This tool uses California rates that are in effect as of July 1, 2026.

Although the California Chamber of Commerce has made every effort to ensure that the Exempt Status Evaluator is complete and accurate in its analysis, the use of this automated tool does not imply or guarantee that the analysis of the position as exempt or nonexempt will be recognized as accurate by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

If you have not yet created a job description for this position, it is highly recommended that you download CalChamber's job description form and make clear the position's duties and responsibilities before you continue with the Exempt Status Evaluator.

Before you begin, there are a few issues that you should be aware of:

The meaning of "exempt"... Due to the nature of their work, some employees are classified by the state and federal governments as being exempt from overtime requirements. This means that you, as an employer, are not required to give them overtime pay, as you are required to do so for nonexempt employees. State and federal law differ in several ways, and where there are discrepancies between state and federal standards, you must meet the standard that is most favorable to the employee. Refer to the Exempt/Nonexempt content area to find more information on this issue.

The position's job title alone does not qualify a position as exempt... Just because you call a person a manager does not mean that she is exempt from overtime requirements. It is necessary to analyze an employee's duties and level of responsibility to determine whether or not a position is exempt.

Salaried positions are not automatically exempt... A position's exempt status depends on (1) the duties associated with it, and (2) being paid on a salary basis that meets minimum salary requirements. In addition, under very limited circumstances, certain doctors, high level computer professionals and commissioned sales persons may be paid an hourly wage and still be exempt from overtime.

Compensation requirements do change... The minimum salary requirement and minimum earnings for commission-paid salespersons is based on the California minimum wage, which can change from time to time. If the state minimum wage changes, you should rerun this tool to assure continued compliance. Also the hourly rate for doctors and computer professionals are adjusted on an annual basis, requiring that you rerun this tool annually for those positions. Finally, you should rerun this tool if federal compensation requirements change to a level that exceeds the California standards.

Date of Search Date of Report

Job Type Please select from the list below what type of job position you wish to analyze:

Note: For more information on the following exemptions, visit the Exempt/Nonexempt section in the HR Library:

The exemption for hourly-paid physicians
The exemption for computer professionals
The exemption for salespersons

Is the hourly pay in cash wages for this physician position more than $107.17?
Yes
No

Do not include any in-kind compensation such as meals or lodging. If the job has a minimum-maximum pay range, it's safest to use the minimum value in the pay range.

In the question below, be sure you fully understand the phrase "customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment." You can click on the phrase to display a browser window that contains a detailed explanation. When you are finished looking over the detailed information, just close the browser window to return to the Exempt Status Evaluator.

Does this job require that the employee customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment? Yes
No

Does this employee earn either an hourly rate of not less than $58.85 an hour or, if the employee is paid on a salaried basis, does this employee earn an annual salary of not less than $122,573.13 for full-time employment, which is paid at least once a month and in a monthly amount of not less than $10,214.44? Yes
No

In the question below, be sure that you fully understand the phrase "discretion and independent judgment." You can click on the phrase to display a browser window that contains a detailed explanation. When you are finished looking over the detailed information, just close the browser window to return to the Exempt Status Evaluator.

Is any employee who works in this position:

Primarily engaged in work that is intellectual or creative? Yes
No

Primarily engaged in work that requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment? Yes
No

Highly skilled and proficient in the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized information to computer systems analysis, programming, and software engineering? Yes
No

Is any employee who works in this position primarily engaged in duties that consist of:

Applying systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software, and/or system functional specifications? Yes
No

Designing, developing, documenting, analyzing, creating, testing, or modifying computer systems or programs, including prototypes, that are based on or related to system design specifications? Yes
No

Documenting, testing, creating, or modifying computer programs related to the design of software or hardware for computer operating systems? Yes
No

Please answer these questions in regard to the employee who works in this position:

Is the employee a trainee or employee in an entry-level position who is learning to become proficient in the theoretical and practical application of highly specialized information to computer systems analysis, programming, and software engineering? Yes
No

Is the employee in a computer-related occupation but has not attained the level of skill and expertise necessary to work independently and without close supervision? Yes
No

