Well, that’s that.
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued a final rule, scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on May 15, 2026, formally removing the regulatory text from the now-vacated 2024 overtime rule and restoring the Part 541 regulations as they existed before that rule took effect.
As we previously reported, the 2024 rule would have increased the minimum salary for exemption as an executive, administrative, or professional employee from $684 per week to $844 per week effective July 1, 2024, and then to $1,128 per week effective January 1, 2025, with automatic updates every three years thereafter. The rule also would have increased the total annual compensation threshold for the highly compensated employee (HCE) exemption from $107,432 to $132,964 and then to $151,164.