Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) issued a rule to increase the minimum salary required to avoid overtime compensation for executive, administrative, and professional (EAP) workers was adopted.
The new minimum salary for Pennsylvania is $780 per week ($40,560 annually), effective January 1, 2021 and will exceed the required minimum salary federal threshold that became effective January 1, 2020. There are also differences in the Pennsylvania duties test definitions as well as the salary threshold. This could present issues for employers who must comply with both federal and state law. The following is a side-by-side comparison of the provisions.
Comparison of Federal and Pennsylvania Rules
Under both federal and state law, employees generally must be paid overtime for working more than 40 hours per week. There are several classes of employees who are exempt from this overtime pay requirement. In order to qualify for the exemption, employers generally must show that the employees perform certain executive, administrative or professional (EAP) duties and that the employees receive a minimum weekly salary.