Voice of Business Blog

* Note: the salary threshold chart below has been revised to reflect corrected data for 'remainder of NYS'. 

Employers are reminded that the next New York State minimum wage increase to $15.00 per hour is effective January 1, 2024, rather than December 31 as it has been in the past.  This applies to employers who are outside of the NYC, Long Island, and Westchester County areas as they have their own schedule of increases. In addition, NYS has issued a schedule of upcoming increases for the next several years. See chart below.

Then in addition to the minimum wage increase, the NYS salary threshold for the executive and administrative exemptions will also increase January 1 to $1,124.20 per week and again, only for employers who are outside of the NYC, Long Island, and Westchester County areas as they have a separate schedule. See CORRECTED chart below.

While the NYS salary threshold does not apply to the professional exemption, the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) threshold applies to most jobs that fall under the professional exemption category and is currently $684 per week (DOL has proposed an increase to $1,059/week). Jobs such as teachers, doctors, and lawyers do not have a salary requirement. However, the federal threshold may be increasing in the next 12 months once the DOL issues the final rule intended to update and revise the regulations issued under section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Proposed revisions include increasing the standard salary level and the highly compensated employee total annual compensation threshold, as well as automatic updates going forward.

Also, while the rates above, currently published in the NYS register, are 'proposed', it is expected they will go through as stated. Stay tuned for updates and confirmation of adoption of the rates in future Voice of Business emails.

Greater Rochester Chamber members with questions on these changes can contact the HR Helpline staff for assistance: Jennifer Suppé, Manager, Organizational Culture and HR Services, MSHRD, PHR, SHRM-CP at (585) 256-4608, Cindy Owen, HR Services Partner at (585) 256-4606, or Kathy Richmond, Sr. Director, HR Services at (585) 256-4618. HR Helpline access varies by Membership tier.