There are many different ways to classify employees. One of the most common relates to how an employer pays them. Most workers in Florida are either salaried employees or hourly workers.
Hourly workers receive variable pay from one week to the next depending on how many hours they are on the clock. They may work less than full-time in many cases. Salaried employees generally receive the same wages regardless of whether they work 45 hours or 32 hours in a particular week.
There is a minimum salary requirement
Many people view salaried employees as exempt workers. In other words, they assume that workers paid on a salary basis are not eligible for overtime pay regardless of how much they work. That is not necessarily true. Indeed, it is a common misperception that all salaried employees are exempt from overtime pay. However, salary is ony one of the requirements for exemption. The other, and arguably more important requirement, is that the job duties satisfy at least one of the statutory exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). If an employee is titled as a supervisor or manager, but their primary job duties involve non-supervisory, non-managerial functions, overtime is still owed even if the employee is paid on salary. So, for example, if an employee at a fast food restaurant receives salary and is given the title of supervisor or manager, but, in actuality, spends most of the workweek cooking, serving or taking food orders, the employee is likely not exempt from overtime pay even though they hold a management title and are paid by salary.
An otherwise exempt employee based on job duties has to earn at least a minimum salary amount to be exempt from overtime pay requirements. There have been attempts to increase that salary threshold, but federal judges recently set the new final rule aside.
Currently, the minimum salary established in 2019 is the baseline for exempt workers. A professional needs to make at least $35,568 per year to be exempt from overtime pay requirements. Provided that a worker receives at least $684 in wages each week, they may be exempt from overtime pay rules, assuming they also satisfy the job duty requirements of the FLSA. Assuming both factors are satisfied, the employer can schedule exempt employees for extra hours or even a Saturday shift without paying them.
In scenarios where a salary does not meet that minimum threshold where the company pays the worker on an hourly basis, or where the job duties are not considered exempt under the FLSA, the refusal to pay overtime wages could result in a wage claim. Workers with low salaries or variable pay have the right to 150% of their usual hourly wage if they work more than 40 hours per workweek. In fact, where the improperly classified employee is receiving a high salary, the overtime owed may be quite substantial since the overtime rate is based on a determination of the regular hourly rate calculated by dividing the salary by the hours worked. So, for example, a nonexempt employee earning $1,000 per week for an estimated 40 hour workweek, but who actually works 50 hours in a given week, may be owed an additional $375 in overtime ($1,000/40 = $25 per hour, $25 * 1.5 = $37.50 per hour, 10 OT hours * $37.50 = $375)
Learning more about employment laws and how they affect pay rights can be beneficial for workers. Some workers who receive salary pay are exempt from overtime wage requirements, but that is not universally true. Those who understand the laws that apply to their work arrangements can assert themselves if they do not receive fair treatment and the wages they deserve according to the law.