Overview
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the United States' federal wage and hour law, administered by the US Department of Labor (DOL). Among other things, it establishes the federal minimum wage and sets overtime pay requirements for employees in the private and government sectors.
Under the FLSA, some employees areexemptfrom the wage and overtime provisions of the law and some arenonexempt.
- Exemptemployees are considered "salaried" and do not earn any overtime pay for working over 40 hours in a workweek. They must also perform certain types of job duties to qualify as exempt. At FSU, Administrative and Professional (A&P), Executive Service (AEX), and Faculty positions are FLSA exempt.
Exemption Criteria- Duties Test: the employee must perform executive, administrative, or professional job duties.
AND - Salary Test: the employee must be paid on a salary basis and earn at least $684 per week ($35,705 annually based on FSU’s 26.1 pay periods).
- If either test is not met, the employee must be classified as nonexempt (overtime eligible).
- Teaching, Law, & Medicine: employees whose primary duties are teaching, practicing law, or practicing medicine can be classified as exempt even if they do not meet the salary test. This is a special and limited exemption under the FLSA.
- Duties Test: the employee must perform executive, administrative, or professional job duties.
- Nonexemptemployees are considered "wage earning" and must be paid overtime for all hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek (Fri - Thurs). At FSU, most University Support Personnel System (USPS) and Other Personal Staff (OPS) positions are FLSA nonexempt.
For more information on the Federal Government’s FLSA ruling, visit:Department of Labor's website.
FLSA 2020 Update
Last Fall, the US Department of Labor (DOL) released the final rule to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations. The updated regulations increase the minimum salary required before an employee can be classified as exempt from overtime pay under the “white collar” exemptions, from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $684 per week ($35,568 annually). These changes went into effect on January 1, 2020. FSU’s salary for exempt employees currently exceeds this new minimum threshold.
With the release of the final regulations and in collaboration with University administration, the Office of Human Resources evaluated the impact of the new salary threshold on University positions and developed a plan to refine our approach to FLSA exemption. Changes to positions have been determined centrally and will be communicated directly to impacted departments and employees over the next few weeks.
Implementation Snapshot
- A&P nonexemptemployees will return to exempt status and no longer be overtime eligible. Individuals who are currently earning under the new FLSA exempt salary threshold will receive a pay increase to $35,705. Impacted departments and employees will receive individual communication detailing the effects of these changes.
- Your benefits, retirement options, sick and annual leave accrual rates, and pay plan (A&P, Faculty, OPS, or USPS) willNOTchange.
- A&P exempt employeeswill not be impacted.
- USPS employeeswill not be impacted.
- Faculty employeeswill not be impacted.
- Post-doc employeeswill not be impacted.
- OPS employeeswill not be impacted.
Questions?
| Name | Role | Phone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christine Conley | FLSA Timekeeping | caconley@fsu.edu | 850-644-1978 |
| Shelley McLaughlin | FLSA Staff Classification | sscopoli@fsu.edu | 850-644-7935 |
| Rebecca Peterson | FLSA Faculty & Postdoc Classification | rpeterson@fsu.edu | 850-645-2202 |
