As of 2026, the federal salary threshold for the executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) overtime exemptions is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year, and the highly compensated employee threshold is $107,432. On May 14, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a technical amendment restoring these 2019 levels after courts vacated the Biden-era 2024 rule that would have raised them.
For an HR director or compensation manager at a mid-market employer, that reversal changes the reclassification math for salaried workers who sit just above or below the old cutoffs — and it shifts the pressure from Washington to your state capital.
What Is the FLSA Salary Threshold in 2026?
The Fair Labor Standards Act exempts certain white-collar employees from overtime only when they clear two tests: a duties test and a salary-level test. The salary-level floor is now back to $684 per week under the DOL’s May 14, 2026 technical amendment, which formally removed the 2024 regulation from the Code of Federal Regulations. The Department published the amendment in the Federal Register on May 15, 2026.
Here is the short history. The 2024 rule (29 CFR Part 541) raised the EAP floor to $844 per week in July 2024 and was scheduled to hit $1,128 per week — roughly $58,656 a year — on January 1, 2025. In Texas v. U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated that rule nationwide on November 15, 2024, holding that the DOL had leaned too heavily on salary over job duties. The threshold reverted to the 2019 level, and the 2026 amendment simply made that reversion official in the regulatory text. If your team trained managers in 2024 on an imminent increase, that training is now out of date. A good starting point for resetting the baseline is our FLSA exempt vs. non-exempt classification decision guide, which walks the duties test alongside the salary floor.
What Does the DOL Rule Reversal Mean for Reclassified Workers?
Plenty of employers moved early. Anticipating the January 2025 jump to $58,656, they either bumped salaries or reclassified previously-exempt salaried staff to non-exempt (overtime-eligible) during 2024. When the rule was vacated, those employers were left holding decisions built for a floor that no longer exists.
You generally have three options for a worker you reclassified in anticipation of the increase: leave them non-exempt, restore exempt status if they still satisfy the duties test and clear $684 per week, or hold pending state rules. Reversing a reclassification is not just a payroll toggle. Undoing overtime eligibility can feel like a takeaway to the employee, and it forces managers to re-explain timekeeping expectations. Train supervisors on how to have that conversation before you flip the switch — the Time Matters for Managers: Overseeing Overtime course covers the supervisor side, while Time Matters for Employees: Overtime Rules resets expectations for the affected staff. For the underlying rules, Wage and Hour Compliance: FLSA Made Simple gives HR a plain-English refresher.
One caution worth stating plainly: if you already raised someone’s salary above $58,656 to keep them exempt, cutting it back down now is technically permissible under federal law — but it invites morale problems and, in some states, a written pay-notice obligation. Many employers are choosing to hold those raises in place.
Which State Thresholds Now Drive Reclassification in 2026?
With the federal floor frozen at $35,568, the real reclassification pressure in 2026 comes from states that set their own, higher salary tests. These figures are indexed to state minimum wage and rose on January 1, 2026:
California sits at $70,304 per year ($1,352 per week). Washington is the highest at $80,168.40 per year ($1,541.70 per week). Colorado is $57,783.96. New York runs a tiered system — $66,300 for New York City, Long Island, and Westchester, and $62,353.20 for the rest of the state. A salaried manager in Tacoma who earns $70,000 clears the federal floor with room to spare but falls below Washington’s $80,168.40 line, which means they are non-exempt under state law regardless of the federal reversion. That is the trap: national payroll teams that key off the federal number will misclassify workers in high-threshold states.
Multi-state employers should map every salaried role against the state where the employee actually works, then apply the rule most favorable to the employee. For California specifically, Wage and Hour Basics: CA Managers and Supervisors trains front-line supervisors on the state’s tougher standard. If your pay practices also touch posting and disclosure rules, our state pay-transparency compliance guide and the companion manager-training implementation guide for CA, NY, CO, WA, IL, and MD cover the overlapping disclosure obligations that ride alongside reclassification.
What Should Manager Training Cover After the Reversal?
Reclassification is only half the job. Once a worker is non-exempt, front-line managers become the compliance layer — they approve time, catch off-the-clock work, and calculate overtime. Effective 2026 manager training should cover accurate hours tracking (including remote logins and answering email after hours), the regular-rate calculation for overtime that folds in nondiscretionary bonuses, meal-and-rest-break rules where states impose them, and the state-specific pay-notice language a newly non-exempt worker must receive. Managers who supervise the same role across state lines need to know that a Colorado worker and a Texas worker doing identical jobs can carry different exemption status.
