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Minimum wage, overtime exemptions

Photos of a restaurant manager, a teacher and a warehouse manager.

Both federal and Minnesota wage and hour laws allow employers to make certain employees exempt from overtime and minimum wage requirements. It is important to note that employers must follow both state and federal laws.

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Types of employees that may be designated as exempt under Minnesota law

The Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes workers’ rights to minimum wage, overtime and other workplace protections, contains exemptions for more than 20 types of workers, including:

  • nonprofit volunteers;

  • elected officials;

  • police and firefighters;

  • seasonal fair, carnival and ski facility workers (overtime exempt only);

  • clergy working in schools, hospitals or nonprofits operated by a church or religious order;

  • certain agricultural workers, if paid on a salary basis;

  • outside salespersons; and

  • executive, administrative and professional employees.

Executive, administrative and professional exemptions

Positions designated under one of these common exemptions must be paid a guaranteed and predetermined weekly salary and perform certain job duties to be exempt from Minnesota's overtime law. It is important to emphasize that paying an employee a salary or using a certain job title, such as supervisor, does not make a worker exempt without meeting the “duties tests.”

The duties tests and salary amounts can be found in Minnesota Rules 5200.0180 -- Executive, administrative and professional personnel and:

Employee notice requirements

Minnesota's employee notice law requires employers to provide certain information to employees in writing, including the basis for designating an employee as exempt. Employers can satisfy this requirement by citing the specific Minnesota law or rule that allows the exemption or by citing the type of exemption for which the employee qualifies, such as an executive exemption.