Overtime, Exemptions & Salary Thresholds under FLSA (2026)

Overview:

In 2026, overtime and exemption decisions have become a moving target for payroll and HR teams—not because the FLSA suddenly changed overnight, but because the compliance environment is shifting in multiple directions at once. On the federal side, the Department of Labor has publicly noted ongoing litigation around the 2024 overtime rule and, for enforcement purposes, is applying the 2019 salary level ($684/week) and HCE threshold ($107,432/year) while matters proceed. At the same time, many employers are navigating new state minimum wage increases effective January 1, 2026, which can ripple into wage-hour practices and salary decisions—especially for organizations with multi-state or remote workforces. In California, for example, the January 1, 2026 minimum wage increase also pushes the exempt salary threshold to $70,304, which can force quick re-checks of exemption pay levels for impacted employees.

This is where issues tend to surface in real life: a long-time “exempt” employee takes on more hands-on work, a department quietly normalizes after-hours responses, a role expands across states, or a job description hasn’t kept up with day-to-day duties. Payroll gets asked to “just make it work,” and then a timekeeping exception, a wage complaint, or an internal review triggers the harder question—whether the exemption decision, the salary threshold, and the recordkeeping trail can actually be supported.

This webinar offers a practical, foundational walkthrough of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)—who is covered, what the law requires, and why it continues to drive core pay and classification decisions. We will review current exempt vs. nonexempt requirements, including current salary thresholds and how they affect exemption determinations, along with legislative activity around potential changes to exempt categories. The session also clarifies how the FLSA framework applies to common worker types—employees, temporary employees, independent contractors, volunteers, and trainees/students—and reinforces the recordkeeping requirements that support consistent handling of your employee base from a Department of Labor and FLSA perspective.

Areas covered in the session:

• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) details
• What is the FLSA and why it is so important
• Who is covered under the FLSA
• How does the FLSA define:
• An Employee
• Temp Employees
• Independent Contractors
• Volunteers
• Trainee/Students
• Minimum Wage federal versus state
• Overtime Rules
• Recordkeeping requirements
• Exempt Vs. Non-Exempt
• The Executive Exemption
• The Administrative Exemption   
• The Professional Exemption
• Computer Related Occupations Exemption

Why should you attend?

You should attend if you’re responsible for payroll, HR, or compliance decisions and you want to reduce overtime and misclassification risk before it becomes an expensive clean-up project. In 2026, shifting job duties, hybrid/remote work, and state-by-state wage changes can quietly create classification and overtime inconsistencies—often showing up only when a complaint, audit request, or internal review forces the issue.

This session walks through the FLSA fundamentals and the current exempt vs. nonexempt requirements, including salary thresholds, overtime rules, and recordkeeping expectations—so you can pressure-test how your organization is handling different roles and worker types (employees, temps, contractors, volunteers, trainees/students). It’s designed to help you spot where decisions may be based on assumptions rather than a defensible FLSA framework.

You’ll also benefit from the speaker’s hands-on familiarity with how these rules are applied in real workplaces—helping you translate the requirements into clearer internal handling, better documentation, and more consistent pay practices across departments, without turning the topic into theory.

Handouts:

Attendees will gain access to exclusive handouts, including presentation materials provided by the speaker and additional resources developed by Amorit Education to support post-session implementation, such as:

• FLSA Overtime & Exemption Scenario Playbook (2026) — (PDF)
• Payroll–HR FLSA Fix-It Toolkit (2026) — (PDF)

Who will benefit?

This webinar is designed for professionals responsible for FLSA classification, overtime pay decisions, and wage-hour recordkeeping—especially where roles, locations, and duties are changing. Those include:

• Payroll Manager / Payroll Supervisor / Payroll Specialist
• Payroll Compliance Manager / Payroll Operations Manager / Payroll Tax Manager
• HR Manager / HR Generalist / HR Operations Manager
• HR Compliance Manager / Employee Relations Manager / Labor Relations Manager
• Compensation Manager / Total Rewards Manager / Compensation Analyst
• Time & Attendance Manager / Workforce Management Administrator
• Wage & Hour Analyst / Compliance Manager (Wage & Hour)