Section 213 contains exemptions from specified Fair Labor Standards Act requirements. Some exempt employees from both minimum wage and overtime, while others concern overtime only. A salary or a “manager” title does not by itself establish an exemption; the actual statutory category and applicable regulatory tests control. [1]
Current white-collar salary rules
As of October 31, 2026, the standard salary threshold for most executive, administrative, and professional exemptions is $684 per week, equivalent to $35,568 for a full year. The 2024 rule’s higher scheduled thresholds were vacated. A technical amendment effective May 15, 2026 restored the operative 2019 regulatory text. [2]
The highly compensated employee framework uses $107,432 in total annual compensation, including the required weekly salary or fee component, and still requires qualifying duties. It is not a rule that everyone earning that amount loses overtime rights. Special geographic and occupational provisions also require separate review. [2]
Apply duties and salary-basis tests separately
Most standard white-collar exemptions require qualifying primary duties, an appropriate salary basis, and the required salary level. Salary basis generally concerns a predetermined amount protected from reductions based on variations in work quality or quantity, subject to the rules’ exceptions. Meeting only one test is insufficient. [2]
For the executive exemption, the employee’s primary duty must involve managing the enterprise or a recognized department, regularly directing at least two full-time employees or the equivalent, and having qualifying hiring or firing authority or recommendations given particular weight. [3]
An employee called an assistant manager who mainly performs routine work and lacks the required authority does not qualify merely because the name appears on a badge. The duties must be evaluated in context rather than by a title alone.
Do not apply the salary test universally
Bona fide teachers, employees actually practicing law or medicine under the specified conditions, and outside-sales employees have exceptions to the ordinary salary requirements. Certain computer employees also have a permitted hourly-compensation route. Different section 213 exemptions can have entirely different elements. [2]
A person who fails one white-collar test is not necessarily covered by every other FLSA provision without further analysis. Conversely, an employer cannot cure a failed duties test simply by raising pay.
Review the records and the work location
Keep job descriptions, actual daily duties, organizational charts, pay statements, deduction records, and reliable hours worked. Compare the written description with the work actually required.
State or local law can provide additional protections, so a federal exemption analysis does not finish every wage question. A worker disputing classification should identify the exemption claimed and obtain a review of the applicable law and unpaid hours, rather than rely on an annual-salary figure alone. [4]
Teachers require their own overtime-exemption analysis. On-call time raises additional questions for salaried employees.
Primary sources
- 29 U.S.C. § 213: Exemptions
- DOL: Implementation of Federal Court Judgments on FLSA Exemptions (2026)
- DOL Fact Sheet17B: Executive Employee Exemption
- U.S. Department of Labor Worker.gov: Overtime
Sources checked: October 31, 2026.