New York State Exempt Salary Threshold by Region

The New York exempt salary threshold for the executive and administrative exemptions is set by region and rises every January. For 2024, the floor was $1,200 per week ($62,400 per year) in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, and $1,124.20 per week ($58,458.40 per year) in the rest of the state. Those numbers rose again in 2025 and 2026. Meeting the salary alone doesn’t make anyone exempt, though. The employee’s job duties and the way you pay them both have to satisfy separate tests under New York’s labor regulations.

Weekly and Annual Thresholds by Region

New York uses a two-tier map. Downstate (NYC, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester) sits at one figure; the rest of the state at a lower one. Employer size no longer changes the number. Under 12 NYCRR 142-2.14, the amounts are:

January 1, 2024: $1,200.00/week ($62,400/year) downstate; $1,124.20/week ($58,458.40/year) elsewhere.
January 1, 2025: $1,237.50/week ($64,350/year) downstate; $1,161.65/week ($60,405.80/year) elsewhere.
January 1, 2026: $1,275.00/week ($66,300/year) downstate; $1,199.10/week ($62,353.20/year) elsewhere.¹

These figures apply to the executive and administrative exemptions and are identical regardless of how many workers the employer has.² If weekly pay falls below the applicable floor even slightly, the employee is automatically non-exempt and must receive overtime at one and one-half times the regular rate for every hour past 40 in a workweek. Title and managerial responsibilities don’t rescue an employer whose pay math misses the floor.³

Because the number climbs every January, a salary that supported an exemption last year may not support it this year. An NYC employee kept at $1,200 per week into 2025 is now under the floor and owed overtime.

How This Compares to the Federal Threshold

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act sets its own salary minimum for the executive and administrative exemptions at $684 per week ($35,568 per year). The U.S. Department of Labor tried to raise that number in 2024, but a federal court in Texas vacated the rule in November 2024, so the $684 figure remains in effect.⁴

When a state’s threshold is higher, the state figure controls. Paying a New York employee $700 per week clears federal law but sits well below every New York regional threshold, so the employee is entitled to overtime under state law. For executive and administrative classifications in New York, the federal number is essentially irrelevant.

The Executive Exemption Duties Test

Clearing the salary is the entry ticket, not the exemption itself. Under 12 NYCRR 142-2.14, an exempt executive employee must satisfy every one of the following:

Their primary duty is managing the business or a recognized department within it.
They regularly direct the work of at least two full-time employees, or the equivalent.
They have authority to hire and fire, or their recommendations on hiring, firing, promotions, and similar personnel decisions carry real weight.
They regularly exercise independent judgment rather than following a script.⁵

All four prongs must hold at once. A shift lead who opens and closes a restaurant, trains new hires, and handles cash may look like a manager, but if 80 percent of their time is spent making sandwiches, their primary duty is production work. That employee is likely owed overtime whatever the title or salary says.

The Administrative Exemption Duties Test

The administrative exemption covers a different kind of role. The employee must satisfy all of the following:

Their primary duty is office or non-manual work directly related to management policies or general business operations, not producing or selling the employer’s product.
They regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment on meaningful decisions.
They either directly assist an executive or administrator, or perform specialized technical work requiring advanced training under only general supervision.⁵

This is the exemption employers misapply most often. Putting someone at a desk on salary doesn’t make them administratively exempt. A bookkeeper entering transactions using set procedures exercises little discretion and almost certainly qualifies for overtime. An HR manager who designs compensation structure, advises leadership on terminations, and handles investigations independently is closer to the mark.

The Professional Exemption Uses a Different Floor

New York sets its own salary thresholds only for the executive and administrative exemptions. For the professional exemption, covering learned professionals like engineers, doctors, accountants, and lawyers, and creative professionals like writers, musicians, and graphic designers, New York has no state-specific floor. The classification defaults to the federal $684 per week ($35,568 per year).⁴

The practical consequence: a salaried engineer in Albany earning $40,000 can be exempt as a professional even though the same salary falls short of the executive or administrative threshold. The duties test still applies. The work must require advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired through prolonged specialized education, or genuine invention and originality in a recognized creative field.⁶

Salary Basis and Improper Deductions

Exempt pay has to be a real salary. That means a fixed, predetermined amount each pay period that doesn’t drop because the employee worked fewer hours or business was slow. If the employee performs any work during the week, the full salary is due.⁷

Deductions are only permitted in narrow situations: full-day absences for personal reasons other than sickness, unpaid disciplinary suspensions of one or more full days for workplace conduct violations, and penalties for serious safety violations.⁸ Docking pay for a partial-day absence is not allowed. If an exempt employee leaves two hours early for a dentist appointment, the full day’s pay is still due.

Improper deductions aren’t just payroll errors. An actual practice of docking exempt pay in ways the regulations forbid can destroy the exemption itself, and every employee subject to the practice becomes entitled to retroactive overtime.⁹

The Highly Compensated Employee Shortcut

Federal law offers an abbreviated duties test for high earners. An employee whose total annual compensation reaches at least $107,432 qualifies as exempt if they customarily perform at least one duty of an executive, administrative, or professional employee, without needing to satisfy every prong of the full test.⁴ The 2024 rule would have raised this to $151,164, but that increase was vacated along with the rest of the rule. The $107,432 figure remains. This shortcut matters most in borderline cases where a high salary is present but the duties don’t cleanly satisfy every element of the standard test.

What Misclassification Costs

Classifying a non-exempt employee as exempt exposes an employer to real money. An employee denied overtime can recover the full amount of unpaid wages plus liquidated damages of up to 100 percent of the wages owed, effectively doubling the bill. Reasonable attorney’s fees, court costs, and prejudgment interest are also recoverable. If any part of the judgment stays unpaid 90 days after it becomes final, the total automatically increases by 15 percent.¹⁰

New York also gives workers a much longer window than federal law. The FLSA statute of limitations is two years, or three for willful violations. Under New York Labor Law, the deadline is six years.¹¹ For an employee near the exemption threshold who regularly works 50-hour weeks, six years of back overtime doubled by liquidated damages adds up fast.

Employees can file a complaint with the New York State Department of Labor at no cost, bring a private lawsuit, or do both; a department investigation does not bar a civil action.¹¹

1
New York State Department of Labor. Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions
2
New York State Department of Labor. 12 NYCRR 142 – Minimum Wage Order for Miscellaneous Industries and Occupations
3
New York State Department of Labor. Overtime Frequently Asked Questions
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption from Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections Under the FLSA
5
Legal Information Institute. New York Comp. Codes R. and Regs. Tit. 12 142-2.14 – Employee
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17E – Exemption for Employees in Computer-Related Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
7
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 541 Subpart G – Salary Requirements
8
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17G – Salary Basis Requirement and the Part 541 Exemptions Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
9
eCFR. 29 CFR 541.602 – Salary Basis
10
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law Section 198
11
New York State Senate. New York Labor Law 663 – Civil Action