Misclassified Managers
Just because your title says manager doesn't mean you're exempt. I represent assistant and shift managers paid salary but doing hourly work.
If you have a manager title but spend most of your time doing the same work as your hourly coworkers, you're probably owed overtime. The executive exemption from overtime requires that your primary duty actually be managing the business, that you supervise at least two full-time employees, and that you have real authority to hire, fire, or recommend significant employment decisions. Titles like "assistant manager," "shift lead," or "team lead" don't automatically make you exempt. If your real day looks more like what an hourly employee does, you're owed time-and-a-half for every hour over 40 in any workweek going back two, possibly three, years.
Your title is "manager," so your employer doesn't pay you overtime. But your job is mostly serving food, stocking shelves, running the register, or doing the exact same work as your hourly employees. A title doesn't exempt you from overtime. What you actually do matters.
Who I Represent
I work with assistant managers in retail who spend 80% of their time on the sales floor, shift managers at fast-food restaurants who cook and serve, shift managers in warehouses who pack boxes alongside crew, assistant managers in convenience stores who work the register, and any worker with "manager" in their title who spends the majority of their shift doing non-managerial work.
Also operations managers, team leads, supervisors, and other titles used to avoid paying overtime to workers who aren't actually managing anyone or anything.
Common Violations
Here's the pattern:
You're hired as an assistant manager at $30,000 a year, salaried, no overtime. But you spend 20 hours a week stocking shelves, 15 hours ringing up sales, and only 3 to 5 hours actually managing anyone. You're doing the work of an hourly employee but being paid a fixed salary for it. The employer saves money on overtime by calling you a manager.
You're told you're in a "management track," but you don't actually manage anyone. There's one hourly employee below you, or none at all, and you're still doing all the operational work yourself. Real management responsibility (hiring, firing, directing schedules, disciplining) is minimal or nonexistent.
You work 50 hours per week for your fixed salary, but a true manager at the same company who actually manages 5+ people works 45 hours. You're absorbing extra hours at no additional pay because of your job title, not your actual duties.
You were told when hired that overtime is "for hourly people," but your job description and daily responsibilities are indistinguishable from the hourly workers you occasionally supervise.
How the Law Protects You
The FLSA has an exemption for "managers," but it's narrow, and courts have consistently held that it must be applied strictly, with the employer bearing the burden of proving every element (Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 584 U.S. 79 (2018)). To qualify, you have to:
Actually manage 2 or more employees. Not supervise them occasionally. Actually direct and control their work.
Have real authority to hire, fire, discipline, or make significant decisions about those employees. If corporate makes all those decisions or you only make recommendations, the exemption is weak or nonexistent.
Spend the majority of your time doing managerial work (planning, scheduling, evaluating performance, handling disputes), not doing the same work as the hourly crew.
The exemption turns on the duties test, not the job title. So if you spend 80% of your time on the sales floor and 20% managing, you're likely not exempt. The work matters, not the label.
If you're misclassified (paid as exempt when you should be hourly), you're owed overtime on all hours over 40 per week for the entire period of misclassification.
What Your Case Could Be Worth
Misclassified manager cases generate substantial damages because the employee often works significant overtime at a salaried rate with no overtime premium.
Suppose you worked as an "assistant manager" for three years at $35,000 per year and worked an average of 50 hours per week. You were never paid overtime. Your hourly rate was roughly $16.83 per hour ($35,000 divided by 52 weeks and 40 hours). Those 10 extra hours per week should have been paid at $25.25 per hour (time-and-a-half). Over three years, that's 1,560 overtime hours at roughly $8.42 extra per hour. That's over $13,000 in unpaid overtime premiums.
The FLSA allows double damages, so that $13,000 becomes $26,000.
We can look back 2 to 3 years of your work history, sometimes further depending on the facts.
No Cost to You
I work on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing upfront. If there is no recovery, you pay nothing at all, not even the costs.
Contact Me
30+ years employment law experience. 15+ years FLSA-only.
If you have "manager" in your title but spend most of your time doing hourly work and aren't getting paid overtime, call me at (512) 799-2048 or email doug@welmakerlaw.com. Let's talk about what your job actually involves and what you might be owed. The first conversation is free and confidential.
Related Reading
- My Job Title Says Manager But I Don't Really Manage Anyone. How courts apply the primary duty test and why most people with "manager" in their title don't satisfy the executive exemption.
- Am I Entitled to Overtime If I'm Salaried?. The salary threshold and duties test explained, and why a salary doesn't automatically mean you're exempt.
- How Much Is My FLSA Overtime Case Worth?. Back pay, liquidated damages, and attorney fees in a misclassified manager case.
- My Employer Didn't Keep Time Records: Can I Still Recover Overtime?. How the Anderson v. Mt. Clemens burden-shifting framework lets you recover even without employer records.
- How Long Do I Have to File an Unpaid Overtime Claim in Texas?. The two-year and three-year statute of limitations, how willfulness extends it, and why timing matters.