Montana Minimum Wage and Overtime Exemptions Laws


Executive exemption

Montana exempts executive employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the executive employee exemption, an employee must meet the requirements established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and its related regulations. MT Statute 39-3-406(1)(j); MT Admin. Rule 24.16.211.


Administrative exemption

Montana exempts administrative employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the administrative employee exemption, an employee must meet the requirements established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and its related regulations. MT Statute 39-3-406(1)(j); MT Admin. Rule 24.16.211.


Professional exemption

Montana exempts professional employees from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the professional employee exemption, an employee must meet the requirements established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and its related regulations. MT Statute 39-3-406(1)(j); MT Admin. Rule 24.16.211.


Outside salesman exemption

Montana exempts outside salesmen from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the outside salesmen exemption, an employee must meet the requirements established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and its related regulations. MT Statute 39-3-406(1)(j); MT Admin. Rule 24.16.211.


Computer employee exemption

Montana exempts computer systems analysts, computer programmers, software engineers, network administrators, or other similarly skilled computer employees who earns not less than $27.63 an hour from its minimum wage and overtime requirements. To qualify for the exemption for computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker, an employee must meet the requirements established under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and its related regulations. MT Statute 39-3-406(1)(j); MT Admin. Rule 24.16.211.


Other minimum wage and overtime exemptions

Montana law exempts the following from both its minimum wage and overtime requirements:

  • students participating in a distributive education program established under the auspices of an accredited educational agency
  • employees working in a private home with duties that consist of menial chores such as babysitting, lawn mowing, cleaning sidewalks
  • employees working directly for the head of a household to care for the dependent children of the head of household
  • immediate family members of an employer or individuals dependent upon an employer for half or more of their support in the customary sense of being labeled a dependent
  • individuals who are not regular employees of a non-profit organization and volunteer his or her services to the non-profit organization on a fully or partially reimbursed basis
  • individuals who are retired or semi-retired and provide incidental work as a condition of their living on a farm or ranch
  • individuals employed by the United States of America
  • provided the terms of their employment, resident managers working in a lodging establishment or assisted living facility and live in the establishment or facility in which they are employed
  • direct sellers as defined in 26 U.S.C. 3508
  • individuals placed as participants in public assistance programs authorized by Title 53 into work settings for the purpose of developing employment skills. The placement may be with either a public or private employer. The exclusion does not apply to an employment relationship formed in the work setting outside the scope of the employment skills activities authorized by Title 53.
  • individuals serving as a foster parent, are licensed foster care providers, and providing care without wage compensation to no more than six foster children in the provider’s personal residence. The individual may receive compensation for providing room and board, receiving training, respite care, leisure and recreational activities, and providing for other needs and activities that may arise in the provision of in-home foster care.
  • employees working in domestic service to provide services of companionship (as defined in 29 CFR 552.6) or respite care for individuals who are unable to care for themselves due to age or infirmity as provided under section 213(a)(15) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 213), when the individual providing the service is employed directly by a family member or an individual who is legal guardian.
  • employees of seasonal nonprofit establishments that are organized camps or religious or educational conference centers
  • students enrolled at a postsecondary educational institution who assist with the implementation of student housing programs and receive full or partial remuneration in the form of free or reduced housing in university or campus-owned housing facilities

MT Statute 39-3-406(1)


Overtime only exemptions

Montana law exempts the following from only its overtime requirements. Employers in these situation must comply with any minimum wage requirements:

