In 2022, California’s minimum exempt salary was $62,400 per year for employers with 26 or more employees and $58,240 per year for employers with 25 or fewer employees. Those figures came from a formula tied to the state minimum wage, and missing the number by even a dollar meant the employee could not legally be treated as exempt, no matter the title on the paycheck.
How the Threshold Was Calculated
California Labor Code Section 515(a) requires an exempt employee to earn a monthly salary equal to at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which the statute defines as 40 hours per week.1California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 515 – Exemptions from Overtime Pay In 2022, California still used a two-tier minimum wage: $15.00 per hour at businesses with 26 or more employees and $14.00 per hour at businesses with 25 or fewer.2California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 1182.12 – Minimum Wage
Doubling the applicable minimum wage, multiplying by 40 hours, and extending across the year produced two salary floors:
- Employers with 26 or more employees: $30.00 per hour, $5,200 per month, $62,400 per year.
- Employers with 25 or fewer employees: $28.00 per hour, $4,853.33 per month, $58,240 per year.
The salary also had to be paid as a fixed amount. Docking pay based on how many hours the employee actually worked in a given week could destroy the exemption entirely.
Separate Thresholds for Computer Professionals and Physicians
Two categories of workers had their own numbers, adjusted annually by the California Consumer Price Index rather than the twice-minimum-wage formula.
Computer software professionals under Labor Code Section 515.5 had to earn at least $50.00 per hour, $8,679.16 per month, or $104,149.81 per year in 2022.3California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 515.5 – Exemption for Computer Software Employees The exemption applied only to workers primarily engaged in systems analysis, software design and development, or programming. Help desk staff, hardware repair technicians, and people who used CAD software in an unrelated field like drafting did not qualify.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17E – Exemption for Employees in Computer-Related Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Licensed physicians and surgeons under Labor Code Section 515.6 had to earn at least $91.07 per hour in 2022.5California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 515.6 – Licensed Physicians and Surgeons It covered only physicians doing work that required their medical license. Residents and interns were excluded.
Salary Alone Did Not Make an Employee Exempt
Hitting the number was necessary but not sufficient. California also required that the employee spend more than half of actual working time on executive, administrative, or professional duties. Labor Code Section 515(e) defines “primarily engaged” as more than 50 percent of total work time.1California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 515 – Exemptions from Overtime Pay A manager who spent most of a shift stocking shelves or ringing up customers failed the duties test regardless of salary.
The three qualifying categories, in short: executives who ran a recognized department, directed at least two other employees, and had real authority over hiring and firing; administrative employees whose non-manual work supported running the business or advising clients and involved regular discretion on matters that affected operations;6eCFR. Directly Related to Management or General Business Operations and professionals in fields such as law, medicine, engineering, architecture, and accounting whose work was primarily intellectual and required consistent judgment. Job titles carried no weight; daily tasks did.
California vs. Federal in 2022
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act set its exempt salary threshold at $35,568 per year, or $684 per week, throughout 2022.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17A – Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act California’s floor for larger employers was nearly 75 percent higher, and when state and federal rules conflict, the employee gets the more protective one.8U.S. Department of Labor. Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act Every California employer had to meet the state number.
The duties tests also diverged. Federal law asked whether management was the employee’s “primary duty” under a flexible totality-of-the-circumstances review. California’s fixed 50 percent threshold was concrete and harder to satisfy. A store manager who spent 45 percent of working hours on scheduling, training, and oversight could pass federal review and still fail in California.
What Happened When Employers Paid Below the Threshold
Misclassifying an employee as exempt when the salary fell short was expensive. The worker could file a wage claim reaching back three years for unpaid overtime, missed meal period premiums, and missed rest period premiums. Labor Code Section 226.8 added civil penalties of $5,000 to $15,000 per violation for willful misclassification, rising to $10,000 to $25,000 per violation where the state found a pattern.9California Legislative Information. California Labor Code LAB 226.8 Those penalties stacked on top of the back wages owed.
Employers found in violation also faced liability for the employee’s attorney fees and could be required to post a public notice acknowledging the violation. When several exempt workers at the same company were all paid just under the floor, the exposure compounded quickly. The salary component is a bright line: the number was hit or it was not.
The 2022 Numbers Are Historical
California has since finished phasing out the two-tier minimum wage. As of 2026, the state minimum wage is $16.90 per hour for all employers regardless of size, and the exempt salary threshold moves with it.10Department of Industrial Relations. Minimum Wage – California Department of Industrial Relations11Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime Exemption for Computer Software Employees12Department of Industrial Relations. Overtime Exemption for Licensed Physicians and Surgeons The 2022 figures still matter for back-wage claims and audits covering that year, but anyone setting current payroll should use the current numbers.