New Salary Threshold for Overtime Exemption

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the salary threshold used to determine eligibility for overtime pay will be increased from $23,660 to $35,568, effective January 1, 2020.

This change, referred to as the white-collar exemptions for federal overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), will increase the minimum salary threshold at which a position would be considered “exempt” from overtime pay. Any employee currently in an exempt job classification with a salary that falls below $35,568 would be eligible for overtime pay once the change takes effect on January 1, 2020.

Department of Labor reaffirmed its intent to update the salary threshold more regularly but did not include any mechanism to automatically update the threshold.

The impact of this change at Duke will be minimal given previous salary adjustments. Only about 100 exempt employees are likely to fall below the new salary threshold. Now that the decision has been announced, additional analysis will be conducted and further communications will be distributed based on employees who may be impacted.