Employment Law
Not necessarily. A salary alone does not make you exempt in California. For the executive, administrative and professional exemptions, the job must meet a duties test and pay a monthly salary of at least twice the state minimum wage for full-time work, which comes to $70,304 a year in 2026. If either part is missing, the overtime rules apply to you.
Last updated October 4, 2026.
Many employers treat "salaried" and "exempt" as the same thing. California law does not. This page explains the two-part test that most office, management and professional jobs must pass, with the 2026 numbers, and the other exemptions that apply to particular jobs. For an overview of your rights at work, see our employment law page.
Labor Code section 515(a) requires an exempt executive, administrative or professional employee to earn a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment, and section 515(c) defines full-time as 40 hours a week. The state minimum wage has been $16.90 an hour since January 1, 2026, according to the Labor Commissioner.
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| State minimum wage (2026) | $16.90 an hour |
| Two times the minimum wage | $33.80 an hour |
| Weekly (40 hours) | $1,352 |
| Monthly (weekly x 52 / 12) | $5,858.67 |
| Yearly | $70,304 |
Two points about this number. First, the test uses the state minimum wage, not a city rate, so a higher local minimum such as the City of Los Angeles rate does not change it. Second, it moves every January when the state minimum wage is adjusted. You can see the current state and local rates on our page about the 2026 minimum wage in Glendale, Los Angeles and nearby cities.
Salary is only half of the test. The Industrial Welfare Commission's wage orders, which the Labor Commissioner publishes, set out the duties for each exemption. The summary below follows Wage Order 4, which covers professional, technical, clerical, mechanical and similar occupations. If you work in another industry, the Labor Commissioner's website lists which wage order applies to it.
| Exemption | The job must, among other things |
|---|---|
| Executive | Manage the business or a recognized department; customarily and regularly direct the work of two or more employees; have authority to hire or fire, or have recommendations on hiring, firing and promotion given particular weight; regularly use discretion and independent judgment |
| Administrative | Do office or non-manual work directly related to management policies or general business operations; regularly use discretion and independent judgment; and either directly assist an owner or executive, or work under only general supervision on specialized work or special assignments |
| Professional | Be licensed and practicing in law, medicine, dentistry, optometry, architecture, engineering, teaching or accounting, or work in a learned or artistic profession whose work is predominantly intellectual and varied; and use discretion and independent judgment |
For each exemption the employee must also be "primarily engaged" in exempt duties. Section 515(e) defines primarily as more than one half of the employee's worktime. The wage order says the work actually performed during the workweek is examined first and foremost, together with the employer's realistic expectations and the realistic requirements of the job.
For a nonexempt full-time employee paid a salary, the regular hourly rate is one fortieth of the weekly salary (Labor Code section 515(d)(1)), and the fixed salary pays only for the regular, non-overtime hours, whatever a private agreement says (section 515(d)(2)). Take a salary of $62,400 a year. That is $1,200 a week, so the regular rate is $30 an hour and time and a half is $45 an hour. Because $62,400 is below the 2026 floor, that employee is owed overtime for hours over 8 in a day or 40 in a week, whatever the job title.
The executive, administrative and professional tests are the most common, but they are not the only exemptions. The Labor Commissioner publishes a list of others, and a few facts change which rule applies.
| Who | Condition | Wage orders |
|---|---|---|
| Outside salespersons | Exempt from the wage orders by operation of law | All (Lab. Code 1171) |
| Commissioned employees | Earn more than one and a half times the minimum wage, with more than half of pay from commissions | Orders 4 and 7 |
| Union employees | Valid agreement with overtime premiums and a regular rate at least 30% above the state minimum wage | All |
| Public employees | Employed directly by the state, a city, a county or a special district | Most |
| Computer software employees paid hourly | Meet all the requirements in the orders | All except 14 and 16 |
Each wage order has its own exemption section, and the Labor Commissioner notes that Wage Order 14's exemption for intellectual, managerial or creative work must be harmonized with Labor Code section 515(a) for overtime purposes. Check the order for your industry before relying on Wage Order 4.
Section 515(f) says a registered nurse employed to practice nursing is not exempt from the wage orders unless the nurse individually meets the executive or administrative test. A nursing license alone does not make the job exempt as professional work.
Under Orders 4 and 7, an employee who earns more than one and a half times the minimum wage and gets more than half of that pay from commissions is exempt from the overtime provisions.
Being labeled an independent contractor is a different question with a different test, explained on our page about employee or independent contractor status in California.
For example, imagine a hypothetical "operations manager" at a small Glendale distributor who is paid a salary of $65,000 a year and told she is exempt. She supervises no one. Most of her day goes to answering phones, entering orders and scheduling deliveries under a supervisor's checklist, and she usually works 10 hours a day, five days a week.
The salary test fails first: $65,000 is below the $70,304 floor for 2026, so the executive, administrative and professional exemptions cannot apply whatever her duties. The duties test raises the same doubt, because routine order entry and scheduling under a checklist is hard to count as exempt work done with independent judgment. If she is nonexempt, her regular rate is $65,000 divided by 52 weeks, or $1,250, divided by 40, which is $31.25 an hour, and time and a half is $46.875. Ten overtime hours a week at that rate come to $468.75.
That figure is a starting point for questions, not a result. The answer depends on her real hours, her pay records and the wage order for the business, so she saves her job description, her offer letter and a daily log of what she does.
No. A salary above the floor is necessary but not enough. Under section 515(a) you must also be primarily engaged in exempt duties and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment.
An employee paid less than the legal overtime compensation can recover the unpaid balance, interest, reasonable attorney's fees and costs (Labor Code section 1194), and the Labor Commissioner says overtime cannot be waived by agreement. Our overview of wage violation penalties in California covers what can be added, such as penalties for inaccurate pay stubs.
You can file a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner or a lawsuit in court. Our page on a Labor Commissioner wage claim or a lawsuit compares the two.
Labor Code section 98.6(b)(1) protects employees who make a complaint or claim about wages, and an adverse action within 90 days creates a presumption in the employee's favor. Our page on wrongful termination in violation of public policy explains firings for asserting legal rights.
It can. Unpaid overtime is part of the wages owed at the end of employment, and the waiting time penalty applies to exempt and nonexempt employees alike, according to the Labor Commissioner. Our page on final paycheck rules in California explains that penalty.
Misclassification deserves careful review. We look at pay records, schedules and job duties to determine whether an exemption really applies and what a client is owed if it does not. Workers in Glendale and nearby cities can read about local agencies and courts on our Glendale employment lawyer page. Call (818) 244-9000 or request a consultation to talk through your job.
Our Glendale team can look at your salary, duties and hours and explain whether California's overtime rules apply to you.
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