MN exempt: $684/week federal salary + duties test.
Minnesota does not have a state-specific exempt salary threshold — the federal FLSA $684/week ($35,568/year) controls. The duties test mirrors federal 29 CFR Part 541: executive, administrative, professional, computer, or outside sales primary duties. Misclassification carries elevated risk in Minnesota thanks to the 2019 Wage Theft Prevention Act: willful misclassification can be charged criminally as wage theft, with civil exposure (back OT + liquidated damages + attorney fees) on top of potential gross misdemeanor or felony charges depending on the amount.
FLSA Exempt Classification
Validates exempt classification against $684/week salary basis and duties test. Captures classification rationale at hire. Annual review enforced. Surfaces Wage Theft Act exposure on misclassification risk.
What those rules do at hire and at review.
The hero card configuration: Avoid on misclassification risk, Flag on annual review, Critical on Wage Theft Act exposure.
When a worker is classified exempt at a salary below $684/week, Teambridge surfaces an Avoid indicator. Classification will fail FLSA review even if duties test is met.
Each exempt worker is flagged for annual classification review on the hire anniversary. The duties test is re-validated against actual job content. Drift in duties → reclassification recommended.
Willful misclassification is wage theft under Minn. Stat. § 181.03. Civil exposure stacks: back-OT + liquidated damages + attorney fees. Criminal exposure: gross misdemeanor or felony based on amount stolen. The MN AG's Wage Theft Unit has been increasingly active in 2025-2026.
Deploy Minnesota exempt classification in your Teambridge.
Tell us about your Minnesota workforce. We'll spin up FLSA-compliant classification with salary basis enforcement, duties test documentation, annual review cycles, and Wage Theft Act exposure tracking — and 21 other Minnesota policies in a sandbox tenant.
Salary basis + duties test — both must be met.
FLSA exempt classification requires both a salary above the threshold AND primary duties matching one of the white-collar exemptions. Salary alone does not exempt; duties alone does not exempt.
Federal floor controls
Minnesota does not have a state-specific exempt threshold. The federal FLSA $684/week ($35,568/year) is the controlling minimum. The DOL's attempted 2024 increase to $1,128/week was vacated by the Eastern District of Texas in November 2024, leaving the federal $684 in place nationwide. Minnesota tracks the federal floor.
Five white-collar exemptions
29 CFR Part 541 defines five exemptions: executive (manage 2+ employees, hire/fire authority); administrative (office work + discretion and independent judgment); professional (advanced knowledge); computer (specific technical roles + $27.63/hr alternative); outside sales (primary duty making sales away from employer's place of business).
Teambridge enforces salary basis and surfaces duties drift before Wage Theft Act exposure accrues.
Classification at hire is the cheap part — annual review against actual duties before the SOL window starts running is where most operators fail.
$684/wk threshold validated.
When a worker is classified exempt, the salary is validated against $684/week. Below the threshold → Avoid surface.
Exempt category + primary duties documented.
At classification, the exempt category and primary duty rationale are captured. Documentation is the first defense in audit or wage claim.
Duties re-validated each year.
Each hire anniversary, exempt workers are flagged for classification review. Captured primary duty is compared against actual recent job content. Drift → reclassification recommended.
Misclassification → liability calculation.
If reclassification is recommended, Teambridge calculates the back-OT exposure plus liquidated damages plus potential criminal threshold. Operators see the full liability before commitment.
Still evaluating? Get a free Minnesota compliance audit.
Send us your existing Minnesota scheduling and pay configuration. Our compliance team returns a written audit within 5 business days — every Minnesota-specific exposure ranked by risk and back-pay liability.