Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

To qualify for exemption, employees generally must meet all the following tests:

• Duties Test - The employee's job duties must primarily involve executive, administrative or professional duties as defined by the regulations.
• Salary Basis Test - The employee must be paid a predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed, for example, on an hourly basis.
• Salary Threshold Test - The salary paid must meet a minimum specified amount. Positions that meet the teaching exemption are not subject to the salary basis and salary threshold test.
  

FLSA status is determined based on the duties of a position and not the position title. Two positions with the same official title can have different FLSA statuses.

To satisfy the salary basis requirement, the employee must be paid a predetermined and fixed salary that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work performed.

Hourly employees are non-exempt.

Annually paid employees are exempt if they also meet the job duties and salary threshold test.

The FLSA requires that most employees in the United States be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at not less than time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek.

• N= Non-exempt for both salary and duties
• E= Exempt for both salary and duties
• N/E+ Non-exempt for salary and exempt for duties

• Shown on the position standard as E.XX, NE.XX or N.XX
• The NYS threshold applies to the administrative and executive employees as defined by RF
• NYS threshold-$58,458.40
• Federal threshold- $35,568.00
  
• If a position meets the duties test for exemption, but the employee is not paid at least the minimum salary threshold, the position must be classified as non-exempt

Professional employees eligible for overtime will earn overtime for hours worked beyond 40 hours in a work week and must communicate effectively with their supervisor to determine their professional obligation. To ensure that your work aligns with guidelines for non-exempt employees, please work closely with your supervisor to manage your schedule. 

What will the new FLSA minimum be? 
$35,568.00 for state employees and $58,458.40 for RF and UBF employees.

Can the ruling be appealed? 
Yes it can be appealed and HR will continue to monitor if there is a change as a result of the appeal.

Is there a change to the duties test? 
The duties test remains unchanged.

What impact will employees see to their current salary? 
There will be no impact to employee’s current salaries.

Employees were already notified about a change in their exemption status as a result of the July increase. What can they expect next? 
HR will notify employees and their supervisor’s that their position has been updated to exempt. Employees will see their time sheets revert back to the exempt timesheets in the coming weeks. 

I submitted a form to increase my employee’s salary by the September deadline. What should I do next?
The salary increase requests will not be moving forward. Any salary adjustment you may need to make will follow the normal classification and appointment change processes. 

I hired a new employee since 7/1/2024 making less than $35,568.00, what impact will they see?
There will be no change to these employees. 

Does my staff need to do anything different with time sheets?
State:  Any employee that reverted from exempt to non-exempt status effective July 1 due to their salary falling below the newly imposed minimum salary of $43,888 will no longer be required to submit the biweekly FLSA timesheet and account for time worked or charged on a biweekly basis. Effective 11/21, they will revert to only submitting monthly timesheets as they did prior and only indicate time charged using quarter day units. Should any affected employees have questions, they may reach out to State Benefits at (716) 645-7777.

RF:  Any employee that reverted from exempt to non-exempt status effective July 1 due to their salary falling below the newly imposed minimum salary of $43,888 will no longer be required to submit biweekly timecards and account for time worked or charged either on an hourly or quarter of an hour basis. Effective 11/16, they will revert back to only submitting  them monthly as they did prior and only indicate time charged using a format of either a quarter day, half day, or whole day. This means that any time on or after December 1, the first monthly timecard should be submitted for the time period of 11/16 through 11/30/2024.   Should any affected employees have questions, they may reach out to RF Human Resources at (716) 645-7777.

Under the July change, I had staff that earned overtime. What impact will they see as a result of this decision?
State: Any overtime worked through 11/15/24 that was paid, will be left intact.   Also, any overtime hours worked through 11/20/2024, the end of the pay period,  that has yet to be paid will still be paid at  the time-and-one-half rate.

RF:  Any overtime worked that was paid up through the 11/15/2024 payroll will be left intact.   Also, any overtime hours worked through 11/15/2024 that have yet to be paid will still be paid at the time-and-one-half rate.