Overview
- The Labor Department, which published the technical amendment Friday, removed the 2024 rule from its regulations and reinstated the pre-2024 Part 541 text.
- The federal tests now sit at $684 per week for executive, administrative, and professional exemptions, with $107,432 a year for the highly compensated employee category.
- Courts in Texas vacated the 2024 expansion in November and December 2024, and the Fifth Circuit dismissed the last appeals on May 5, 2026.
- The department called the change a technical correction that takes effect upon publication and bypasses notice-and-comment because it conforms to binding court rulings.
- The change preserves the 2019 status quo, so salaried workers below $35,568 remain eligible for overtime under federal law, though some states like California and New York require higher pay to qualify as exempt.