  • employees subject to the authority of the United States secretary of transportation to establish qualifications and maximum hours of service pursuant to the provisions of 49 U.S.C. 31502
  • employees of an employer subject to 49 U.S.C. 10501 and 49 U.S.C. 60501, the provisions of part I of the Interstate Commerce Act
  • individuals working as outside buyers of poultry, eggs, cream, or milk, in their raw or natural state
  • salespersons, parts persons, or mechanics paid on a commission or contract basis and primarily engaged in selling or servicing automobiles, trucks, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, or farm implements if the salespersons, parts persons, or mechanics work for a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling the vehicles or implements to ultimate purchasers
  • salespersons primarily engaged in selling trailers, boats, or aircraft if the salespersons are employed by a nonmanufacturing establishment primarily engaged in the business of selling trailers, boats, or aircraft to ultimate purchasers
  • salespersons paid on a commission or contract basis who are primarily engaged in selling advertising for a radio or television station employer
  • employees working as drivers or driver’s helpers making local deliveries who are compensated based of trip rates or other delivery payment plan if the commissioner finds that the plan has the general purpose and effect of reducing hours worked by the employees to or below the maximum workweek applicable to them under 39-3-405
  • employees working in agriculture or in connection with the operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs, or waterways that are not owned or operated for profit, that are not operated on a sharecrop basis, and that are used exclusively for supply and storing of water for agricultural purposes
  • employees working in agriculture by a farmer, notwithstanding other employment of the employee in connection with livestock auction operations in which the farmer is engaged as an adjunct to the raising of livestock, either alone or in conjunction with other farmers, if the employee is:
    • primarily employed during a workweek in agriculture by a farmer; and
    • paid for employment in connection with the livestock auction operations at a wage rate not less than that prescribed by 39-3-404
  • employees of an establishment commonly recognized as a country elevator, including an establishment that sells products and services used in the operation of a farm if no more than five employees are employed by the establishment
  • drivers working for an employer that operates taxicabs
  • employees who work with the employees’ spouse by a nonprofit educational institution to serve as the parents of children who are orphans or one of whose natural parents is deceased or who are enrolled in the institution and reside in residential facilities of the institution so long as the children are in residence at the institution and so long as the employee and the employee’s spouse reside in the facilities and receive, without cost, board and lodging from the institution and are together compensated, on a cash basis, at an annual rate of not less than $10,000
  • employees who plant or tend trees; cruise, survey, or fell timber; or transport logs or other forestry products to a mill, processing plant, railroad, or other transportation terminal if the employer in the forestry or lumbering operations does not employ more than eight (8) employees
  • employees of a sheriff’s office who are working under an established work period in lieu of a workweek pursuant to 7-4-2509(1)
  • employees of a municipal or county government who are working under a work period not exceeding 40 hours in a 7-day period established through a collective bargaining agreement when a collective bargaining unit represents the employees or by mutual agreement of the employer and employees when a bargaining unit is not recognized. Employment in excess of 40 hours in a 7-day, 40-hour work period must be compensated at a rate of not less than 1ยฝ times the hourly wage rate for the employees.
  • employees of a hospital or other establishment primarily engaged in the care of the sick, disabled, aged, or mentally ill or defective who is working under a work period not exceeding 80 hours in a 14-day period established through either a collective bargaining agreement when a collective bargaining unit represents the employees or by mutual agreement of the employer and employees when a bargaining unit is not recognized. Employment in excess of 8 hours a day or 80 hours in a 14-day period must be compensated for at a rate of not less than 1ยฝ times the hourly wage rate for the employees.
  • firefighters who work under a work period established in a collective bargaining agreement entered into between a public employer and a firefighters’ organization or its exclusive representative
  • officers or other employees of a police department in a city of the first or second class who is working under a work period established by the chief of police under 7-32-4118
  • employees of a department of public safety working under a work period established pursuant to 7-32-115;
  • employees of a retail establishment if the regular rate of pay exceeds 1ยฝ times the minimum hourly rate applicable under section 206 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, 29 U.S.C. 206, and if more than half of the employees’ compensation for a period of not less than 1 month is derived from commissions on goods and services;
  • individuals working as guides, cooks, camp tenders, outfitter’s assistants, or livestock handlers by a licensed outfitter as defined in 37-47-101
  • employees working as a radio announcers, news editors, or chief engineers by an employer in a second- or third-class city or a town;
  • employees of the consolidated legislative branch as provided in 5-2-503;
  • employees of the state or its political subdivisions employed, at the employees’ option, on an occasional or sporadic basis in a capacity other than the employees’ regular occupation
  • employees of air carriers subject to the provisions of 45 U.S.C. 181, et seq., whose hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek were not required by the air carriers but were arranged through voluntary agreements among employees to trade scheduled work hours

MT Statute 39-3-406(1)


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