The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has unveiled its semi-annual regulatory agenda. The agenda sets an April 2024 date for release of the DOL’s anticipated final rule.

The DOL has released its proposed rule Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional Outside Sales and Computer Employees. As proposed, the rule sharply increases the minimum salary requirements for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional (EAP) exemptions to apply. The salary threshold would increase from the current $684 per week ($35,568 per year) to $1,059 per week ($55,068 per year). The minimum salary for application of the Highly Compensated Employee (HCE) exemption would jump from $107,432 per year to $143,988 per year. However, the DOL has indicated the actual salary threshold will be based on earnings data as of the date the final rule takes effect — which means the salary floor may be even higher than the projected $55,068. That could lift the operative threshold to more than $60,000 annually.

Whether the DOL will meet its April 2024 target date remains to be seen. The DOL will have to review more than 33,000 comments received in response to its notice of proposed rulemaking, and to address substantive comments in the final rulemaking. It’s also uncertain how closely the final rule will conform to the rule as proposed, and when the final rule, once published, will take effect. The DOL’s proposed rule did state the rule would become effective 60 days after publication of a final rule (the minimum timeframe mandated for “major” rules under the Congressional Review Act). The DOL specifically sought comments on the proposed effective date and on whether to apply different effective dates to different provisions of the proposed rule. (Past rulemaking is not a useful predictor: the DOL’s Obama-era white-collar rule revision took effect more than 6 months after the final rule was issued; the Trump DOL’s final rule took effect 3 months after publication.)