Fair Labor Standards Act Regulations

The Fair Labor Standards Act was created in 1938 to provide overtime protection for our nation’s workers.

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued rules that become effective January 1st, 2020, raising the minimum weekly amount that certain categories of salaried employees must be paid to be exempted from an employer’s obligation to pay overtime to employees who work in excess of forty (40) hours in a workweek, increasing from $455 to $684. With respect to certain categories of salaried AMP employees, that minimum annualized salary shall be $35,704.80 (based upon 26.1 and before taxes/other deductions), effective on or before the first day of Pay Period 2, on December 28th, 2019


Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Status

Non-Exempt employees are subject to minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping regulations. Nonexempt employees are eligible to earn overtime (1.5 times the regular hourly rate of pay) for all hours worked in excess of forty (40) hours in one work week or compensatory leave. As FAU is a public employer, non-exempt employees who work over 40 hours in a week may be compensated with “Comp Time” (time off) at the overtime rate of one and a half. For example, if a non exempt employee works 41 hours in a week, they may accrue 1.5 hours of Comp Time. For more information on compensatory leave, please see the university personnel policies using the link below.

Exempt employees are not eligible to earn overtime for hours worked in excess of forty (40) hours in one work week.

Components of FLSA Exemption

The regulations provide exemption tests for employees to use to determine which of their employees are exempt and therefore not eligible for overtime. The exemption tests focus on the duties and responsibilities performed by the employee.

Executive Exemption

To qualify for the executive employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:

  • The employee must be compensated on a salary basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week;
  • The employee’s primary duty must be managing the enterprise, or managing a customarily recognized department or subdivision of the enterprise;
  • The employee must customarily and regularly direct the work of at least two or more other full-time employees or their equivalent; and
  • The employee must have the authority to hire or fire other employees, or the employee’s suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring, firing, advancement, promotion or any other change of status of other employees must be given particular weight.

Administrative Exemption

To qualify for the executive employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:

  • The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week;
  • The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers; and
  • The employee’s primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.

Professional Exemption

To qualify for the learned professional employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:

  • The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at the rate not less than $684 per week;
  • The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment;
  • The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and
  • The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.

To qualify for the creative professional employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:

  • The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week;
  • The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.

Computer Employee Exemption

To qualify for the computer employee exemption, the following tests must be met:

  • The employee must be compensated either on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week or, if compensated on an hourly basis at a rate not less than $27.63 an hour;
  • The employee must be employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer or other similarly skilled worker in the computer field performing the duties described below;
  • The employee’s primary duty must consist of:
    1. The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or systems functional specifications;
    2. The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
    3. The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
    4. A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skill.

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