Is the employee primarily engaged in the operation of computers or in the manufacture, repair, or maintenance of computer hardware and related equipment? Yes
No

Please answer these questions in regard to the employee who works in this position:

The employee is an engineer, drafter, machinist, or other professional whose work is highly dependent upon or facilitated by the use of computers and computer software programs and who is skilled in computer-aided design software, including CAD/CAM, but who is not in a computer systems analysis or programming occupation. Yes
No

The employee is a writer who is primarily engaged in writing material, including box labels, product descriptions, documentation, promotional material, setup and installation instructions, and other similar written information, either for print or for onscreen media or who writes or provides content material intended to be read by customers, subscribers, or visitors to computer-related media such as the World Wide Web or CD-ROMs. Yes
No

The employee is primarily engaged in creating imagery for effects used in the motion picture, television, or theatrical industry. Yes
No

Is this primarily an inside sales or outside sales position? Inside Sales
Outside Sales

Criteria for determining exempt/nonexempt status for salespersons are more complex than criteria for determining exempt/nonexempt status for other job types. This narrow overtime exemption applies to some commissioned salespersons under Wage Order 4 and Wage Order 7. For a more detailed explanation of the salesperson exemption, please refer to Commissioned Inside Sales Representative on HRCalifornia.

The earnings of the inside sales representative, whether actual commissions or a guaranteed draw, must exceed 1.5 times the state minimum wage for each hour worked during the pay period. This minimum compensation requirement must be satisfied in each workweek and paid in each pay period.

The current minimum wage for all employers is $16.90 per hour. To qualify for this exemption, an individual would need to receive in each paycheck more than $25.35 per hour worked during the applicable workweeks covered by that paycheck.

Does this position meet this minimum pay requirement? Yes
No

Does more than half of the employee's compensation come from commissions? Yes
No

Which Wage Order does the employee work under? Wage Order 4
Wage Order 7
Any other Wage Orders

Is the employee in this outside sales position 18 years of age or older? Yes
No

Does employee in this position spend more than 50 percent of their working time away from the employer's place of business specifically doing any or all of the following?

Selling tangible or intangible items?
Obtaining orders or contracts for products, services or use of facilities?

(This does not include work performed incidental to and in conjunction with the employee's own outside sales or solicitations, such as incidental deliveries and collections, doing repairs, and performing maintenance.)

Yes
No

Criteria for determining exempt/nonexempt status for salespersons are more complex than criteria for determining exempt/nonexempt status for other job types. For a more detailed explanation of the salesperson exemption, please refer to the relevant section on HRCalifornia.

Does this employee:

Earn a minimum monthly salary of not less than $5,858.67?

Yes
No

Salary is limited to cash wages. Do not include any commissions in this figure, nor any in-kind compensation such as meals or lodging. If the job has a minimum-maximum pay range, it's safest to use the minimum value in the pay range.

Please select what type of position this is: Administrative
Executive or Managerial
Professional
None of the Above

Note: For more information on the following exemptions, visit the Exempt/Nonexempt section in the HR Library:

The Administrative Exemption
The Executive-Managerial Exemption
The Professional Exemption

Is this position within a school system, or in an educational establishment or institution, or in one of the departments or subdivisions of an educational establishment or institution? Yes
No

Does this job involve performing office or non-manual work directly related to management policies or general business operations for the employer, for the employer's customers, or for both the employer and the employer's customers? Examples include advising management, planning, negotiating and representing the company. Work should be of substantial importance to the management or operations of the business. Yes
No

Does this job involve performing administrative functions that are directly related to the school system's or the education establishment's academic instruction or training? Yes
No

In the question below, be sure you fully understand the phrase "customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment." You can click on the phrase to display a browser window that contains a detailed explanation. When you are finished looking over the detailed information, just close the browser window to return to the Exempt Status Evaluator.

