Answer the questions and this tool walks the exemption analysis in order — salary basis, salary level (against the federal floor and the higher state floors where you operate), then the duties test for the track you choose — and returns a layered verdict: a federal result and a separate state result, because the same facts can pass federally and fail under a state's higher floor or quantitative duties test. It covers the four hotel tracks (executive, administrative, professional, and the §7(i) commissioned-employee exemption for spas), analyzes salary-basis deductions, and loads illustrative role presets. Inputs never leave your browser.

Heavily disclaimed, on purpose Classification is a legal judgment built on actual duties, not titles or this questionnaire. Treat the output as a structured issue-spotting memo to bring to counsel — never as a determination. State tests differ (California counts duties quantitatively and rejects the HCE shortcut), and the §7(i) establishment test is attested here, not computed.

Pre-fills the track and answers from the exemptions brief's role table. Illustrative, not a determination.
Applies the higher of the federal or state salary floor and any state duties overlay.
The fixed weekly amount paid regardless of hours or output.
For the HCE shortcut. Leave blank to use salary × 52.
Heavy productivity bonuses, per-shift add-ons, or a day rate paired with a guarantee — tests the §541.604(b) reasonable-relationship requirement.
Salary-basis deduction check (does the employer ever make these deductions from exempt salaries?)

Worked example: the $700/week night auditor#

The classic hotel misclassification, walked through the checker's own sequence. Use the Night auditor preset, or enter: Texas · $700/week · true weekly salary · executive track · primary duty managing a department no · directs two or more FTEs no · hiring/firing weight no · majority of shift on line-level work yes.

How the verdict is built#

  1. Salary basis: passes. A fixed $700 every week is a salary. (Switch the pay method to "day rate" and the analysis fails immediately — Helix Energy v. Hewitt; a shift rate for night coverage is not a salary at any total.)
  2. Salary level: passes — by $16. The checker applies the higher of the federal or state floor; Texas adds none, so $700 clears the $684 federal floor (29 CFR 541.600, restored eff. May 15, 2026). Switch the state to California and the state verdict fails on salary alone: $700 sits far below the $1,352 floor, before duties are even reached.
  3. Duties: fails on all three executive elements. Running the night audit checklist is not managing a customarily recognized department (29 CFR 541.100(a)(2)); there is no one to direct at 3 a.m. (541.100(a)(3)); and the auditor neither hires nor fires nor carries particular weight (541.100(a)(4)). The "yes" on line-level work adds the concurrent-duties risk flag federally (29 CFR 541.106) — and under California's quantitative test it is dispositive.
  4. Federal verdict: "Does not satisfy." Two passing salary screens cannot rescue a failed duties test — the three tests are conjunctive. The HCE shortcut doesn't help: $700 × 52 = $36,400, nowhere near the $107,432 threshold (29 CFR 541.601).

This is why salary-level reviews that stop at "$700 is more than $684" miss the exposure: the night auditor is non-exempt because of what the job is. The role-by-role analysis is in the exemptions brief.

What this checker adds#

  • Layered verdicts. A federal result and a separate state result, so a role that is exempt in Texas and non-exempt in California shows both at once — with the controlling floor and the state duties overlay named.
  • The §7(i) commissioned track. For hotel spas and salons: the establishment test (attested), the regular-rate prong (more than 1.5× the applicable minimum wage in every overtime week), and the more-than-half-commissions prong over a representative period (29 CFR 516.16; DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2026-4). It waives federal overtime only — state daily-overtime rules may still apply.
  • State overlays. California's quantitative >50% duties test and its rejection of the HCE shortcut (Lab. Code §515); New York's regional EAP floors with no separate professional floor; Washington's 2.25× floor; Colorado's $130,014 HCE threshold; Nevada's duties-based test with no salary floor.
  • A salary-basis deduction analyzer. The §541.602(b)(1)–(7) permitted deductions versus the improper ones that defeat the exemption for the whole class — with the §541.603 safe harbor flipping the outcome from a violation to a curable risk.
  • The reasonable-relationship test. A guarantee that is dwarfed by actual earnings — productivity-bonus-heavy pay, or a day rate paired with a weekly guarantee — is flagged under §541.604(b), which can defeat the salary basis even where a guarantee nominally exists.
  • Role presets. Night auditor, front office manager, executive housekeeper, working sous chef, day-rate chief engineer, sales coordinator, and commissioned spa therapist — illustrative answer sets from the brief's role table.

Full role-by-role analysis: white-collar exemptions in hotels. This tool is educational — see the disclaimer.