Effective January 1, 2020, the total annual compensation
requirement for the highly compensated employee exemption shall be
$107,432 per year, of which $684 must be paid weekly on a salary or
fee basis. The rule does not alter the duties requirements
for this exemption, namely that the employee's primary duties
must include performing office or non-manual work and he or she
must customarily and regularly perform at least one of the exempt
duties or responsibilities of an exempt executive, administrative
or professional employee.
Importantly, the new salary threshold levels do not apply to
United States territories. The DOL set a special salary level
of $455 per week for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam,
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as well as a
special salary level of $380 per week for American Samoa. The
final rule is silent on whether the highly compensated employee
threshold applies to these territories; however, the