Does this job require that the employee customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment? Yes
No

Does any employee who works in this position:

Regularly and directly assist a proprietor or work in a bona fide executive or administrative capacity? Yes
No

Perform work along specialized or technical lines that requires special training, experience, or knowledge, and works only under general supervision? Yes
No

Execute special assignments and tasks under only general supervision? Yes
No

What percent of the employee's time is spent performing all the duties described above? %

(Enter a number from 0 to 100)

In the question below, be sure you fully understand the phrase "customarily and regularly exercises discretionary powers." You can click on the phrase to display a browser window that contains a detailed explanation. When you are finished looking over the detailed information, just close the browser window to return to the Exempt Status Evaluator.

Does a person who works in this position:

Have duties and responsibilities involving the management of the enterprise or of a customarily recognized department or subdivision of the enterprise? Yes
No

Customarily and regularly direct the work of two or more other employees? Yes
No

Have the authority to hire and fire other employees or to make suggestions, which are given particular weight, that affect other employees' changes in job status, including hiring and firing, advancement, promotion, and demotion? Yes
No

Customarily and regularly exercise discretionary powers in the performance of his or her duties? Yes
No

Partial list of exempt duties an executive or manager might perform:

Interviewing employees
Selecting employees
Training employees
Setting and adjusting pay rates and work hours or making recommendations in regard to pay
Directing work
Keeping subordinates' production records for use in supervision
Evaluating employees' efficiency and productivity
Disciplining employees
Handling employee complaints
Planning work
Determining work
Distributing work
Deciding on types of merchandise, materials, supplies, machinery, or tools
Controlling flow and distribution of merchandise, materials, and supplies
Providing for the safety of employees and property

Partial list of nonexempt duties an executive or manager might perform:

Performing the same kind of work as subordinates
Performing production work that is not related to a supervisory function
Making sales
Replenishing stock
Returning stock to shelves (except for supervisory training or demonstration purposes)
Performing routine clerical duties such as bookkeeping, cashiering, billing, filing, and/or operating business machines
Checking and inspecting goods as a production operation rather than as a supervisory function
Performing maintenance work

What percent of the employee's time is spent performing the exempt duties described in the list that appears above and to the left? %

(Enter a number from 0 to 100)

Does this position require that the employee be primarily engaged in any of the following recognized professions and be licensed or certified by the state of California in that profession? Yes
No

Law (not including paralegals)
Teaching
Engineering (includes licensed civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers, but not junior engineers or drafters)
Medicine (generally not including pharmacists or nurses, but may include physician assistants) [More Info...]

Optometry
Dentistry (not including dental hygienists except in very limited circumstances) [More Info...]
Accounting (including Certified Public Accountants but not uncertified accountants)
Architecture

Is an employee in this position primarily engaged in a learned or artistic profession?
Yes
No

A "learned or artistic profession" involves:

Work that is original and creative in character in a recognized field of artistic endeavor (as opposed to work that can be produced by a person with general manual or intellectual ability and training). The result of this work depends primarily on the invention, imagination, or talent of the employee;

AND

Work that is mainly intellectual and varied in character (as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work) and is such that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time.

OR

Work that requires knowledge of an advanced type in a field or science that is associated with learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized instruction and study. This specialized training is different from a general academic education, from an apprenticeship, and from training in the performance of routine mental, manual or physical processes or work.

AND

Work that is mainly intellectual and varied in character (as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work) and is such that the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time.

In the question below, be sure you fully understand the phrase "customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment." You can click on the phrase to display a browser window that contains a detailed explanation. When you are finished looking over the detailed information, just close the browser window to return to the Exempt Status Evaluator.

Does this job require that the employee customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment? Yes
No

Fast food and healthcare industries have different salary thresholds for exempt workers. If you are in either of those industries click on the appropriate worker link to see the definitions of workers in those industries and select the button if appropriate. For all other industries and workers, select Other.

Position Type Fast Food Worker
Healthcare Worker
All Other

Does this employee:

Earn a minimum monthly salary of not less than $6933.34?

Yes
No

Salary is limited to cash wages. Do not include any commissions in this figure, nor any in-kind compensation such as meals or lodging. If the job has a minimum-maximum pay range, it's safest to use the minimum value in the pay range. *This salary threshold takes effect April 1, 2024.