2024 Overtime Salary Threshold
For 2024, the Overtime Salary Threshold is $684 (Standard salary level per week), $35,568 (Standard salary level, annual equivalent) and $107,432 (Highly compensated employee total annual compensation).
Effective 2024-01-01Source: Earnings thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional exemption from minimum wage and overtime protections under the FLSA (DOL)Verified 2026-09-01
Compared with 2023
Every figure on this page is unchanged from 2023.
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard salary level per week | $684 | $684 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Standard salary level, annual equivalent | $35,568 | $35,568 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
| Highly compensated employee total annual compensation | $107,432 | $107,432 | +$0 (+0.0%) |
Who it applies to
Employers and employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act who rely on the executive, administrative or professional exemption from overtime and minimum wage protections, and on the highly compensated employee test beside it.
What changed this year, and why
The standard salary level for the executive, administrative and professional exemption was $684 per week, equal to $35,568 a year, for the whole of 2024, and a highly compensated employee had to receive $107,432 in total annual compensation. A rule the Department published in April 2024 would have raised both amounts from July of that year, but federal courts vacated it, and the operative regulations remained the ones that were in place on June 30, 2024. The section below quotes the Federal Register document that says so.
Common questions
- What was the overtime salary threshold in 2024?
- The standard salary level was $684 per week, which is $35,568 a year, and it applied for the whole of 2024. A highly compensated employee had to receive at least $107,432 in total annual compensation, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis.
- Did the threshold go up in the middle of 2024?
- No. A rule the Department published in April 2024 would have raised it from July of that year, but the rule was vacated and never validly governed, so a single figure is right for the whole year. The operative regulations are the ones that were in place on June 30, 2024.
- What happened to the higher levels the Department set in 2024?
- They were never operative. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated the rule that set them on November 15, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated it again on December 30, 2024, and the Department later removed its text from the Code of Federal Regulations. An employer who raised salaries to those levels partway through 2024 paid above what the regulations required, not below.
- Does the salary alone decide whether an employee is exempt?
- No. An employee must also meet the duties test for the executive, administrative or professional exemption. The Department also notes that these earnings thresholds do not apply to certain employees, including doctors, lawyers, teachers and outside sales employees.
Every amount on this page is a published figure rather than yours. The Overtime salary threshold headroom takes the number you enter and works it out against them, showing which published figure it used.
The 2024 rule, and the level the Department applies
In April 2024 the Department published a final rule that would have raised the standard salary level from July of that year and again from January 1, 2025, and would have updated both thresholds automatically after that. It never validly governed. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated it on November 15, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas vacated it again on December 30, 2024, and the appeals from both judgments were later dismissed, after which the Department removed the vacated text from the Code of Federal Regulations. The operative part 541 regulations are therefore the ones that were in place on June 30, 2024, so the standard salary level was $684 per week, or $35,568 a year, for the whole of 2024, and a highly compensated employee's total annual compensation requirement stayed at $107,432. An employer who paid to the vacated rule's higher levels between July and November 2024 paid more than the regulations required, not less.
In light of these judgments, the operative version of the Department's part 541 regulations is the version of these regulations that was in place on June 30, 2024, prior to the effective date of the 2024 rule, and which the Department has been enforcing.
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Implementation of Federal Court Judgments (91 FR 27833, May 15, 2026) (DOL)
Being paid a salary means a predetermined amount that does not vary
Under federal overtime rules, being paid a salary means receiving a predetermined amount that does not vary based on the quality or quantity of work performed. This is known as the salary basis test. The predetermined amount must be fixed and cannot be reduced because an employee produces more or less work in a given week. This requirement exists to distinguish true salaried employees from those paid hourly, where compensation fluctuates with hours worked or output. The salary basis test is one of three tests that must generally be met for an employee to qualify for the white collar overtime exemption, alongside the duties test and the salary level test. Certain categories of workers, including doctors, lawyers, teachers, and outside sales employees, are not subject to the salary basis and salary level tests. For most other employees, however, the employer must demonstrate that the worker receives a guaranteed minimum amount each pay period that remains constant regardless of workload variations.
