The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, and recordkeeping requirements for employees in the private sector and in federal, state, and local governments. Teaching faculty and certain other positions are exempted from the overtime pay requirements of the FLSA.
The Department of Labor (DOL) relies on salary level and other factors such as job duties to determine which employees are protected by the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime regulations (referred to as non-exempt employees), and which employees are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime regulations. The Department has updated the salary level requirements seven times since 1938.
FLSA Overtime Final Rule
Effective January 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Final Rule related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that impacted the criteria to determine eligibility for overtime. The salary threshold used to determine eligibility increased from $23,660 per year ($455 per week) to $35,568 per year ($684 per week).
The job duties test did not change. Certain types of positions are exempted from the minimum salary threshold, including most of our academic personnel, including our county extension faculty, physicians, veterinarians, residents, lawyers, and student classifications such as graduate assistants.