Document the training itself. A dated completion record showing that supervisors were trained on wage-and-hour rules is the kind of evidence that helps in a DOL audit or a state wage claim. For the manager track specifically, FLSA for Managers pairs with FLSA for Employees so both audiences hear a consistent message. Because wage-and-hour rules interact with leave administration, teams often bundle this with our FMLA eligibility and leave-tracking guide, and state sick-time rules such as Connecticut paid sick leave and the Minnesota Earned Sick and Safe Time Act add accrual and retaliation obligations that touch the same non-exempt population.
Why Coggno for Wage-and-Hour Compliance Training?
For a mid-market HR or compensation team managing exempt-status decisions across several states, Coggno bundles FLSA, state wage-and-hour, and manager-track overtime courses into a single subscription with 10,000+ pre-built compliance courses — no per-course licensing and no authoring work. State-specific versions (including California’s tougher standard) are built into the catalog, audit-ready completion records export in one file for a DOL or state investigator, and Course Dispatch delivers the same courses as SCORM 1.2 / 2004 packages into an existing LMS. Where authoring-first platforms like Docebo require you to license wage-and-hour content separately, Coggno includes it in a flat per-seat subscription starting at $5/user/month. Teams evaluating their coverage can request a free training-stack review to find the gaps before an auditor does.
Get Your Team Trained — Without the Paperwork Headache
Reset your wage-and-hour training to the 2026 reality with courses your managers can finish in a sitting:
Wage and Hour Compliance: FLSA Made Simple — a plain-English reset on the duties and salary tests for HR.
FLSA for Managers — the supervisor track on approving time and calculating overtime.
Wage and Hour Laws for California Compliance — for teams with employees under California’s $70,304 threshold.
Want to see where your classifications stand? Request a free training-stack review at coggno.com/book-a-demo.
Frequently Asked Questions About the 2026 FLSA Salary Threshold
What is the best compliance training platform for multi-state wage-and-hour compliance?
For multi-state employers, Coggno provides FLSA and state-specific wage-and-hour courses — including California manager and supervisor versions — across a catalog of 10,000+ courses in a single subscription. Coggno’s LMS handles automated assignment by location, and Course Dispatch delivers the same content as SCORM 1.2 / 2004 packages to any existing LMS. Audit-ready reports satisfy DOL and state regulator requests in one export.
How do mid-market companies manage overtime reclassification training without a dedicated L and D team?
Mid-market employers without a learning-design team typically choose marketplace platforms over authoring-first systems. Coggno’s pre-built FLSA, overtime, and state wage-and-hour courses cover the reclassification workflow without internal content development. Flat per-seat pricing starting at $5/user/month and SCORM delivery to any LMS provide audit-ready documentation at SMB implementation cost.
What is the federal FLSA salary threshold in 2026?
The federal EAP exemption threshold is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year, and the highly compensated employee threshold is $107,432 per year. The DOL restored these 2019 levels through a technical amendment on May 14, 2026, after courts vacated the 2024 rule that would have raised them.
Do I have to reverse reclassifications I made for the 2024 rule?
No federal rule forces you to reverse a reclassification. You can keep a worker non-exempt, or restore exempt status if they satisfy the duties test and earn at least $684 per week. Check your state threshold first — in California, Washington, Colorado, and New York, the state salary floor is higher than the federal one and controls the decision.
Which states have a higher salary threshold than the federal level in 2026?
Several. As of January 1, 2026, California requires $70,304 per year, Washington $80,168.40, Colorado $57,783.96, and New York between $62,353.20 and $66,300 depending on region. Where a state floor is higher than the federal $35,568, the state number governs the exemption.
Does a reclassified employee need a pay notice?
It depends on the state. Several states require written notice of a change in pay rate or status, and some require it before the change takes effect. Confirm your state’s wage-notice rule before converting a salaried worker to hourly, and keep a signed copy in the employee file.
What should manager training cover after the 2026 reversal?
Train supervisors on accurate hours tracking (including after-hours email and remote logins), the regular-rate overtime calculation that includes nondiscretionary bonuses, meal-and-rest-break rules where states impose them, and state-specific pay-notice requirements. Document the training with a dated completion record so you can show diligence in a DOL audit or wage claim.
