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

The Minimum Salary an Employee Must Have to be 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.