Exempt status is decided by what you actually do and how you are paid, and never by your job title alone. An employer that calls a position exempt has taken a position it has to be able to defend against the specific test it is relying on.
There is a second point that general summaries leave out. Minnesota and federal law each have their own exemptions, written differently, so an employee can be exempt under one and still be owed overtime under the other.
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Exempt Means Exempt From a Specific Statute
“Exempt” is not a status a person carries. It describes the relationship between a particular job and a particular statute.
The federal exemptions sit at 29 U.S.C. § 213 and are defined in detail at 29 CFR part 541. The Minnesota exclusions sit at Minn. Stat. § 177.23, subd. 7, which defines who counts as an “employee” for the state act, with the tests supplied by Minn. R. 5200.0180 to 5200.0211.
An employer claiming an exemption is claiming it under one of those, and it bears the burden of showing that the job fits. Minn. R. 5200.0180 states the standard: the primary duties of the employee determine status, and only where those primary duties meet all the criteria under a particular test may the employer treat the employee as exempt.
The Federal Test Has Three Parts
The standard federal executive, administrative, learned professional and creative professional tests generally have three elements, and all three have to be satisfied.
Salary basis. The employee must receive a predetermined amount each pay period that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of work.
Salary level. The employee must receive at least the applicable threshold. That figure is $684 per week for the standard exemptions and $107,432 per year in total annual compensation for the highly compensated employee exemption, which also requires at least $684 per week on a salary or fee basis.
Duties. The employee’s primary duty must satisfy the specific test for the exemption claimed.
Different compensation rules apply to several categories. Under 29 CFR 541.600, the salary requirements do not apply to employees engaged as teachers, or to employees who hold a valid license or certificate permitting the practice of law or medicine and are actually engaged in that practice. Outside sales employees have no salary requirement at all. Certain computer employees may qualify on an hourly basis at not less than $27.63 an hour. The Department of Labor states the same exceptions in its Fact Sheet 17G.
The salary figures above have moved recently. A 2024 rule that would have raised them was vacated in November 2024, and the Department of Labor published a technical amendment on May 15, 2026 restoring the 2019 levels. The Department has not ruled out future rulemaking on the salary level, so the figures are worth confirming against the current regulation.
| Exemption | Salary requirement | Core duty |
| Executive (federal) | $684 per week | Primary duty is management of the enterprise or a recognized department; customarily and regularly directs the work of two or more full-time employees or their equivalent; authority to hire or fire, or recommendations given particular weight |
| Administrative (federal) | $684 per week | Primary duty is office or non-manual work directly related to management or general business operations, including the exercise of discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance |
| Professional (federal) | $684 per week, except that the salary requirement does not apply to teachers or to employees licensed and actually practicing law or medicine (29 CFR 541.600(e), 541.303, 541.304) | Primary duty requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by prolonged specialized instruction, or invention, imagination or talent in a recognized artistic field |
| Outside sales (federal) | None | Primary duty is making sales, customarily and regularly away from the employer’s place of business |
| Computer employees (federal) | $684 per week, or an hourly rate of not less than $27.63 | Primary duty in systems analysis, programming or software engineering as defined in 29 CFR 541.400 |
| Highly compensated (federal) | $107,432 per year, including at least $684 per week | Customarily and regularly performs at least one exempt duty of the executive, administrative or professional tests |
| Executive, administrative, professional (Minnesota) | $250 per week under test I, or $155 per week under test II; $170 for professional test II | Primary duties meeting all criteria of the applicable state test |
Source: 29 CFR part 541 and U.S. Department of Labor, Fact Sheet 17A; Minn. R. 5200.0190, 5200.0200 and 5200.0210. Verified September 6, 2026.
Minnesota’s Exemption Is Written Differently
Two features of the state tests stand out against the federal ones.
The state salary figures are low and have not moved in decades. Executive test I requires at least $250 per week and executive test II at least $155, with the administrative tests at the same levels and professional test II at $170. Those numbers were set by a rule adopted in 1993. Because the Minnesota salary thresholds are much lower than the current federal standard, duties will often be the more contested element under state law, but the applicable salary requirement still has to be satisfied.
The state duties criteria are also more specific in places. Executive test II requires the employee to manage and supervise a department of at least two other full-time people, defined as employees working at least 35 hours a week, to have authority to hire or fire or suggest changes in employee status, to regularly exercise discretionary powers, and to devote less than 20 percent of time worked to nonexempt work, or 40 percent in a retail or service establishment. Alternatives to that last element are owning 20 percent or more of the business, or having sole charge of an independent or branch establishment.
Minn. R. 5200.0180 adds two limits that come up in practice. Only one employee per enterprise, department or branch may be treated as in sole charge, regardless of how many shifts run. And work claimed as related to exempt work counts only if the employee actually performs the exempt function it relates to.
