Do salaried employees get overtime?

No. A salary doesn't automatically exempt you from overtime. The FLSA's white-collar exemptions have two requirements that must both be satisfied. First, you must earn at least $684 per week. Second, your primary duty must fit within one of the three narrow categories: executive, administrative, or professional. Paying someone a salary and calling them exempt is not enough. Most salaried workers don't pass the duties test, which means most salaried workers are owed overtime for every hour over 40 in any workweek.

What is the salary threshold for the FLSA exemption?

The federal salary threshold is $684 per week, which equals $35,568 per year. If you earn less than that, no exemption can apply and you're entitled to overtime, full stop, regardless of what your employer calls you. If you earn more, you've crossed the salary threshold, but that only takes you halfway. You still have to pass a duties test for the specific exemption your employer is invoking. The salary test is a floor, not a ceiling.

What is the primary duty test?

The primary duty test is where most misclassifications live. Your primary duty is the principal, most important function of your job, measured by what you actually spend your time doing and what your employer most depends on you to do. The executive exemption requires genuine management of an enterprise or department with real authority over hiring and firing. The administrative exemption requires independent judgment on matters of significant business impact. The professional exemption requires advanced knowledge in a recognized field like law, medicine, or engineering. If your daily work doesn't genuinely fit one of those categories, you're non-exempt and owed overtime.

Can employers misuse the salaried exemption?

Yes. Employers misuse the salaried exemption regularly, often without any analysis of whether the employee's actual duties qualify. A common pattern: an employer pays a worker a salary, writes 'exempt' on the job description, and never examines whether the duties test is satisfied. Sometimes the salary doesn't even meet the threshold. Sometimes the employer pays the right salary but the employee spends most of their day doing routine, non-exempt work. Each of these is an FLSA violation, and in most cases it runs across the entire period of employment.

How much can I recover if I've been misclassified as salaried exempt?

If you've been misclassified as salaried exempt, you can recover unpaid overtime for the full lookback period, which is two years for standard violations and three years for willful ones. On top of back wages, the FLSA allows liquidated damages equal to the unpaid amount, which doubles the recovery. Most salaried misclassification cases that I handle settle or result in judgments somewhere between $30,000 and $200,000 or more, depending on the salary, average overtime hours worked each week, and how long the misclassification ran.

Am I Entitled to Overtime If I'm Salaried?

The short answer: maybe. Being paid a salary does not automatically exempt you from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA allows exemptions only for certain salaried employees who meet specific requirements. Most salaried workers are not exempt and are entitled to overtime.

Employers frequently misuse the "salaried exempt" classification as a blanket excuse to avoid paying overtime. But the law is specific. Just because you're paid a salary does not mean overtime does not apply.

The Two-Part Exemption Test

To be exempt from overtime, two things must be true:

Part 1: You Must Earn at Least the Salary Threshold

As of 2026, the threshold is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year (assuming 52 weeks).

If you earn less than $684 per week, you are entitled to overtime, period. It doesn't matter what your duties are. The salary test is a floor. You must clear it to qualify for any exemption.

Many employers pay salaried workers below this threshold and wrongly claim exemption. This is a clear violation.

The salary must also be paid on a "salary basis", meaning the employer must pay the full amount regardless of the number of hours worked or the quality of work. Deductions for absences destroy the salary basis and can trigger overtime liability.

Part 2: Your Primary Duty Must Qualify for an Exemption

Even if you earn above the threshold, you're only exempt if your primary duty falls into one of three narrow categories: executive, administrative, or professional.

The key word is "primary duty." It's not what you do sometimes. It's not what your job title says. It's what you primarily do, your main function.

If you spend 80% of your time on non-exempt work and 20% on exempt duties, you're non-exempt. The primary duty test is strict.

The Executive Exemption

To qualify:

You must earn at least $684 per week.
Your primary duty must be managing the enterprise or a department/subdivision.
You must supervise at least two full-time employees (or the equivalent).
You must have authority to hire, fire, promote, or recommend these decisions with weight given to your recommendations.

This is narrower than employers think. A supervisor who mostly does the work themselves, with minimal management duties, doesn't qualify. A shift leader who helps customers and occasionally directs others doesn't qualify.

A true manager (someone whose primary job is overseeing operations, making decisions, hiring/firing, and strategic direction) qualifies.

Courts look at what the person actually does, not the title. A "manager" who is mostly behind the register is non-exempt. A "supervisor" who rarely supervises is non-exempt.

The Administrative Exemption

To qualify:

You must earn at least $684 per week.
Your primary duty must involve office or administrative work directly related to management or business operations.
The work must require discretion and independent judgment on significant matters.
The work must not be routine or clerical.

An administrative assistant might not qualify, even with a $684+ salary. The work is often routine (scheduling, filing, processing) rather than discretionary judgment.

