Opinion of the Court
First, even without support from §604(b), the plain text of §602(a) excludes daily-rate workers like Hewitt, for all the reasons given in Part II–A. See supra, at 8–12. And Helix of course acknowledges that it must comply with §602(a) to satisfy the HCE rule’s salary-basis requirement. See supra, at 7. Second, even on Helix’s view of the HCE rule, §604(b) in fact confirms the plain-text, weekly-rate-only reading of §602(a). Helix, after all, agrees that both provisions serve as pathways to meeting the salary-basis test when the general rule (for lower-income workers) is involved. See supra, at 14. And if in that context (as just shown) §604(b) confirms that §602(a) applies only to weekly-rate employees, then the same must be true in the HCE context. For §602(a) cannot change meanings depending on whether it applies to the general rule or the HCE rule. It applies to both, and must mean the same thing in either context. So even supposing that the HCE rule incorporates only §602(a), and not §604(b), the two provisions still must be read to complement each other.
In any event, Helix is wrong that the HCE rule operates independently of §604(b). The HCE rule refers to the salary-basis (and salary-level) requirement in the same way that the general rule does. Compare §541.601(b)(1) (requiring “at least $455 per week paid on a salary or fee basis”) with §541.100(a)(1) (requiring payment “on a salary basis at a rate of not less than $455 per week”). And as already described, the two provisions giving content to that requirement—explaining when a person is indeed paid on a salary basis—are §602(a) and §604(b). See supra, at 4–5, 13. So both those provisions should apply to both the general and the HCE rule—because both the former serve to define what both the latter identically require. Helix tries to avoid that reasoning by noting that a later version of the HCE rule than the one governing this case cross-references §602(a) but not §604(b). See Brief for Petitioners 29–30,
