How do I correct underpaying an exempt employee their required minimum salary?

There is a way to correct the underpayment, but it is not an easy fix.

Many employers believe they can fix the failure to pay the required minimum salary by retroactively paying the amount of salary necessary to meet the minimum requirement, but that will not correct the mistake.

Once an employer fails to pay the required minimum salary to an employee designated to be exempt from minimum wage, the exemption is lost. An employer cannot regain that exempt status retroactively.

In effect, during the period that the employee was underpaid, that employee was