Employees in executive positions can only be classified as exempt from overtime if their job duties involve the management of the enterprise in which he or she is employed and the employee regularly exercises independent discretion and judgment as well as directs the work of 2 or more other employees...

Under the California Wage Orders and Labor Code there is an exemption from overtime pay for professionals. In order to be properly classified as exempt under the learned professional exemption, the employee must have advanced knowledge or skill...

Many administrative employees are classified as exempt vs. non-exempt in California. In order for an administrative worker to be correctly classified as exempt under the administrative exemption, the employee must be exercising independent discretion and judgment as to matters of significance...

Certain computer professionals are exempt from overtime in California and under federal law. However, entry level computer employees should be paid overtime compensation. So should computer employees that primarily perform job duties involving the repair and ...

Inside sales people working in the retail or other similar industries can be classified as exempt vs. non-exempt from overtime pay only if the employees commissions earned are at least equal to the employees base salary. If a company uses a draw against commission pay plan employees can still earn...

EXEMPT VS. NON-EXEMPT RESOURCE CENTER

Are you trying to find out whether or not you are an exempt vs. a non-exempt employee? Our overtime pay lawyers have been litigating exemption issues in class action lawsuits and individual actions for over a decade. We have significant experience handling the Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions as well as the California Labor Code exemptions from overtime pay. Our exempt vs. non-exempt lawyers focus on helping professional, administrative, executive and sales employees recover unpaid overtime compensation for working more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week. Some people argue that an employee in California should not make overtime if he or she makes a good salary. However, the law has a different point of view.

Exempt vs. Non-Exempt Overtime Pay Laws

All employees in California are presumed to be non-exempt from overtime pay. In order for an employee to be properly classified as exempt, the employer has the burden of proving that the employee should not be paid overtime. In order for an employer to prove that an employee is exempt from the California Labor Code and Fair Labor Standards Act, two requirements must be satisfied:

REQUIREMENT # 1: SALARY BASIS TEST

The first requirement to be exempt from overtime pay is that the employee is actually paid on a salary basis. Many employees think that being paid a salary means they are not supposed to be paid overtime compensation for working more than 8 hour days or 40 hour weeks under the California Labor Code and 40 hour weeks under the Fair Labor Standards Act. However, this is not the case. The salary aspect of the exempt vs. non-exempt inquiry is just the first prong.

Under this prong, the operative question is whether the employer reduces the employees rate of pay when the employee works less than 40 hours in a workweek. In order to be paid an actual salary, employees must be paid the same amount of money every workweek - regardless of whether they work overtime or if they work less than 40 hours. This is just the first part of the test. Even if your company does not violate salary laws, being paid a salary does not mean you are an exempt employee.

REQUIREMENT # 2: JOB DUTIES TEST

The second prong of the exempt vs. non-exempt test deals with an employees job duties. Not only does the company have to pay the employee an actual salary as outlined above, but the employee must be performing certain job duties. In order to be classified as exempt, there are different job duty requirements depending on the nature of your work. Click on the links below to read about the different types of job duties that determine exempt vs. non-exempt status.