Exempt Employee Pay Minimums Will Increase In 2018 In Various States

As employers wait to see whether – and to what extent – the U.S. Department of Labor will revise the minimum amount they must pay to executive, administrative, and professionals for exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) minimum wage and overtime requirements, state-law rates for these employees are scheduled to increase in 2018 (and on New Year's Eve in New York). Also, under some state laws these employees are only exempt from overtime requirements, meaning they still must be paid at least the state minimum wage for all hours worked, and many of those state minimum wage rate are increasing in 2018. Additionally, in 2018 there will be state law increases in the minimum hourly pay required to qualify for state law commissioned employee overtime exemptions that parallel the FLSA's 7(i) retail or service establishment overtime exemption. Below we discuss these pay-related changes in 2018.¹