The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has announced that the minimum compensation required to qualify for the state’s computer-professional exemption in 2011 will remain unchanged from that of 2010. Therefore, in 2011, an employee must be paid a salary of at least $79,050 annually ($6,587.50 monthly) to qualify for the computer-professional exemption in California.1 The minimum hourly rate and salary requirements for the computer professional exemption under Labor Code Section 515.5 are adjusted annually for inflation according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).2

This year, the CPI increased by 1.1 percent, in contrast to a decrease of 1.4 percent from 2008 to 2009. Despite this increase, the DIR did not increase the minimum statutory rates that an exempt computer professional must be paid because the CPI remains below 2008 levels; thus, there has been no net “percentage increase.”3