What if I am a ‘salaried’ employee? Do I Get Overtime Pay?
The manner in which an employee is paid does not determine their right to overtime pay. Rather, it is an employee’s job duties, and in most cases their salary (not less than $455 per week; $684 per week as of 1/1/20), that determine if they are exempt from the overtime rules. Even if you were told that you would be paid a certain salary regardless of how much you work, you may still be entitled to overtime pay. Your right to overtime pay cannot be bargained away, avoided or refused.
This page gives further information on the job duties required for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional overtime exemptions which are the most common salaried overtime exemptions.
What if I am a salaried employee but my pay stub shows an hourly amount? Should I Be Paid Overtime?
Often an employer will break down an employee’s salary into an hourly amount based on 40 hours to accommodate the payroll system that the employer uses. The fact that your pay stub shows an hourly amount does not necessarily mean you are being paid hourly and entitled to overtime pay.
If you are paid on a salary basis, you should receive the same amount of pay for each week that you work regardless of the numbers of days or hours you work.
For example: If your weekly salary is $500 per week (which breaks down to $12.50 per hour based on a 40 hour week) and you work 35 hours for the week, you should still receive $500 in wages if you are paid on a salary basis. In this scenario, your pay stub may still show 40 hours in order for the payroll system to generate your set salary amount. If you are paid on an hourly basis, you would only receive $437.50 (35 hours x $12.50).
What if I agreed to work for a ‘flat salary’? Does This Mean I Am Disqualified from Overtime Pay?
Merely paying an employee on a salary basis does not mean the employee is not entitled to overtime pay. Employers and employees get this wrong all the time. While some salaried positions may be exempt – if they have the job duties listed under one of the exemptions under the FLSA, if the employee does not have these exempt job duties, they must receive overtime pay after 40 hours even if they are salaried. While the method of calculating the overtime due to the employee may vary, the employee is entitled to overtime pay for all hours over 40 worked during any given work week.
