Upcoming FLSA Changes: What You Need To Know

Salary Threshold

President Obama issued a “Fact Sheet” at the same time that he directed the DOL to propose revisions to the FLSA regulations. The Fact Sheet provides clues as to the ultimate direction the President wishes the DOL to take in revising those regulations. In particular, the Fact Sheet focuses on the minimum salary threshold that employers must pay to employees in order for them to qualify for one or more of the so-called “white-collar” FLSA exemptions (the administrative exemption, professional exemption, executive exemption, and related exemptions). The current minimum salary threshold for the white-collar exemptions, $455 per week, was last raised during the Bush administration, in 2004. (Prior to that point, the minimum salary threshold had not been modified since 1975, when it was set at $250 per week.) As noted in the White House Fact Sheet, the current $455 minimum weekly salary is below the 2014 poverty line for workers supporting a family of four. At a time when the Obama administration is pushing an increase in the minimum wage for “non-exempt” hourly employees, this minimum salary threshold for exempt professionals is obviously problematic.