Salaried Employees
Overtime pay for salaried employees misclassified as exempt from overtime under the FLSA.
If you're paid a salary, that alone doesn't mean you're exempt from overtime. To be exempt under the FLSA, you have to earn at least $684 per week AND pass a duties test that turns on what you actually do at work, not your title. Most salaried workers don't actually pass the duties test. If your real job is supervising, doing routine paperwork, or anything that looks more like the work your hourly coworkers do, you're probably owed overtime for every hour over 40 in any workweek going back two, possibly three, years.
You're paid a salary, but you work 50 or 60 hours a week and your employer tells you that being salaried means you don't get overtime. That's not necessarily true. Being paid a salary doesn't automatically exempt you from overtime. The law has specific requirements, and most salaried positions don't meet them.
To be exempt from overtime, you must earn at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year) AND pass a duties test. Your actual job duties matter more than your title or pay structure. If you don't meet both requirements, you're owed overtime.
Who I Represent
- Salaried employees working over 40 hours per week
- Assistant managers and supervisors misclassified as exempt
- Administrative staff told they're salaried and exempt
- Sales staff paid salaries without actual sales authority
- Employees whose salary has fallen below the threshold
- Anyone whose employer deducts pay for partial-day absences
- Employees doing significant non-exempt work despite their title
Common Violations
Being salaried doesn't mean exempt. Your employer pays you a salary and says overtime doesn't apply. But just because you're salaried doesn't make you exempt. You also have to pass a duties test. Most people don't. If you spend significant time doing non-exempt work, you're owed overtime. Period.
The salary threshold isn't met. You're paid $30,000 a year as a salaried "supervisor." That's about $577 per week. The law requires at least $684 per week to qualify for any exemption. Your employer can't avoid that with a title. You're owed overtime.
Half-day deductions blow the exemption. You're salaried and called "exempt." But your employer deducts pay if you take a half day for a doctor's appointment, or if you arrive late because of traffic, or if you leave early for any reason. That's illegal. Making deductions for partial-day absences destroys the exemption. You become a non-exempt employee owed overtime.
You're not actually performing exempt duties. You're titled "assistant manager" but you're not doing exempt work. You're ringing up sales, handling customer service, stocking shelves, and cleaning. You're supervising almost no one. That's not exempt. You're doing non-exempt work and you're owed overtime.
Executive exemption misapplied. To be an executive exempt, you must primarily manage an enterprise or department, supervise two or more employees, and have real authority over hiring and firing. If you're titled "manager" but have no hiring power, can't fire anyone, and spend most of your time doing regular work, you're not exempt. You're owed overtime.
How the Law Protects You
The FLSA has three main exemptions from overtime: executive, administrative, and professional. All three have strict requirements. The Supreme Court has made clear that FLSA exemptions are to be applied narrowly, with the employer bearing the burden of proving every element of the claimed exemption (Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 584 U.S. 79 (2018)).
For any exemption to apply, you must earn at least $684 per week AND meet the specific duties test for that exemption. There's no rounding, no negotiation, no "close enough." In 2023, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that day-rate workers who are not guaranteed a predetermined weekly salary cannot qualify for any salary-basis exemption (Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, 598 U.S. 39 (2023)).
You may have heard about a higher threshold — the DOL proposed raising it to $1,128 per week in 2024. A federal court in Texas vacated that increase in November 2024, so the operative threshold remains $684 per week. If your employer relies on the higher number to claim you're exempt, that argument doesn't hold.
Executive exemption: You must primarily manage the enterprise or a department, supervise at least two employees, and have real authority over hiring, firing, or advancement. Titles don't matter. Your actual duties do.
Administrative exemption: You must perform non-manual work directly related to management or business operations, and exercise independent judgment on matters of significance. Clerical work and routine tasks don't qualify.
Professional exemption: You must perform work requiring advanced knowledge in a field of learning (law, medicine, accounting, engineering, teaching, etc.) or be a creative professional. You must have earned a degree or have equivalent experience, and exercise independent judgment.
If you don't fit one of these categories exactly, you're non-exempt and you're owed overtime.
And if your employer deducts pay for partial-day absences (except for FMLA or unpaid leave), you've lost the exemption. You're a non-exempt employee owed overtime for all hours worked over 40 per week.
What Your Case Could Be Worth
Salaried exempt misclassification cases can involve years of overtime violations.
Example: You were paid $50,000 per year ($961 per week) as a salaried "supervisor," working 50 hours per week for three years, but doing mostly non-exempt work with little actual supervision. Your unpaid overtime comes to roughly $18,750 over three years. Add liquidated damages (another 100 percent) and your case could be worth $37,500 to $55,000 or more. Liquidated damages equal to the unpaid wages is the default under the FLSA, established in Overnight Motor Transportation Co. v. Missel, 316 U.S. 572 (1942) — employers must prove both good faith and an objectively reasonable basis for their conduct to reduce or eliminate liquidated damages.
Cases with longer histories, higher salaries, or bigger hours gaps scale up significantly.
No Cost to You
I work on a contingency fee basis. You don't pay upfront. If there is no recovery, you pay nothing, not even the costs. Zero financial risk.
Contact Me
30+ years employment law experience. 15+ years FLSA-only.
If you're salaried but working over 40 hours a week without overtime, had pay deducted for partial days, or are doing significant non-exempt work despite your title, call me. I'll ask about your duties, your actual hours, and what you earn. Then I'll tell you whether you have a case.
Call me at (512) 799-2048.
Related Reading
- Am I Entitled to Overtime If I'm Salaried? — A plain-language breakdown of the salary threshold and duties test, and how most salaried workers don't actually pass it.
- My Job Title Says Manager But I Don't Really Manage Anyone — The executive exemption requires more than a title. How courts evaluate whether the exemption actually applies.
- How Much Is My FLSA Overtime Case Worth? — How damages are calculated in a salary misclassification case, with examples.
- Can Employers Average Hours Over Two Weeks to Avoid Paying Overtime? No. — Why the FLSA requires overtime calculated per workweek and why biweekly averaging is illegal.
- 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.
- Home Health Administrators and Coordinators — Why salaried directors of client services, RN case managers, and care coordinators at home health and hospice agencies usually fail the executive, administrative, and professional duties tests.