Washington: New Overtime Exemption Rules

The Washington Department of Labor & Industries (DOLI) made changes to the minimum salary level and the job duties test for overtime exempt classifications. Although the salary level change went into effect July 1, 2020, the federal minimum level requirement is higher and must be followed until January 1, 2021 when the state minimum requirement will be higher at $827 per week ($43,004 annually) for small employers and $965 per week ($50,180 annually) for large employers. Eventually, the requirement will increase to 2.5 times the state minimum wage by 2028.

Additionally, the job duties test has been adjusted to align more closely with the federal job duties test, focusing on actual duties rather than job title or description. There is now one, rather than two, job duties test per exemption category. A main departure from the federal overtime exemption is that state rules do not permit a highly-compensated employee exemption.

Action Items