Self-Assessment

FLSA Exemption Enforcement Readiness Assessment

Evaluate your organization's FLSA exemption classification governance, salary monitoring, duties documentation and payroll configuration.

This assessment evaluates how well your organization classifies exempt and nonexempt roles, monitors DOL salary thresholds, documents duties tests and configures payroll systems to enforce exemption rules. It is designed for HR directors, payroll managers and compliance leads responsible for FLSA overtime compliance. Published by EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software, the assessment covers four enforcement dimensions that determine whether your classifications can survive a DOL audit or wage dispute.

6 minutes · 10 questions · 0 to 30 points

Methodology: Each question evaluates one element of FLSA exemption enforcement maturity across four dimensions: classification governance, salary-level monitoring, duties documentation and payroll-system configuration. Answers are ordered from least mature (0 points) to most mature, and the total score maps to one of four readiness tiers reflecting your organization's ability to defend its exemption decisions in an audit or litigation scenario.

Download a print-and-fill worksheet version

The Assessment

For each question, pick the answer that best describes your organization today and note its points. Add up your points as you go. Your total maps to a result band below.

1
Who owns the decision to classify a role as exempt or nonexempt in your organization?
Diagnoses whether classification governance has a named accountable owner or falls through the cracks between HR, legal and hiring managers.
- Nobody owns it. Hiring managers pick the FLSA status when they open a requisition, and nobody reviews it.0 pts
- HR reviews classifications informally, but there is no documented owner or escalation path for disputed classifications.1 pt
- A named HR or compensation function owns classification decisions, but reviews happen only at hire, not at role change.2 pts
- A named function owns classification with a documented review process at hire, promotion, transfer and reorganization.3 pts
2
How frequently does your organization review existing exempt classifications against current DOL salary thresholds?
Diagnoses salary-level monitoring cadence and whether the organization can catch at-risk employees before a new threshold takes effect.
- We have never conducted a systematic salary-threshold review of exempt employees.0 pts
- We review only when someone raises a concern or when we hear about a DOL rule change in the news.

Score Yourself

Add up the points from every answer. Your total falls between 0 and 30. Find your band below.

0 to 8 points
Undocumented
Your organization has significant gaps in FLSA exemption governance. Classification decisions are made without a documented rationale, salary thresholds are not monitored proactively and your payroll system may not enforce exemption rules at the employee-record level. This posture creates material exposure in a DOL audit, where the burden of proof falls on the employer to demonstrate that each exempt classification meets the salary basis, salary level and duties tests.
Next step: Start by identifying every exempt employee whose classification lacks a dated, documented decision record, and prioritize a duties-test review for the highest-risk roles before your next payroll cycle.
9 to 15 points
Informal
Your organization has some exemption governance practices in place, but they depend on individual initiative rather than a defined process. Classification reviews may happen at hire but not at role change. Salary-threshold monitoring is reactive rather than proactive. Job descriptions exist but do not map to DOL duties-test language. This posture may hold up under routine operations but is likely to break under a DOL inquiry, a wage dispute or a regulatory threshold change.
Next step: Assign a named owner for classification governance and establish a written review trigger for role changes, DOL threshold updates and annual audits.
16 to 23 points
Structured
Your organization has defined processes for classification governance, salary monitoring and duties documentation, but enforcement is not fully automated in the payroll system. Reclassification events still require manual payroll tickets, and audit trails may lack version control or date stamps. This posture is defensible for most routine DOL interactions but leaves gaps in response speed when threshold changes or reclassification events require payroll-system updates within a single pay period.

Download a print-and-fill worksheet version

What to Do Next

Your FLSA exemption enforcement readiness score reflects how well your classification decisions translate into defensible, payroll-ready outcomes. Whether your result landed at Undocumented or Audit-Defensible, the next step is the same: close the gap between your classification governance and your payroll-system configuration. EasyClocking by WorkEasy Software supports this by tying verified time capture, overtime rule enforcement and audit-trail logging into one system, so classification decisions flow into payroll without manual cleanup or reconciliation risk.

Get My Quote →Try the interactive gap assessment

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FLSA Exemption Enforcement Readiness Assessment

The Assessment

Who owns the decision to classify a role as exempt or nonexempt in your organization?

How frequently does your organization review existing exempt classifications against current DOL salary thresholds?

Score Yourself

Undocumented

Informal

Structured

What to Do Next

Fair Pay Starts at the Clock

When an exempt employee's role changes significantly (new duties, new department, new reporting structure), what happens to their FLSA classification?

Do your job descriptions for exempt roles reflect actual primary duties performed, or do they describe the role the organization wishes it had?

Where does your organization store the documented rationale for each exempt classification decision?

How does your payroll system handle overtime calculations for employees classified as exempt?

Does your organization track which exemption category (executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, IT, motor carrier) applies to each exempt role?

How would your organization respond if the DOL raised the salary-level threshold and a group of currently exempt employees fell below the new minimum?

When was the last time your organization audited its exempt classifications to confirm they still meet the applicable duties tests?

If you reclassified an exempt employee as nonexempt today, how long would it take to update your payroll system to begin calculating overtime correctly for that employee?

Audit-Defensible