The Other Exclusions in Section 177.23
The white collar clause is one of nineteen. The state act also excludes, among others, specified agricultural workers on small farming units, certain seasonal camp staff, individuals rendering gratuitous service for a nonprofit, elected officials and certain political subdivision employees, police and fire protection employees of a political subdivision, taxicab drivers, sole practitioner babysitters, certain minors working limited hours for a municipal recreation program, conservation officers, drivers subject to Department of Transportation hours of service authority, seafarers, and members of religious orders serving in institutions operated by their church or order.
One clause is overtime-specific. Clause (13) excludes individuals employed on a seasonal basis in a carnival, circus, fair or ski facility for the purpose of section 177.25 only, which means the minimum wage still applies to them. Minn. R. 5200.0242 defines seasonal as no more than 30 weeks in a calendar year, and Minn. R. 5200.0270 defines what counts as a fair.
Section 177.25 then carves out further situations in its own subdivisions, including certain commissioned vehicle salespeople, parts people and mechanics, on-farm silo construction on a unit or piece rate, and air carrier employees whose hours above 48 come from voluntary shift trades.
Where Employers Get This Wrong
Certain patterns recur, and each of them is a place where an exemption claim can fail on the facts.
The title carries the claim. An assistant manager who spends most of the week running a register, stocking and covering shifts is doing a large amount of nonexempt work, whatever the title says. Under federal law that is weighed as part of the primary duty inquiry rather than being decisive on its own; the Minnesota test II puts an express number on it in the form of the 20 percent and 40 percent limits.
The salary is treated as the whole test. Paying $684 a week satisfies one element of the federal test and says nothing about duties.
Discretion is confused with responsibility. Minn. R. 5200.0180 distinguishes employees empowered to independently commit the employer on matters of importance from those making routine day-to-day decisions or following prescribed procedures. Recommendations count only where the employer consistently accepted and followed them.
The federal exemption is treated as the end of the analysis. An employer that establishes a federal exemption has not established a state one, and the 48-hour threshold continues to apply where the state exclusion does not fit.
If You Think You Were Misclassified
The record you want is a record of duties rather than of hours alone, because duties are what the tests turn on.
Write down what you actually did in a normal week, in the proportions you did it, including how much time went to the same work your nonexempt coworkers performed. Keep the job description, any performance reviews describing your responsibilities, and anything showing who you supervised and what authority you had over them. Keep your earnings statements, which under Minn. Stat. § 181.032 show your rate and, unless you are exempt from chapter 177, your total hours worked. Where an employer has treated a role as exempt it may not have recorded hours at all, which is itself worth noting.
A misclassification that affected you may also have affected coworkers with materially similar duties and pay practices, although exemption status ultimately depends on the actual duties of each employee measured against the applicable test. Our page on exempt and non-exempt classification covers how the categories work, our page on worker misclassification covers the separate contractor question, and our page on unpaid wages in Minneapolis covers what a claim involves.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my job title decide whether I am exempt?
No. The Department of Labor states that job titles do not determine exempt status, and Minn. R. 5200.0180 provides that primary duties are determinative. The two systems then diverge. Under federal law the question is the employee’s primary duty judged from the job as a whole, and performing substantial nonexempt work does not by itself defeat the exemption. Minnesota’s test II separately imposes specific limits on nonexempt work, at less than 20 percent of time worked, or 40 percent in a retail or service establishment.
I am paid a salary above $684 a week. Am I exempt?
Not on that basis alone. The salary level is one of three federal elements, and the duties test has to be satisfied as well. The state analysis is separate again and turns on primary duties under the applicable Minnesota test.
Can part of my salary be made up of bonuses?
Under the federal regulations an employer may satisfy up to 10 percent of the standard salary level with nondiscretionary bonuses, incentive payments and commissions paid at least annually. The remaining 90 percent has to be paid as salary, and the duties test is unaffected.
My employer classified my whole team as exempt. Does that help or hurt?
It is relevant either way. Exempt status is meant to be assessed by position, so a uniform classification tells you the employer made one decision for the role rather than individual assessments. Whether that decision was correct still turns on what the role actually involved, and differences between individuals in the same title can matter to how a group claim is analyzed.
What happens if the exemption does not hold up?
The employee was nonexempt for the period in question, and overtime is owed for the hours above the applicable threshold. Under the state act that carries the remedies in Minn. Stat. § 177.27, subds. 8 and 10, including an equal additional amount as liquidated damages and mandatory costs and attorney fees. Under the federal act the parallel remedies sit at 29 U.S.C. § 216(b).
This article provides general information about state and federal overtime exemptions and is not legal advice. Exempt status depends on the specific duties of your job and the way you were paid. Confirm current requirements with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, the U.S. Department of Labor or an attorney.
