Exempt vs Non-Exempt: The $684 Salary Test and Duties

Three tests, all required

The executive, administrative and professional exemptions (often called the white-collar or EAP exemptions) come from section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA and the rules in 29 CFR part 541. Fact Sheet #17A sums up the structure: employees generally must meet tests about their duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $684 per week. It also says job titles do not determine exempt status.

So a white-collar exemption needs all three:

1. Salary level: at least $684 a week (with a few exceptions below).
2. Salary basis: a fixed, predetermined amount each pay period that is not cut for the quality or quantity of the work.
3. Duties: a primary duty that fits one of the exempt categories.

Passing one or two is not enough. A salary of $1,500 a week with non-exempt duties is a salaried non-exempt job. Exempt duties paid by the hour (outside the few hourly exceptions) do not meet the salary basis.

The duties tests, in headline form

These are summaries from Fact Sheet #17A. The full tests are in 29 CFR part 541, and many of their terms have defined meanings.

Fact Sheet #17A also names groups these exemptions do not cover, however well paid. Manual laborers and other blue-collar workers are one: carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, construction workers and similar trades. Police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs and similar first responders are another, regardless of rank or pay level, for the duties it lists.

The salary level: $684 a week

The salary level in effect is $684 a week, set in 29 CFR 541.600(a). The regulation translates it into longer pay periods, but the shortest period that can meet it is one week.

The yearly figure is $684 times 52 weeks, computed by the site’s pay engine. The same engine reproduces the regulation’s biweekly, semimonthly and monthly amounts exactly.

Other details in the rules:

• Bonuses can cover up to 10 percent. Nondiscretionary bonuses, incentives and commissions paid at least once a year may satisfy up to 10 percent of the $684 level, which is $68.40 a week (541.602(a)(3)). This does not apply to the highly compensated test.
• Territories. The level is $455 a week in the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and $380 in American Samoa, for employers other than the federal government.
• Exceptions to the salary test. It does not apply to teachers, to licensed doctors and lawyers practicing their profession, or to medical interns and residents. Fact Sheet #17A also lists no salary test for outside sales. The doctor-and-lawyer exception does not extend to nurses, pharmacists, therapists and other professions serving medicine.
• Highly compensated employees. $107,432 in total annual compensation, of which at least $684 a week is salary or fee. Only one exempt duty is needed, but only for office or non-manual work.

The salary basis test

Being paid a salary has a specific meaning in 29 CFR 541.602. The employee regularly receives, each pay period, a predetermined amount that is not reduced because of variations in the quality or quantity of the work. An exempt employee must get the full salary for any week in which they do any work, whatever the number of days or hours worked.

The regulation allows a short list of deductions without breaking the salary basis. Examples are full-day absences for personal reasons, full-day sickness absences under a bona fide plan, good-faith penalties for major safety-rule violations, full-day disciplinary suspensions under a written policy, and partial first and last weeks. Apart from unpaid Family and Medical Leave Act time, a deduction for a partial-day absence is not on that list. Deductions for time when the employer has no work available are specifically ruled out.

The 2024 rule that no longer applies

A 2024 Department of Labor rule raised the salary levels. It was judicially vacated. On May 14, 2026, the Department announced a technical amendment that removes the 2024 language from the Code of Federal Regulations and republishes the 2019 rules.

The announcement states the restored levels: at least $684 a week for most exempt executive, administrative and professional employees, and $107,432 a year for certain highly compensated employees. The current eCFR text of 541.600 and 541.601 matches. If you see higher federal salary figures from the 2024 rule on a pay stub explanation, a handbook or another website, they are not the federal rule in effect.

State rules

State law can be more protective than the FLSA, and some states have their own exemption rules for state overtime. Fact Sheet #17A notes that employers must also comply with state laws that set a higher minimum wage or a shorter workweek.

This guide does not cover state salary thresholds for exemption. The site’s state data does not include them, so none are listed here rather than guessed. For your state’s overtime rules, see the overtime laws by state page, and ask your state labor department about state exemption tests.

Who decides, and what to check

The employer classifies each job. That classification can be reviewed: the WHD can investigate a complaint, and courts decide disputes. A job description or title is evidence, not the answer. What counts is the actual work and pay.

If you are paid a salary and wonder about overtime, these are fair questions to bring to your employer:

1. Is my position classified as exempt or non-exempt, and under which exemption?
2. Is my salary at least $684 a week?
3. Is my salary ever reduced for partial days or for slow weeks?
4. What is my primary duty, and how much of my time does it take?

Salaried non-exempt jobs are common. Example, with stated inputs: a weekly salary of $650, understood to cover 40 hours, in a week of 46 hours worked. Under 29 CFR 778.113 the regular rate is $16.25 an hour, and the week’s total is $796.25: the $650 salary plus $146.25 for 6 hours at time and a half. The guide on the regular rate of pay shows the method. Note also that $650 is below the $684 level, so outside the exceptions above, this job could not meet the white-collar salary test.

If your pay does not match the rules for your classification, ask your employer first. Your state labor department or the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (1-866-487-9243) can look into a classification question.

Bottom line

Exempt status is a test, not a title or a pay method. At the federal level it takes a salary of at least $684 a week, paid on a true salary basis, and exempt primary duties, with the exceptions listed above. The site’s calculators assume a non-exempt employee. If you are non-exempt and paid a salary, the salary to hourly calculator converts your salary to an hourly figure as a starting point.