Exempt vs Non-Exempt Employee Test
A job is exempt from overtime only if it passes all three FLSA tests: paid a fixed salary, at least $684 a week ($35,568 a year), and primary duties that qualify. Check a role below to see if it is exempt or owed time-and-a-half over 40 hours.
The three tests, in plain terms
To be exempt from overtime, a white-collar job has to clear all three bars — miss one and the employee is non-exempt and owed overtime:
- Salary basis — paid a fixed amount each week that does not drop when hours do.
- Salary level — at least $684 a week ($35,568 a year) as of 2026.
- Duties — primary work is genuinely executive, administrative, professional, computer, or outside sales — judged by what the person does, not the title.
Outside sales has no salary test. Highly compensated employees ($107,432 a year or more) face a lighter duties test. Some computer professionals qualify if paid at least $27.63 an hour, even hourly.
If a role is non-exempt, the overtime pay calculator works out the time-and-a-half, and state overtime rules can add daily overtime on top of the federal weekly rule.
Frequently asked questions
Non-exempt employees must be paid overtime at 1.5× their rate for hours over 40 in a week. Exempt employees are not owed overtime. To be exempt under the FLSA, a job has to pass all three tests: salary basis, salary level, and a duties test.
The federal standard salary level is $684 a week, or $35,568 a year. The 2024 rule that raised it was vacated by a federal court in November 2024, so $684 is the operative floor. Some states — California, New York, Washington — set higher thresholds.
No. Even a well-paid employee is non-exempt if their actual job duties do not meet the executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, or computer tests. Job title does not decide it — the day-to-day duties do.
No. Being paid a salary is only one of the three tests. A salaried worker below $684 a week, or whose duties do not qualify, is still non-exempt and owed overtime.