Proposed Federal Regulations to Raise Minimum Salary for Exempt Status

Proposed Federal Regulations on the Horizon to Raise Minimum Salary for Exempt Status

Last fall, the Department of Labor (DOL) released proposed regulations to increase the minimum salary required for salaried exempt status treatment of executive, administrative, and professional (including artistic) professionals.  Final regulations are expected in 2024.  If adopted in current form, the required weekly minimum salary would rise from $684 per week ($35,568 annualized) to $1,059 per week ($55,068 annualized).  The special exempt minimum daily rate for exempt employees in the motion picture production industry as an exception to the general requirement of a minimum weekly salary likewise would increase from a daily minimum of $173.83 per day (1/6 of $1,043 weekly minimum pay) to $269.50 per day (1/6 of $1,617 weekly minimum pay).  The $269.50 federal daily minimum for those employers choosing to pay a daily rate instead of standard weekly minimum salary to their exempts would exceed the daily equivalent in even the highest minimum salary states like California and New York.  The DOL also included automatic three-year increases of the minimum weekly (and motion picture production industry daily) salary rate to maintain alignment with the 35thpercentile for full-time non-hourly workers in the lowest wage Census region.