase was needed in part to account for the 2004 rule's elimination
of the long duties test, see, e.g., EPI, NELP, while NWLC stated that
the proposed methodology would ``not eclipse the role of the duties
test'' and instead would ``restore[] a reasonable balance between the
strength of the duties test and the height of the salary threshold.''
Some commenters advocated for a much higher salary level than the
Department proposed, and a number of commenters specifically proposed
alternate methodologies for the Department to adopt in the final rule.
For example, NELA stated that the proposed level was ``too low from a
historical perspective'' and, favoring ``[b]older federal action[,]''
asked the Department to (like in the 2016 rule) set the salary level
equal to the 40th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried
workers in the lowest-wage Census Region (which would produce a salary
level of $1,196 per week based on the data used in this final rule).
Winebrake & Santillo similarly favored a return to that methodology.
AFL-CIO supported setting the salary level higher--at the historical
average short test salary level (which would result in a salary level
of $1,404 per week based on current data). Other commenters sought a
salary level that they stated would exclude from exemption the same
proportion of full-time salaried workers as under the 1975 salary level
test. For example, Demos urged the Department to set the salary level
at the 55th percentile of weekly earnings of full-time salaried workers
nationwide to meet this ``high-water'' mark, and Nick Hanauer supported
a salary level of at least $83,000 to ``restore the overtime
threshold'' to a time ``when the American middle class was
strongest[.]'' Commenters that sought a higher salary level than the
Department proposed often expressed their disagreement with the
district court's decision invalidating the 2016 rule. See, e.g., NELA;
Sanford Heisler Sharp; Winebrake & Santillo.
After considering the comments received, the Department is
finalizing the salary level methodology as proposed, setting it equal
to the 35th percentile of full-time salaried worker earnings in the
lowest-wage Census Region (the South)--which produces a salary level of
$1,128 per week using calendar year 2023 data. Consistent with the
Department's responsibility to ``not only . . . determin[e] which
employees are entitled to the exemption, but also [to] draw[] the line
beyond which the
[[Page 32873]]
exemption is not applicable[,]'' \211\ this salary level will, in
combination with the standard duties test, effectively calibrate the
scope of the exemption for bona fide EAP employees and do so in a way
that distributes across the population of white-collar employees
earning between the long and short test salary levels the impact of the
shift to a one-test system. As previously discussed, updating the
salary level for wage growth since the 2019 rule produces a salary
level of $844 per week, and fully restoring the salary level's historic
screening function would result in a salary level of $942 per week,
equivalent to the 25th percentile of full-time salaried worker earning
in the South (i.e., the long test level). Accordingly, the increase
from the 25th percentile to the 35th percentile is to account for the
shift to a one-test system.\212\ The Department set the standard salary
level at (or below) the long test level in the 2004 and 2019 rules and
set it at the low end of the historic range of short test salary levels
in the 2016 rule. Setting the salary level at either the long test
salary level or equivalent to a short test salary level in a one-test
system with the standard duties test, however, results in either
denying overtime protection to lower-paid employees who are performing
large amounts of nonexempt work, and thus, would have been exempt under
the Department's historical view of the EAP exemption, or in raising
concerns that the salary level is determining the exemption status of
too many employees. In contrast, an appropriately calibrated salary
level between the long and short test salary levels better defines and
delimits which employees are employed in a bona fide EAP capacity, and
thus better fulfills the Department's duty to define and delimit the
EAP exemption.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\211\ Stein Report at 2.
