I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2395 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to establish a minimum 
salary threshold for bona fide executive, administrative, and professional 
employees exempt from Federal overtime compensation requirements, 
and automatically update such threshold each year, and for other pur-
poses. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 29, 2023 
Mr. TAKANO (for himself and Ms. ADAMS) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to establish 
a minimum salary threshold for bona fide executive, ad-
ministrative, and professional employees exempt from 
Federal overtime compensation requirements, and auto-
matically update such threshold each year, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring Overtime 
Pay Act of 2023’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 
U.S.C. 201 et seq.) established overtime compensa-
tion requirements for certain employees when they 
work more than 40 hours in a given workweek. 
(2) Under section 13(a)(1) of such Act, Con-
gress delegated to the Secretary of Labor the au-
thority to define and delimit the terms relating to 
the exemption for bona fide executive, administra-
tive, and professional employees (commonly known 
as the ‘‘white-collar exemption’’). 
(3) For more than 75 years, the Secretary of 
Labor has exercised the Secretary’s delegated au-
thority to issue regulations that define and delimit 
the terms relating to the white-collar exemption by 
applying a duties test and applying a minimum com-
pensation level (or salary threshold). 
(4) The Secretary of Labor began utilizing a 
salary threshold in the initial regulations defining 
and delimiting the terms relating to the white-collar 
exemption, which were first issued in 1938. 
(5) Congress has long approved the use of a 
salary threshold by the Secretary of Labor, as dem-
onstrated by the fact that Congress has amended the 
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 at least 10 times 
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since 1938 and has not precluded the Secretary 
from using a salary threshold. 
(6) The salary threshold became woefully out of 
date and ineffective as a result of not being suffi-
ciently updated to keep pace with the changing econ-
omy, as evidenced by the fact that 63 percent of all 
full-time salaried workers were guaranteed overtime 
pay under section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards 
Act of 1938 based on their salaries in 1975 while, 
in 2022, less than 15 percent of all full-time salaried 
workers are guaranteed such overtime pay under the 
overtime rule promulgated on September 27, 2019. 
(7) Weak overtime protections also hurt the 
many workers who are forced into part-time jobs but 
need full-time jobs to support themselves and their 
families. When employers can no longer overwork 
employees who are exempt from overtime pay be-
cause of lax standards, they will be forced to spread 
work and hours across their workforce. Restoring 
overtime protections is especially important in 2023, 
as the economy of the United States is still recov-
ering from the pandemic and many workers report 
their employers demanding excessive hours. 
(8) In 2015, when the Department of Labor 
proposed an increase to the overtime salary thresh-
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old rule under the Obama Administration, it found 
that the historic range of the overtime salary thresh-
old under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ran 
from approximately the 35th to the 55th percentile 
of weekly earnings for all full-time salaried workers. 
By phasing the overtime salary threshold back up to 
the 55th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried 
workers nationally—which after adjusting for infla-
tion is projected to translate to an annualized 
amount of $73,551 in 2021 and $82,745 by 2026 
(roughly the level of the boldest State overtime 
threshold increase)—the United States can restore 
overtime protections to historic levels. 
SEC. 3. MINIMUM SALARY THRESHOLD FOR BONA FIDE EX-
ECUTIVE, ADMINISTRATIVE, AND PROFES-
SIONAL EMPLOYEES EXEMPT FROM FEDERAL 
OVERTIME COMPENSATION REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 13 of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 213) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 
(A) by inserting ‘‘subsection (k) and’’ after 
‘‘subject to’’; and 
(B) by inserting ‘‘(except as provided 
under subsection (k)(2)(C))’’ after ‘‘Administra-
tive Procedure Act’’; and 
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(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(k) MINIMUM SALARY THRESHOLD.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the effective 
date of the Restoring Overtime Pay Act of 2023, the 
Secretary shall require that an employee described in 
subsection (a)(1), as a requirement for exemption 
under such subsection, be compensated on a salary 
basis, or equivalent fee basis, within the meaning of 
such terms in subpart G of part 541 of title 29, 
Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regu-
lation), at a rate per week that is not less than the 
weekly rate of the applicable annualized salary 
threshold under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(2) SALARY THRESHOLD.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graphs (B) and (C), the applicable annualized 
salary threshold shall be— 
‘‘(i) $45,000, beginning on the effec-
tive date of the Restoring Overtime Pay 
Act of 2023; 
‘‘(ii) $55,000, beginning on January 
1, 2024; 
‘‘(iii) $65,000, beginning on January 
1, 2025; 
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‘‘(iv) $75,000, beginning on January 
1, 2026; and 
‘‘(v) beginning on January 1, 2027, 
an annualized amount that is equal to the 
rate of the 55th percentile of weekly earn-
ings of full-time salaried workers nation-
ally, as determined by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics based on data from the second 
quarter of 2026. 
‘‘(B) INCREASED THRESHOLD.—The Sec-
retary may establish, through notice and com-
ment rulemaking under section 553 of title 5, 
United States Code, a salary threshold that is 
a rate that— 
‘‘(i) is greater than the applicable 
annualized salary threshold under subpara-
graph (A); and 
‘‘(ii) is calculated based on a data set 
and methodology established by the Sec-
retary that are capable of being updated in 
accordance with subparagraph (C). 
‘‘(C) AUTOMATIC UPDATES.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 
year after the salary threshold first takes 
effect under subparagraph (A)(v), and an-
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nually thereafter, or, in the case in which 
the Secretary establishes an increased sal-
ary threshold under subparagraph (B), an-
nually after establishing such increased 
salary threshold, the Secretary shall up-
date the rate of the salary threshold in ef-
fect under subparagraph (A)(v) or (B), as 
applicable, so that such rate is equal to— 
‘‘(I) in the case in which the Sec-
retary does not establish an increased 
salary threshold under subparagraph 
(B), the 55th percentile of weekly 
earnings of full-time salaried workers 
nationally, as determined by the Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics based on data 
from the second quarter of the cal-
endar year preceding the calendar 
year in which such updated amount is 
to take effect; and 
‘‘(II) in the case in which the 
Secretary establishes an increased sal-
ary threshold under subparagraph 
(B), the greater of— 
‘‘(aa) the 55th percentile de-
scribed in subclause (I); and 
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‘‘(bb) the increased salary 
threshold established under sub-
paragraph (B), as updated in ac-
cordance with the data set and 
methodology established by the 
Secretary under subparagraph 
(B)(ii). 
‘‘(ii) NONAPPLICABILITY
OF
RULE-
MAKING.—Section 553 of title 5, United 
States Code, shall not apply to any update 
described in this subparagraph. 
‘‘(D) NOTICE
REQUIREMENT.—Not later 
than 60 days before a revised salary threshold 
under this paragraph takes effect, the Secretary 
shall publish a notice announcing the amount in 
the Federal Register and on the internet 
website of the Department of Labor.’’. 
(b) PUBLICATION OF EARNINGS.—Not later than 21 
days after the end of each calendar quarter, the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics shall publish on its public website, for 
each week of such quarter, data on the weekly earnings 
of full-time salaried workers by census region (as des-
ignated by the Bureau of the Census). 
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