Exempt salary threshold is $66,300 downstate, $62,353 upstate.
Effective January 1, 2026, New York's executive and administrative exempt salary threshold rose to $66,300/year ($1,275/week) downstate and $62,353.20/year ($1,199.10/week) upstate. Below these floors, no employee can be exempt from overtime under the executive or administrative exemptions, regardless of duties. New York's professional exemption uses the federal threshold ($35,568/year) — a quirk worth knowing.
Exempt Classification Enforcement
Validates that exempt classifications meet both NY's salary threshold (regional) and the duties test. Salary alone is necessary but not sufficient — duties must qualify under executive, administrative, or professional exemptions.
What the rule does at classification.
The hero card configuration: Block below threshold, Critical on duties review. Here's what each does at runtime.
When marking an employee as exempt, Teambridge checks salary against the applicable regional threshold ($66,300 downstate / $62,353 upstate). Below the threshold, classification fails.
Even with salary clearing the threshold, exempt status requires the duties test. Classification triggers a Critical surface requiring HR confirmation that duties qualify under executive, administrative, or professional exemptions.
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Salary AND duties. Both required. Regional thresholds.
New York's exempt thresholds are roughly double the federal floor. The duties test mirrors the federal standard but applies the state threshold instead.
Three-tier exemption structure
New York recognizes executive, administrative, and professional exemptions. Executive and administrative use the regional NY thresholds ($66,300 / $62,353). Professional uses the federal $35,568/year threshold — much lower. Computer professionals can also qualify under federal rules.
Duties test mirrors federal
Executive: primary duty is management of an enterprise or department, regularly directs work of two+ employees, has hiring/firing authority. Administrative: primary duty is office or non-manual work directly related to management or general business operations, requires independent judgment. Professional: requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning.
Teambridge enforces both halves and tracks the parallel thresholds.
Most NY misclassification mistakes stem from confusing federal and state thresholds, or mixing up the OT-exemption threshold with the pay-frequency threshold. Teambridge handles them as separate gates.
Regional + federal validated.
When classifying as exempt, Teambridge validates against the applicable regional threshold for executive/administrative, federal for professional. Salaries below block the classification.
HR attestation logged.
Salary alone is insufficient. HR must attest that duties qualify under one of the recognized exemptions. The attestation is logged with the classification record for audit defense.
January 1 increases tracked.
When NYSDOL updates the regional thresholds (annually starting 2027 based on minimum wage CPI), Teambridge applies the new thresholds. Existing classifications below the new threshold surface for HR review.
Parallel $1,300/wk threshold.
Employees over the OT-exemption threshold but under the pay-frequency threshold ($1,300/wk) may still be subject to manual-worker weekly pay rules. Teambridge tracks both gates separately.
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