\212\ AFPI mistakenly asserts that the increase from the 20th
percentile to the 35th percentile ``is based entirely on the switch
to a one-test system in 2004.'' The majority of the salary level
increase (from $684 to $942) is to update the salary level for wage
growth and fully restore the salary level's historic screening
function, with less than half (the increase from the $942 to $1,128)
made to account for the shift from the two-test system.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department's methodology established in this final rule uses
the second-to-lowest of the earnings ventiles between the long test
salary level (the 25th percentile of full-time salaried worker earnings
in the lowest-wage Census Region) and the short test salary level
(approximately the 51stth percentile of this data set). These ventiles
are the 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th, and 50th percentiles of full-time
salaried worker earnings in the lowest-wage Census Region. The
Department continues to believe that its methodology produces a salary
level high enough above the long test salary level to ensure overtime
protection for some lower-paid employees who were traditionally
entitled to overtime compensation under the two-test system by virtue
of their performing large amounts of nonexempt work, and also low
enough, as compared with higher salary levels, to significantly shrink
the group of employees performing EAP duties who are excluded from the
exemption by virtue of their salary alone. Whereas the 2004 and 2019
rules permitted the exemption of employees earning between the long and
short test salary levels even if they performed significant amounts of
nonexempt work, and the 2016 rule prevented employers from using the
exemption for such employees earning below the short test salary range
even if they performed EAP duties, the methodology adopted in this
final rule falls between these two methodologies and thus, as
commenters including the Administrative Law Professors and Coalition of
State AGs agreed, reasonably balances the effect of the switch to a
one-test system in a way that better differentiates between those who
are and are not employed in a bona fide EAP capacity. Of the 10.8
million salaried white-collar employees earning between the equivalent
of the long and short test salary levels, approximately 40 percent earn
between $942 (the equivalent of the long test salary level) and $1,128
(the new salary level) and would receive overtime protection by virtue
of their salary, while approximately 60 percent earn between $1,128 and
$1,404 (the equivalent of the short test salary level) and would have
their exemption status turn on whether they meet the duties test. These
and other statistics, discussed in section V.B.5.iii, demonstrate that
the salary level will not ``essentially eliminate[ ] the role of the
duties test'' as National Restaurant Association and others contended.
See also, e.g., AHLA; CWC.
Even though the Department's decision to select a salary level
below the midpoint between the long and short tests means that the
effect of the salary level on employees earning within this range and
their employers is not exactly equal, a higher salary level could
disrupt the reliance interests of employers who (due in part to the
Department's failure to update the salary level tests between 1975 and
2004), have been able to use a lower salary level and more lenient
duties test to determine exemption status since 1991. However, a
significantly lower salary level akin to the long test salary level
would avoid disrupting such reliance interests only by continuing to
place the burden of the move to a one-test system entirely on employees
who historically were entitled to the FLSA's overtime protections
because they perform substantial amounts of nonexempt work. The
Department believes that employer reliance interests should inform
where the salary level is set between the long and short test levels,
and that its approach appropriately balances the impact of the move to
a one-test system between employees' right to receive overtime
compensation and employers' ability to use the exemption. Such
balancing is fully in line with the Department's authority under the
FLSA to ``mak[e] certain by specific definition and delimitation'' the
``general phrases'' ``bona fide executive, administrative, or
professional capacity.'' \213\ This grant of authority confers
discretion upon the Department to determine the boundaries of these
general categories; any such line-drawing, as courts have recognized,
will ``necessarily'' leave out some employees ``who might fall within''
these categories.\214\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\213\ See Walling, 140 F.2d at 831-32.
\214\ Id. at 832.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Department recognizes the tension between the methodology
adopted in this final rule and some statements made in its 2016 and
2019 rules. The Department stated in its 2016 rule that the current
duties test could not be effectively paired with a salary level below
the short test salary range, and for this reason expressly rejected
setting the salary level at the 35th percentile of weekly earnings of
full-time salaried workers in the South.\215\ But that rule, which
would have prevented employers from using the EAP exemption for some
employees who were considered exempt under the prior two-test system,
was challenged in court, and a return to it would result in significant
legal uncertainty for both workers and the regulated community. In the
2019 rule, the Department expressly rejected setting the salary level
equal to the long test or higher.\216\ However, as noted above, the
Department did not fully address in that rule the implications of the
switch fr 
