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The following is not meant to be legal advice.

Federal regulations have created an exemption for highly compensated employees.  This information can be found under the FLSA.  To qualify for this highly compensated exemption, an employee must earn at least $100,000 in total annual compensation, which must include $455 per week paid on a salary or fee basis.  Total annual compensation does not include payments for board, lodging, medical insurance, life insurance, or other fringe benefits.  This research may be found at 29 C.F.R. § 541.601.

Federal regulations consider a high level of compensation to be a strong indicator of an employee’s exempt status.  These regulations may be studied at 29 C.F.R. § 541.601(c).  Thus, it is sufficient for such employees to customarily and regularly perform one or more of the exempt duties from the executive, administrative or professional category under federal wage and hour laws.  A duty performed customarily and regularly would be normal and recurrent in a workweek, but unlike a primary duty, the customarily and regularly performed duty need not be the employee’s main or most important duty. Definitions for these wage and hour terms are found at 29 C.F.R. § 541.701.