DOL Restores 2019 Federal Overtime Salary Thresholds

On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) formally updated its overtime regulations by removing the 2024 rule and restoring the prior 2019 salary thresholds of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Although this is a new regulatory update, it does not significantly change day-to-day practices, as the DOL had already been enforcing the 2019 thresholds after courts blocked the 2024 rule.

The federal salary threshold for most executive, administrative, and professional employees is $684 per week ($35,568 annually), and the highly compensated employee threshold is $107,432 annually.

This update applies to employers covered by the FLSA’s white-collar exemptions and took effect on May 15, 2026.

What Employers Need to Do

• Review exempt classifications to confirm that employees treated as exempt under the executive, administrative, or professional exemptions still satisfy the restored federal salary threshold.

• Ensure exempt employees meet the duties and salary basis tests—not just the salary level.

• Check for stricter state law requirements, which may impose higher salary thresholds or different duty standards.

• Update payroll, exemption-audit, and internal guidance materials to reflect the restored 2019 thresholds and removal of the 2024 rule’s automatic triennial increases.

• Evaluate whether any compensation changes made during the 2024 rule period should remain in place for employee relations, retention, or state law compliance reasons.

Overview

• The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a technical amendment that removed the 2024 overtime rule and restored the prior 2019 regulatory framework

• Most exempt executive, administrative, and professional employees must be paid at least $684 per week ($35,568 annually).

• The highly compensated employee (HCE) threshold is $107,432 annually, including at least $684 per week paid on a salary basis.

• The now-rescinded 2024 rule would have increased salary thresholds in 2024 and 2025 and introduced automatic updates every three years.

• Federal courts blocked the 2024 rule, and those decisions remain in effect.

• The DOL emphasized that exempt status depends on a three-part analysis: the duties test, salary basis test, and salary level test.

• The agency also noted that the salary basis and salary level tests do not apply to certain categories, such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and outside sales employees.

Why This Matters

For most employers, this action was more of a formal regulatory cleanup than a dramatic change in day-to-day federal enforcement, because WHD had already returned to enforcing the 2019 thresholds after the 2024 rule was vacated in court.

Even so, the amendment mattered because it removed uncertainty from the Code of Federal Regulations and formally confirmed that the currently operative federal thresholds are the 2019 levels, not the higher 2024 levels.

It also served as a reminder that exemption compliance is not just a salary question. Employers must still evaluate the full exemption test and account for state laws that may impose higher salary thresholds or more demanding exemption standards.

Key Risks for Employers

• Assuming salary level alone determines exempt status.

• Overlooking state-law overtime exemption.

• Failing requirements to revisit exemption classifications changes made during the 2024 rule period.

• Reversing prior pay decisions without considering employee relations, retention, or multi-state compliance implications.

Additional Information

The Federal Register amendment also restored certain special salary thresholds for certain U.S. territories, including $455 per week in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and $380 per week in American Samoa.

The DOL said employers and workers may seek compliance assistance through WHD’s toll-free helpline, and it also reminded employers that the agency’s Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program remains available for certain self-reported wage-and-hour and Family and Medical Leave Act issues.

Source References

• Federal Register – Technical Amendment – DOL Rescinding exemptions for executive, administrative, professional employees
• DOL Press Release – US Department of Labor announces technical amendment restoring regulations on exemptions for executive, administrative, professional employees

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