Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released its much-anticipated final overtime rule, increasing the salary thresholds for administrative, professional and executive employees to qualify as exempt from federal minimum wage and overtime requirements.

Under the new rule, effective January 1, 2020, employees must earn a minimum of $684 per week (equivalent to $35,568 per year) to qualify as exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

This is a significant increase from the prior requirement of $455 per week ($23,660 per year). Once the new rule takes effect on January 1, 2020, the DOL anticipates that 1.3 million Americans will be newly eligible for overtime.

The new rule also increases the annual compensation required under the "highly compensated employee" exemption from $100,000 per year to $107,432 per year.