$1.8 million lesson about OT exemptions
January 9, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: FLSA, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Overtime
The rules on which employees are exempt from overtime may be complicated, but a recent court ruling highlights one simple fact:
Misapplying the exemptions can cost companies a lot of money.
TAC Worldwide, a Massachusetts-based staffing firm, has just agreed to pay $1.8 million in back wages to 973 employees who sued for being mistakenly classified as exempt from OT.
Most of the affected employees held IT-related positions. Job titles of those who sued include: network engineer, help desk representative, technical writer, software tester and network administrator.
A common classification mistake is focusing on title rather than actual job duties. Employees may have titles that sound exempt — but employers still need to look at what those employees do on a daily basis and make sure the duties match up with at least one of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s OT exemptions.
For more information on the exemptions, click here.
Cite: Chao v. 888 Consulting Group, Inc.
Tags: computer employee, DOL, exemption, FLSA, overtime
January 14th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Is it okay for an administrative employee to be classified as exempt in order to not have to take the mandatory lunch bread (and the time deduction associated with it) and yet to be paid hourly in order to still qualify for overtime pay?
The regulations seem unclear on this point.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:15 am
Sorry, no dice. Sounds like she wants the best of both and it cannot be both ways. Look at her duties and it will be clear where she falls.