Do Salaried Employees Get Overtime? The Three Tests and Real Pay Examples

Do salaried employees get overtime?

Yes, unless the job is exempt. A salary does not decide it. Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a salaried employee is exempt from overtime only when three tests are all met: the pay is a true salary, the salary is at least $684 a week, and the job duties fit an executive, administrative, professional, computer or outside sales exemption. A salaried employee who fails any one of the three is non-exempt and is owed overtime pay for hours over 40 in a workweek.

So the honest answer to “can you get overtime on salary?” is: it depends on the job, not on how the paycheck is labelled. This article gives the three tests, the salary level and its history, how overtime is priced on a salary with worked dollar figures, the pay deductions that put an exemption at risk, and what to do if you think you are owed overtime.

The three tests that make a salaried employee exempt

The duties test is where most salaried jobs are decided. These are the five white-collar exemptions as the Department of Labor lists them, each with its own duties and each requiring the salary basis and level above:

Highly compensated employees have a shorter test. The Department of Labor says an employee doing office or non-manual work who is paid total annual compensation of $107,432 or more, which must include at least $684 a week paid on a salary or fee basis, is exempt if they customarily and regularly perform at least one duty of an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee.

What is the salary level, and is it still $684 a week?

The Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet #17A, which was the version on its website when this article was last checked on 3 November 2026 (revised September 2019), states the salary level as $684 a week. That is $684 × 52 = $35,568 a year. Employers may use nondiscretionary bonuses and incentive payments, including commissions, paid annually or more often, to meet up to 10 percent of that level.

You may have seen higher figures. A Department of Labor rule in 2024 raised the level to $43,888 in July 2024 and was due to raise it to $58,656 in January 2025. On 15 November 2024 the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas vacated that rule nationwide, and the SBA Office of Advocacy reports that the level reverted to $35,568, or $684 a week. The same report says the government filed a notice of appeal. We found no Department of Labor page that confirms a later change, so confirm the current figure on the Department’s overtime pages before you rely on it. State laws can set a higher salary level than the federal one, so check your state labor department as well.

The level matters most to hours. A salary at exactly $684 a week spreads thinner as the week gets longer. This is what an exempt employee at the level earns per hour for the hours actually worked:

Why a salary alone does not remove overtime

Fact Sheet #17A is direct about it: “job titles do not determine exempt status.” A salaried employee called a manager who spends the day on non-management work does not meet the executive test. The same fact sheet says the white-collar exemptions do not apply to manual laborers and other blue-collar workers, such as carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, construction workers and laborers, no matter how highly paid they are, and that they do not apply to police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other first responders regardless of rank or pay.

Three more rules from Fact Sheet #23 apply to every non-exempt employee, salaried or hourly. Overtime is counted by the workweek, a fixed and recurring period of 168 hours, and hours cannot be averaged across two or more weeks. Overtime pay cannot be waived by agreement. And an announcement that overtime will not be permitted, or will not be paid unless authorised in advance, does not remove the right to pay for overtime that was worked.

How overtime is calculated for a salaried non-exempt employee

A non-exempt salaried employee is still paid the salary. Overtime is added on top, and how much depends on what the salary was agreed to cover. The regulations describe two common situations.

The fluctuating workweek method has conditions. The Department of Labor’s regulation requires that the hours really do fluctuate, that the salary stays fixed however many hours are worked, that the salary is enough to meet the minimum wage in the longest week, that employer and employee have a clear mutual understanding that the salary covers all hours worked, and that the extra half-time pay is paid. If those conditions are not met, the employer cannot rely on the half-time method.

The same salary, priced two ways

Take a non-exempt employee on $1,000 a week ($52,000 a year). Here is the pay for four different weeks, first as a salary that covers 40 hours and then as a fluctuating workweek:

At 50 hours the 40-hour method pays $1,375.00 and the second $1,100.00, a difference of $275.00 for one week. That gap is why the agreement about what the salary covers matters, and why a salary stated as covering 40 hours cannot be treated as a fluctuating workweek unless its conditions are really met.

Bonuses that are promised or tied to hours or output belong in the regular rate. Under the fluctuating method, a $100 non-discretionary bonus in the 50-hour week lifts the regular rate to $22.00 and the week’s pay to $1,210.00. A bonus given entirely at the employer’s discretion is left out. Use the fluctuating workweek calculator for your own hours, and the overtime calculator when the salary is meant to cover 40 hours.

Pay deductions that can put an exemption at risk

The salary basis test is about how the salary is paid. Under 29 CFR 541.602, an exempt employee must receive the full salary for any week in which they perform any work, regardless of the days or hours worked. The regulation lists the deductions that are allowed:

• Full-day absences for personal reasons other than sickness or disability.
• Full-day absences for sickness or disability under a bona fide plan, policy or practice.
• Offsets for jury fees, witness fees or military pay received that week.
• Penalties for infractions of major safety rules.
• Unpaid full-day disciplinary suspensions for workplace conduct under a written policy that applies to all employees.
• Proportionate pay in the first and last week of employment, and for weeks with unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Deductions for absences caused by the employer or by the operating requirements of the business are not allowed, and an employee who is ready, willing and able to work cannot have pay deducted because work is not available. The regulation says such an employee is then not paid on a salary basis. The effect of improper deductions is set out in the next section of the regulations, 29 CFR 541.603.

Signs the exemption may not fit your job

None of these signs proves a job is non-exempt. They are the places the tests are decided, so they are where to look first. The exact answer depends on your real duties and your state’s law.

If you think you are owed overtime

1. Write down the hours you work each day and each week, with start and finish times. A timesheet gives the same figures an employer would use.
2. Work out the regular rate for your pay arrangement, then the overtime, with the tools linked above.
3. Ask your employer in writing how your job is classified and why.
4. Contact the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243, or your state labor department.

Time limits apply. Under 29 U.S.C. 255(a), an action under the FLSA must be brought within two years after the cause of action accrued, or three years for a willful violation. Under 29 U.S.C. 216(b), an employer who fails to pay overtime is liable for the unpaid overtime and an additional equal amount as liquidated damages, and the court must allow a reasonable attorney’s fee and costs. This is general information, not legal advice; a lawyer or your state agency can tell you how it applies to you.

For employers: paying overtime to salaried staff

• Classify each job by its duties, not its title, and check that the salary is at least the current level.
• For non-exempt salaried staff, record the hours worked every workweek.
• State in writing what the salary is intended to cover, and use the matching method: the salary divided by the covered hours, or the fluctuating workweek if all its conditions are met.
• Include non-discretionary bonuses in the regular rate.
• Check your state, because some states set a higher salary level or add daily overtime.

State rules can be stricter

The federal rule is the minimum. State laws can set a higher salary level for exemption and add daily or seventh-day overtime. The overtime laws by state guide lists what we have checked on state sources, and the article on daily versus weekly overtime prices one week under several rules. For the difference between a salary and an hourly wage in general, see salary vs. hourly pay.

Common mistakes