Page:Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt.pdf/6

2 Congress enacted the FLSA to eliminate both “substandard wages” and “oppressive working hours.” Barrentine v. Arkansas-Best Freight System, Inc., 450 U. S. 728, 739 (1981). The statute addresses the former concern by guaranteeing a minimum wage. See 29 U. S. C. §206. It addresses the latter by requiring time-and-a-half pay for work over 40 hours a week—even for workers whose regular compensation far exceeds “the statutory minimum.” ''Overnight Motor Transp. Co. v. Missel'', 316 U. S. 572, 577 (1942); see §207. The overtime provision was designed both to “compensate [employees] for the burden” of working extra-long hours and to increase overall employment by incentivizing employers to widen their “distribution of available work.” Id., at 578. Employees therefore are not “deprived of the benefits of [overtime compensation] simply because they are well paid.” Jewell Ridge Coal Corp. v. Mine Workers, 325 U. S. 161, 167 (1945).

The FLSA, however, exempts certain categories of workers from its protections, including the overtime-pay guarantee. The statutory exemption relevant here applies to “any employee employed in a bona fide executive, administrative, or professional capacity … (as such terms are defined and delimited from time to time by regulations of the Secretary [of Labor]).” §213(a)(1). Under that provision, the Secretary sets out a standard for determining when an employee is a “bona fide executive.” If that standard is met, the employee has no right to overtime wages.

From as early as 1940, the Secretary’s “bona fide executive” standard has comprised three distinct parts. See 84 Fed. Reg. 51230 (2019) (summarizing the standard’s history). The first is the “salary basis” test—the subject matter of this case. Ibid. The basic idea for now (greater detail and disputation will follow) is that an employee can be a bona fide executive only if he receives a “predetermined and