What is California’s Minimum Exempt Salary for 2025?

California workers must make a minimum amount to be considered salaried employees exempt from many of the rules applicable to hourly workers. That changes over time based on twice the state’s minimum wage. This rule intends to ensure that salaried employees legitimately work in higher-level jobs and aren’t just paid that way so an employer can avoid paying overtime. A wage theft law firm in California can help ensure you’re paid all you’re owed.

MJB Law Group, APC wage theft lawyers in Tustin represent employees in wage theft cases. With many years of experience, our employment law firm fight to ensure employees are paid every dollar they’ve earned. If you are a salaried employee and have questions about your status, call us at (949) 266-0880.

What is a Salary?

Employees paid with a salary should consistently make the same amount as time goes on. It’s not based on hourly payments, which may go up and down. Salaried employees make the same amount no matter how many hours they work. For employees, the primary benefit of this arrangement is pay security, but there is no overtime pay, so pay remains the same when you work more than 40 hours/week.

What is Hourly Pay?

Workers paid hourly typically have a set wage rate, which may increase if they work specific shifts, weekends, or holidays. Their pay changes based on how many hours they work in a given pay period. Under state and federal laws, those working more than 40 hours a week are entitled to 1.5 times their hourly rate for every hour they work overtime unless there’s an agreement with the employee that employees will make more.

What is a Minimum Wage?

State and federal laws also regulate minimum wages, the minimum hourly amount an employee must pay. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, while California’s is $16.00 per hour. That will increase to $16.50 next year.

Who are Exempt and Nonexempt Employees?

If an employee is exempt under California law, an employee generally will need to meet a duties test. More than half of an employee’s time must be spent doing exempt job duties (such as administrative, executive, computer, professional, and outside sales). The person would also need to be paid at least two times the minimum wage for 40 hours a week.

A nonexempt employee doesn’t meet the salary or duty tests for exemption. They must be paid the minimum wage per hour, if not more, and earn overtime if they work more than 40 hours a week. They’re also entitled to meal and rest breaks.

Why is Pay a Consideration When Deciding if an Employee Should be Exempt?

Regulators fear employers may label hourly workers as exempt and pay them a salary instead of an hourly rate plus overtime, which may be more costly. To discourage this, exempt employees must make at least a given amount. The duties test is part of the equation to prevent employers from paying a salary without overtime for work traditionally performed by workers paid hourly.

Under federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the federal Department of Labor uses the same test, but the required pay is lower than California’s. Even though the agency has judged whether a job is genuinely exempt based partly on pay since the 1940s, employers are challenging its use in court.

What is 2025’s Minimum Salary for California’s Exempt Workers?

Starting January 1, the state’s minimum wage will be $16.50 per hour. If you multiply that by 40 hours in a standard work week and by 52 (the number of weeks in a year) and multiply that by 2, you get the minimum salary for the state’s exempt employees – $68,640. Computer professionals are treated differently than other exempt employees. Their 2025 minimum salary will be $118,128.43 (the 2024 rate of $115,763.35 plus $2,365.08).

Whether you’re not paid enough as an exempt or non-exempt employee, an MJB Law Group, APC wage theft lawyer can help explain the law and work to get you the pay you deserve.

Contact Our Tustin Wage Theft Attorney Today!

If you aren’t paid what you’ve earned, fight back. Wage theft is illegal, and we can hold your employer accountable. The Tustin wage theft attorneys at MJB Law Group, APC have helped workers across Orange County and Southern California collect the wages they need to support their families and live their lives. Contact us today by calling our employment law firm at (949) 266-0880.