Exempt Employees Essay

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Can You Pay an Exempt Employee Overtime without Losing Their Exemption? There are employees who occupy positions exempt from minimum wage requirements and overtime pay requirements. These requirements are determined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), as are positions that can be classified as exempt. You may even employ people in exempt positions within your own business. One thing that often comes up for employers who do have exempt employees is the issue of overtime pay. If an exempt employee works more hours than expected, you probably want to compensate them for their time. Since they’re classified as exempt, however, you may worry that doing so will cost the position its exemption. What can you do? Is it okay to pay an exempt employee overtime? The Short Answer …show more content…

You can’t just pay an exempt employee overtime constantly. How Does That Work? Most non-exempt employees are paid hourly for their time, which is how they can accrue “overtime.” Depending on whether they’re full-time or part-time employees, they will have a maximum number of hours they can work per shift, per day, and per week. If you exceed the maximum number of hours, overtime is triggered. Exempt employees, by contrast, aren’t paid by the hour. Instead, they’re paid a salary. Usually, the employer and the employee have an understanding of how much time an employee will work within a given period. Many salaried, exempt employees work a 40-hour work week, in five eight-hour shifts. However, an exempt employee could certainly work longer hours or more time, especially if you have a time-sensitive project on the go. If this happens, you may want to provide the employee with additional compensation to show your appreciation. The FLSA doesn’t prevent you from doing that. What Are the Rules? As note, you’ll need to play by certain rules to avoid losing the exemption if you do decide to pay an exempt employee an additional

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