The new year is almost upon us. While business owners are focused on finishing out 2024, they must also prepare for changes to various employment laws that will take effect on January 1, 2025.

Increases to New York Minimum Wage and Minimum Salaries

New York’s minimum wage is set to go up by fifty cents, to $16.50 per hour in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island (“downstate”), and to $15.50 per hour in the rest of the state. This increase also means that overtime rates will have to be adjusted accordingly for minimum wage workers, to $24.75 for every hour worked over 40 for those working downstate, and to $23.25 per overtime hour for those working in the rest of the state.

In addition, the minimum salary for exempt employees, i.e., those whose earnings and job duties exempt them from earning overtime, will increase to $1,237.50 per week, or $64,350 per year, for downstate exempt employees, and will go up to $1,161.65, or $60,405.80 for exempt employees in the rest of the state.

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