Being Paid a Salary Does Not Mean You Are Not Owed Overtime

Many workers assume that receiving a salary rather than an hourly wage means they are not entitled to overtime pay. This is one of the most widespread misconceptions in employment law — and employers know it. The truth is that the majority of salaried employees are still entitled to overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whether you are owed overtime depends not on how you are paid, but on whether you meet specific legal criteria for an exemption from the overtime requirement.

To be exempt from overtime under the FLSA, an employee must satisfy two independent requirements. First, the salary level test: an exempt employee must receive at least $684 per week ($35,568 per year) on a guaranteed salary basis. Second, the duties test: the employee's primary job duties must qualify under one of the recognized exemptions — most commonly the executive, administrative, or professional exemptions. Both requirements must be met. An employee who earns $800 per week but whose job does not involve genuine management, meaningful independent judgment on significant matters, or advanced knowledge in a specialized field may still be entitled to overtime — regardless of the salary.

The duties tests are narrower than most employers let on. The executive exemption requires that an employee's primary duty be managing a recognized department or subdivision, that they regularly supervise at least two full-time employees, and that they have genuine authority to hire, fire, or meaningfully influence those decisions. A shift supervisor or assistant manager who primarily performs the same tasks as the people they nominally oversee may not qualify. The administrative exemption requires that the employee's primary duty involve discretion and independent judgment on matters of significance — not just following established procedures. A customer service representative or office worker who escalates anything important to a supervisor and works within set protocols is generally not exercising the kind of judgment the exemption requires.

Even employees who might otherwise qualify as exempt can lose that status if their employer makes improper deductions from their salary. The FLSA requires that exempt employees receive their full salary in any workweek in which they perform any work, with limited exceptions. Deductions for partial-day absences, business slowdowns, or disciplinary infractions are generally prohibited. An employer that docks the pay of a supposedly exempt employee on a routine basis may forfeit the exemption — and with it, the right to withhold overtime — for the entire class of employees in the same job category.

If you are paid a salary, regularly work more than 40 hours a week, and your employer has never explained which specific exemption applies to you — or if your actual duties do not match what your job title suggests — you may be entitled to overtime pay you have not received. The fact that you agreed to work for a set salary, or that other workers in your company are classified the same way, does not settle the question. The FLSA's exemptions are narrowly construed, and the employer bears the burden of proving that an exemption applies.