WASHINGTON – The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries recently filed an expedited rulemaking notice to make minor technical corrections to the overtime exemption rules adopted in December.
The changes fix an incorrect date and delete some language regarding outside salespeople that were not intended to be in the final rule.
“This filing doesn’t make any significant changes in the rules,” said Deputy Director Liz Smith. “These are corrections to inadvertent errors in the rule language, nothing more.”
On Dec. 11, 2019, L&I announced new rules regarding overtime exemptions for executive, administrative, and professional employees, as well as outside salespeople and computer professionals. The new rules, which change the job duties tests for each exemption category and increase the minimum salary threshold an employee must be paid to be exempt, take effect July 1.
Corrections
The first correction regarding salary thresholds is in WAC 296-128-545. It changes subsection 9 to read “Beginning January 1, 2028 …” instead of 2026. The department meant to change the year written in the rule when it opted to extend the implementation schedule of the salary threshold increases from 2026 to 2028.
The second correction deletes some language in WAC 296-128-540. The draft rule removed some language in the outside salesperson duties test, but that language was inadvertently added back in for the final version. Removing the unintended language brings the state’s rules back into closer alignment with the federal regulations.
For more information on the rule changes, go to http://www.Lni.wa.gov/overtimerulemaking.
