While the increase in the Federal minimum weekly salary for exempt employees has been put on hold, at least temporarily, New York State has enacted its own legislation on the matter. New wage orders, officially adopted by New York State on December 28, 2016, will require employers to increase their exempt executive and administrative employees’ weekly salary in order for those employees to remain exempt. In most instances, if an employer pays its employees less than the applicable new minimum weekly salary required, the employees will be entitled to overtime regardless of their job duties.

How much an exempt employee’s minimum weekly salary will increase depends on where the employee works in New York State. Below are the new minimum salary levels, which will go into effect December 31, 2016 (please note that further increases are scheduled to occur on a yearly basis through 2021):

Location	Minimum Weekly Salary
New York City (five boroughs) – Employers with 11 or more employees	$825.00 per week ($42,900.00 annually)
New York City (five boroughs) – Employers with 10 or fewer employees	$787.50 per week ($40,950.00 annually)
Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties	$750.00 per week ($39,000.00 annually)
All other New York counties	$727.50 per week ($37,830.00 annually)

Also, remember that just because an employee meets this minimum salary threshold, this does not mean that an employee is automatically exempt from the overtime pay requirements.