Salaried but Exempt? The $684-a-Week Overtime Salary Test Explained
- To be exempt from overtime under the main white-collar exemptions, most employees must be paid at least $684 a week ($35,568 a year) on a salary basis.
- Highly compensated employees must earn at least $107,432 a year, including at least $684 a week in salary.
- Being on salary alone doesn’t make you exempt; your duties must also qualify.
Many workers assume that being on salary means no overtime. That is only true if you pass both a salary test and a duties test. Here are the current salary levels from the Department of Labor (DOL: Earnings Thresholds for the FLSA Part 541 Exemptions).
The current thresholds
| Standard salary level | $684 per week ($35,568 a year) |
| Highly compensated employees | $107,432 a year total, including at least $684 a week in salary or fees |
| Computer employees paid hourly | $27.63 per hour |
| Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands | $455 per week ($23,660 a year) |
| American Samoa | $380 per week ($19,760 a year) |
| Motion picture industry base rate | $1,043 per week |
DOL notes these thresholds don’t apply to certain employees, including doctors, lawyers, teachers and outside sales employees.
The duties test still matters
Meeting the salary level is only half of it. Executive employees must, among other things, manage a department or subdivision and regularly direct two or more full-time employees; administrative employees must do office work tied to management or business operations with discretion and independent judgment; professional employees need advanced knowledge or creative work. If your job doesn’t fit, you’re owed overtime even on salary.
Red flags
- You earn under $684 a week on salary and don’t get overtime.
- Your title says “manager” but you don’t supervise anyone.
- Your pay is docked for partial-day absences in ways that break the salary basis rule.
How to use this for a raise
If you’re near the line, compare your pay including overtime as a non-exempt worker with a salaried offer. A modest salary bump that ends overtime can be a pay cut if you regularly work 50-hour weeks.
Published October 27, 2026. Sources are linked in the text.
Header image: original graphic by JobPayRaise.com.
Comments (1)
A detail people miss: the salary has to be paid on a “salary basis,” which means a predetermined amount that isn’t reduced because of variations in the quality or quantity of work. Subject to listed exceptions, an exempt employee must get the full salary for any week in which they perform any work. Source: 29 CFR 541.602.