As a worker in the United States you are fortunate to be protected by a number of powerful state and federal laws. Chief among those laws is the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA. The FLSA is a federal law that governs two important aspects of employment – minimum wage and overtime pay. The FLSA mandates that most employers pay employees overtime pay at the rate of one and one half the worker’s regular pay rate for all hours worked beyond 40 in a workweek unless the employee qualifies for an exemption.
Misclassifying an employee as an exempt employee is a common occurrence, whether it is done intentionally or mistakenly by the employer depends on the employer. Either way, the result is that the employee loses out on overtime wages to which the employee is due. Both employers and employees need to have a firm understanding of when an employee qualifies as exempt and what happens when an employee has been misclassified.