The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) has finalized a rule that significantly increases the minimum salary threshold for the state’s “white-collar” executive and administrative overtime exemptions.  The increased threshold follows a big phased-in multi-year increase in New York’s minimum wage approved by the state legislature in 2016.

New York’s move to increase the salary threshold for certain white-collar workers is especially relevant in light of developments that have occurred over the last few weeks involving the so-called “white-collar” exemptions under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  The U.S. Department of Labor revised its overtime regulations last May to essentially double the current salary threshold for the FLSA’s executive, administrative, and professional exemptions from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week ($47,476 annually).  The new overtime rule was blocked by a federal court in Texas, however, shortly before it was scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2016.

Although the court’s injunction keeps the current federal salary threshold where it is for now, employers operating in New York should take immediate notice of the new thresholds adopted by NYSDOL.

Under the rule, the New York weekly salary thresholds for the executive and administrative exemptions has increased from $675 per week ($35,100 annually) to as high as $825 per week ($42,900 annually) for employers in New York City with 11 or more employees (and slightly less than that for smaller employers and employers outside of New York City).

Although the increase should not have come as a surprise — the salary threshold is pinned at 75 times the state’s minimum wage — it is substantially higher than the current federal threshold.  Moreover, it will continue to increase in conjunction with scheduled annual increases in New York’s minimum wage to as high as $1,125.00 per week by the end of 2018.

A copy of the revised New York salary threshold regulation is available here.

Members of the Equal Employment Advisory Council (EEAC) can read more here.