Is There a Minimum Salary to be Considered Exempt From Overtime?

Both Massachusetts law and the FLSA have long recognized that lower-paid employees should be entitled to overtime pay, regardless of whether they are paid on a salary or meet other exemption requirements.

Prior to 2020, the minimum earnings to be exempt from overtime were $455 per week, or a little over $23,000 per year. When new Department of Labor regulations went into effect in 2020, that amount increased to $684 a week, or $35,568 per year.

In Massachusetts, the old rules did not help very many lower wage employees, as $455 per week for a forty hour week was below Massachusetts minimum wage. Now, this minimum affects any employee making $17 per hour or less in a full time job.

Learn more here about changes to the overtime minimum under federal law.