Highly Compensated Employee 2024 Definition And Examples. A highly compensated employee is defined by the irs as an individual who either owns more than 5% of the company at any point during the current or preceding. For plan year 2025, an employee’s 2024 salary must be at least $155,000 to be eligible as an hce.

A highly compensated employee is defined by the irs as an individual who either owns more than 5% of the company at any point during the current or preceding. An hce can be defined as an employee who owned more than 5% of the company at any time during the year (or the year before).