(2) 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);
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Implementation of Federal Court Judgments (91 FR 27833, May 15, 2026) (DOL)
The salary is only half of it: the duties test
Being paid a salary above the minimum weekly or annual amount does not automatically exempt an employee from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employee must also pass the duties test, which looks at what the person actually does on the job, not just their job title or how they are paid. Under federal rules, the employee's job duties must primarily involve executive, administrative, or professional tasks as defined by the Department of Labor's regulations. "Primarily" generally means that the exempt work is the employee's main or principal duty, though it need not consume more than half of the employee's time. If an employee's primary duty is routine manual work, or work that does not require the exercise of discretion and independent judgment, the duties test is not met and the employee is entitled to overtime even if paid a salary that exceeds the minimum threshold. The duties test, the salary basis test, and the salary level test all must be satisfied before an employer can treat an employee as exempt from overtime.
the employee's job duties must primarily involve executive, administrative, or professional duties as defined by the regulations (the duties test)
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Implementation of Federal Court Judgments (91 FR 27833, May 15, 2026) (DOL)
The shorter test for highly compensated employees
The Department of Labor created a streamlined exemption path for highly compensated employees that relaxes the regular duties test. While most exempt workers must satisfy all three parts of the standard test, including a demanding look at whether their primary duty is executive, administrative, or professional, highly compensated employees are subject to a reduced job duties requirement paired with a much higher annual earnings threshold. To qualify, an employee must earn total annual compensation of at least $107,432, which includes the weekly salary plus commissions, nondiscretionary bonuses, and other forms of compensation paid during the year. Because the pay floor is set well above the regular minimum, the Department treats the duties analysis as less exacting: the employee must still perform office or non-manual work, and must customarily and regularly perform at least one of the exempt duties of an executive, administrative, or professional employee, but need not meet the full primary duty standard that applies to workers paid at the lower salary level.
the Department created an alternative test for highly compensated employees (the ``HCE test''), pairing a reduced job duties requirement with an annual earnings threshold substantially higher than the standard salary level requirement
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Implementation of Federal Court Judgments (91 FR 27833, May 15, 2026) (DOL)
When a bonus can count toward the salary level
The salary level test is about salary, but not entirely. The regulation lets part of the required amount be satisfied by nondiscretionary bonuses, incentives and commissions, provided they are paid annually or more frequently. Only part: the share that may be met this way is capped and the remainder must still be paid as salary, so an employer cannot pay a thin weekly salary and make it up with a large year-end bonus. Two conditions do the work. The payments must be nondiscretionary, which rules out a bonus the employer decides on after the fact and the employee could not count on. And they are measured against the standard salary level of $684 a week, or $35,568 a year - where a year's payments leave the employee short of it, the employer has one further pay period in which to make up the difference, and without that payment the exemption fails for the whole year.
(3) Up to ten percent of the salary amount required by Sec. 541.600(a) may be satisfied by the payment of nondiscretionary bonuses, incentives and commissions, that are paid annually or more frequently.
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Implementation of Federal Court Judgments (91 FR 27833, May 15, 2026) (DOL)
Workers the exemption never reaches, whatever they are paid
The Fair Labor Standards Act exempts employees working in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity from overtime requirements, but these exemptions only apply if the employee meets all three tests: the duties test, the salary basis test, and the salary level test. For 2024, the standard salary level is $684 per week, or $35,568 annually. Even if an employee is paid well above that threshold and receives a fixed salary that meets the basis test, the exemption still depends on what the employee actually does. Workers whose primary duty involves manual labor, routine physical work, or skilled trades do not satisfy the duties test and cannot be classified as exempt from overtime. The type of work performed determines eligibility, not the amount of pay. Employees in construction, manufacturing, maintenance, and similar hands-on occupations are entitled to overtime pay regardless of their salary level, because their job duties do not fall within the executive, administrative, or professional categories defined by the Department of Labor regulations.
The FLSA includes a number of exemptions from its wage and hour requirements, including section 13(a)(1), which exempts ``any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity
Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Implementation of Federal Court Judgments (91 FR 27833, May 15, 2026) (DOL)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
- Standard salary level per week
Standard Salary Level $684 per week (equivalent to a $35,568 annual salary)
- Standard salary level, annual equivalent
Standard Salary Level $684 per week (equivalent to a $35,568 annual salary)
- Highly compensated employee total annual compensation
Total Annual Compensation Requirement for Highly Compensated Employees $107,432 per year, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary or fee basis