The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that both private and federal employers in the United States pay hourly (non-exempt) workers overtime at a minimum of 1.5x’s the normal hourly rate for any hours past forty hours in a workweek.
Now that you know what consists of a workweek and how you accrue overtime, you may be ready to pick up some extra hours to pay for some extras during the holiday season. Hold that thought. There are types of workers who are exempted from the overtime requirement. Those workers are generally salaried and make at least $684 a week (as of September 24, 2019). Those people are:
- Administrative Employees:
- Duties must generally be the performance of office or non-manual management or general business operations for the employers, AND
- Duty must include discretion and independent judgment with significant matters
- Executive Employee:
- Duty must generally be managing and interpose or recognized department of the enterprise.
- Direct two or more other full-time employees
- Have hiring or firing power or whose suggestions a “particular weight” when it comes to hiring, firing, advancement, promotion, or other change of other employee status
- Professional Employee:
- Duties must generally be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge that is mostly intellectual in character and requires consistent exercise of discretion and judgement
- Must be a field of science or learning, AND
- Knowledge must be customarily acquired by prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction
Unfortunately, those classifications are not always as self-explanatory as they appear, and there are other exempt employees that don’t necessarily fit into the above categories. Without an expert in overtime law and the FLSA, it can be hard to figure out if you fit into one of these categories or if you’re an hourly (non-exempt) worker.
If you’re unsure whether or not you qualify as an hourly (non-exempt) or exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act, that’s okay. Your consultation is free! Call (404) 831-8721 or fill out the contact form to schedule your appointment.