DOL Restores Salary Levels for FLSA White Collar Exemptions

The following article first appeared in the Insights section of Littler Mendelson’s website. It is reposted here with permission.

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On May 14, 2026, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor announced the publication of a technical amendment designed to unwind a 2024 regulation and restore the 2019 regulation establishing the salary level needed to qualify for the Fair Labor Standards Act “white collar” overtime exemptions.

In 2024, DOL published a final rule substantially raising the salary thresholds needed to qualify as an executive, administrative, and/or professional employee exempt from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements.

That rule was vacated by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in November 2024.

While DOL initially appealed that court order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the agency stipulated to the dismissal of that appeal earlier this month in anticipation of WHD’s formal abandonment of the 2024 rule following the change in administration.

The technical amendment will formally roll back the 2024 salary thresholds for these white collar exemptions and restore the 2019 levels as follows:

Exemption	2024 Level (Vacated and Now Abandoned)	2026 Level (Restoring 2019 Level)
Executive, Administrative, Professional	$43,888/year or $844/week	$35,568/year or $684/week
Highly Compensated Employee	$132,964/year	$107,432/year

Enforcement Posture

Practically, DOL’s amendment does not alter WHD’s enforcement posture, as WHD has applied the 2019 salary thresholds contained in DOL’s latest technical amendment since the 2024 rule was vacated.

This technical amendment provides formal certainty for employers as to the regulatory regime covering FSLA white collar exemptions, as well as confirming once and for all the salary thresholds that allow employees to fit within one or more of the FLSA’s white collar exemptions.

Employers should remain aware of all requirements for qualifying as exempt, including the now-established salary level amount as well as the “salary basis” requirement, the applicable “duties” test(s), and any state-specific deviations from the FLSA’s tests (including states with a higher salary level requirement and/or more stringent “duties” requirements).

Companies with questions about the requirements for qualifying as exempt under the FLSA and state law should work with experienced counsel.

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About the authors: Christian Angotti is a shareholder in Littler’s Pittsburgh office. Dimitrios Markos is a shareholder in the Newark, NJ office. Rob Pritchard is a shareholder in the Pittsburgh office and co-chair of the firm’s Wage and Hour Practice Group.