A business analyst, a policy specialist, or an HR coordinator whose work involves evaluating information and making recommendations on significant issues might qualify.

The key is discretion on significant matters. Executing pre-made decisions or following established procedures is not exempt.

The Professional Exemption

To qualify:

You must earn at least $684 per week.
Your primary duty must involve work requiring advanced knowledge (typically a bachelor's degree or higher).
The work must be intellectual and involve discretion and judgment.
The work must be in a recognized professional field (law, medicine, accounting, engineering, etc.).

An attorney, a CPA, an engineer, or a doctor qualifies. Their work requires specialized education and involves discretion and judgment.

But a person with a college degree who performs routine tasks (data entry, customer service, execution of preset protocols) does not qualify. Education alone is not enough. The work itself must require the specialized knowledge.

How Employers Misuse the Salaried Exemption

1. Paying Below the Threshold But Claiming Exemption

Employer pays $500 per week but tells the employee, "You're salaried exempt, so no overtime." This is a straightforward violation. The salary test is not met.

2. Calling Someone a Manager Without Actual Management Duties

Employer assigns a title like "manager" or "supervisor" to justify overtime exemption, but the employee's primary duty is non-management work. If the person spends most of their time doing the work (not managing others), the exemption doesn't apply.

3. Classifying Based on Education, Not Duties

Employer hires a college graduate and marks them as "professional exempt" because they have a degree. But if the work is routine (execution of pre-made decisions, following procedures), the degree alone doesn't justify exemption.

4. Misapplying the "Salary Basis" Rule

Employer pays a salary but then deducts pay for:

Partial-day absences
Quality of work issues
Failures to meet performance standards
Unscheduled absences

These deductions destroy the salary basis and trigger overtime liability. The employer's attempt to apply "at-will" discipline to a salaried position actually converts the employee back to non-exempt status.

5. Mixing Exempt and Non-Exempt Duties

Employer assigns a salaried employee exempt job duties (management, discretionary decision-making) plus significant non-exempt duties (hands-on work, execution, routine tasks).

If the primary duty is non-exempt, the exemption doesn't apply, even if 20-30% of the time is spent on exempt work.

How to Know If You're Misclassified

Ask yourself:

Do I earn less than $684 per week ($35,568 per year)? If yes, you're entitled to overtime.
Is my primary duty managing other people? If no, you're probably not exempt.
Do I spend most of my time doing the actual work (not managing, not making discretionary decisions)? If yes, you're likely non-exempt.
Does my employer deduct pay for absences or performance issues? If yes, the salary basis is destroyed, and you're likely non-exempt.
Am I expected to work 50+ hours per week without overtime pay? If yes, there's a good chance you're misclassified.

What Misclassification Cases Are Worth

If you've been misclassified as salaried exempt and worked overtime-causing hours without overtime pay, your case is valuable.

Example: A salaried employee earning $50,000 per year ($961/week, satisfying the salary test) is classified as "exempt" based on a manager title. But the employee's primary duty is sales work, not management. The employee supervises no one and makes no hiring/firing decisions.

The employee works 50-55 hours per week for three years. Based on the hours and duties, the employee should be paid as a non-exempt hourly employee at $50,000 / 2,080 hours = $24.04/hour.

Actual hours worked per week: 52.5 hours (average) Regular hours per week: 40 Overtime hours per week: 12.5 Overtime rate: $24.04 × 1.5 = $36.06/hour

Per week: 40 × $24.04 + 12.5 × $36.06 = $961.60 + $450.75 = $1,412.35 The employee was paid $961/week, so the underpayment per week is $451.35.

Over three years (156 weeks): $451.35 × 156 = $70,410 in unpaid overtime. Liquidated damages: $70,410 (doubling the recovery to $140,820) Attorney fees: $30,000-$50,000 (paid by the employer) Total recovery: ~$170,000-$190,000

This is typical of misclassification cases. The numbers add up fast.

What You Should Do

If you're paid a salary but don't have clear management or discretionary duties, you may be entitled to overtime.

Start tracking your hours now. Note your primary duties. Keep records of time worked.

If you work significantly more than 40 hours per week and are paid as if you worked 40, you likely have a case.

I handle misclassification cases on contingency. If there's no recovery, you pay nothing, not even the costs.

The FLSA is clear: a salary is not an exemption from overtime. Your duties determine your status. If your primary duty is non-exempt work, you're entitled to overtime.

Call me at (512) 799-2048 for a free consultation.

Am I Entitled to Overtime If I'm Salaried?

The Two-Part Exemption Test

The Executive Exemption

The Administrative Exemption

The Professional Exemption

How Employers Misuse the Salaried Exemption

How to Know If You're Misclassified

What Misclassification Cases Are Worth

What You Should Do

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