Q: My employer raised my salary due to a law passed on january 1st, 2024. I believe I am an exempt worker. Why and what law

A: Exemptions from overtime pay are not strictly salary based. An employment lawyer often will review the discretion and independent judgment which you may or may not exercise on your job.

Especially applicable for employees who earn less than six figures, employers have not infrequently paid someone a salary, maybe given them a fancy job title, yet limited their true discretion and independent judgment on the job. This applies for non-supervisory employees. Those who may have no special credentials, advanced education, or licenses. Maybe those employees have no true supervisory authority. They don't evaluate employees' performance nor do they have the authority to hire or fire. Maybe their duties are more ministerial than ones requiring independent judgment. These determinations are all fact-based. There is no one size fits all.

The best policy is to call some employment lawyers and discuss. In New York, unpaid wage claims may go back up to six years from when the violation occurred, willful violations entitle employees to liquidated damages and attorneys' fees, those are paid by the employer or possibly individual who should have known the pay practice was illegal. The amount owed is often doubled. Those claims can be very lucrative. But they are never easy, requiring inquiry into the material facts, supported by caselaw with a thorough analysis of the job or position actually performed.