Exempt Employee Labor Laws
Most employees fall into two distinct categories, exempt and non-exempt. Non-exempt employees are employees who are paid on an hourly basis. The employer is required by law to pay non-exempt employees if they work more than 40 hours per week. There are some allowable exceptions to this. Take into consideration firefighters; in many states firefighters are paid hourly and will be required to work three or four days in a row but at the end of that period they will have three or four consecutive days off. Exempt employees may have to work seven or more days in a row but since they are paid a designated salary, employers are not required to pay overtime even though they may far exceed a standard 40-hour work week.
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The "Exempt" Designation
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Basically the term "exempt" means that employees in this category are "exempt" from the wage and hour laws that apply to hourly employees. Based on federal law, exempt employees have what are called designated "duties tests." These duties fall into three distinct categories; professional; executive and administrative. It is the nature of the duties that are performed on the job that determine an exempt employee's designation. The specified duties must be performed on a regular, ongoing basis.
Professional Exempt
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Professional Exempt employees have "duties tests" specific to their profession. For instance, a computer professional's duties may include database administration, computer programming, network administration, managing computer technicians and/or varying degrees of hardware and software expertise. They are described under the law as "having their own additional 'duties' tests."
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Executive Exempt
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Employees in this category are listed as managers with management of the business or a certain department as their primary duty. Their duties will also require people in this category to direct work for two or more employees. They have the right to hire new employees and the right of firing. Unless the individual has all these rights and responsibilities they are not considered executive exempt as defined by law.
Administrative Exempt
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An administrative exempt employee is very much like the professional exempt in that the duties and responsibilities are defined by their position. For example, a department supervisor can be categorized as administrative exempt because the supervisor may be charged with running the department, distributing work to be done, overseeing several employees and making hiring and firing recommendations.
Exempt Employee Rights
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Exempt employees have almost no rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Hourly, non-exempt employees must be paid for the overtime they work at one-and-a-half times their regular salary. According to the FLSA, exempt employees are only entitled to the full salary for any given pay period (minus deductions of course). Exempt employees do have some "perks" that non-exempt employees do not. Exempt employees are not required to punch a clock or work on a particular schedule. They are also not required to make up time lost due to illness or other absences. Conversely an employer can require an exempt employee to work as much overtime as needed to complete a project or task and there are no time limitations imposed by the FLSA.
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