Should Employees Who Are Paid A Salary Be Entitled To Overtime?? I Worked 19 Plus Hour Days, Holidays And Weekends During The Hurricane Season Starting With Katrina Straight Through To Christmas As Part Of A Team For One Of Our Customers. We Were Given Meager Bonuses But I Don't Think They Covered All The Hours I Worked. My Official Title Is A Billing Clerk With The Company.

I Just Can't Make Heads Or Tails Of The Law, Can Someone Help??

Please don't capitalize each word in your posts; it makes them difficult to read.

If by "salaried" you mean "exempt", then you are not legally entitled to ANY extra compensation over and above your regular weekly salary. If you are nonexempt (there is such a thing as "salaried nonexempt"), then yes, federal law requires that you be paid overtime when you work over 40 hours in a workweek.

What do you do? Not your job title, but your actual job duties?

My actual job duties were supposed to be invoicing customers, posting revenue, billing, filing, etc. When we started doing disaster relief for our customer, I was placed on a team where I was brokering trucks, dispatching drivers, registrations, to get equipment to the affected areas, this was totally outside of what my "normal" job with the company was, the Senior VP had me creating a spreadsheet from home while sick with a 102 fever and pnumonia, there was no clear guideline for this, just do whatever to get it done.

I work for a Moving and Storage company, when I first hired on I was a customer service rep and moved over to the accounting dept. There was no clear description of duties per say given to me but I know there is one for that position, whatever ended up on my desk or I was asked to do whether it related to the job description or not , I really didn't have a choice in the matter.

OK, that's what I needed to know. It's the job duties that make you exempt or nonexempt, and based on your description of what you were doing, you would not qualify as exempt. It is irrelevant what the job description said or whether you were performing additional duties.

Unfortunately, you will have to file your claim for unpaid overtime with the federal Dept. of Labor, since Georgia defers to federal law/enforcement for nearly all wage and hour issues, as they have no laws of their own. The reason I say "unfortunately" is that the federal DOL will, if their investigation deems it appropriate, order payment of overtime pay only to the extent of minimum wage. If you want to go for the pay at 1.5 times your regular rate of pay, you will have to file a civil suit.

Just wanted to make sure I understand what you are saying. I am entitled to be paid for all the overtime I worked but only at the rate of minimum pay for the hours worked, not my actual pay correct??

I am not interested in going through a civil suit with my former employer, but if I could recover for the hours, even at 5.25 per hour, it is significant considering all the hours I worked and that is fine with me.

Thank you for responding, appreciate your help

I think what she said was that if you file a claim, your state defers to the federal rules. If the Fed were to rule in your favor, they would only require that your employer pay you the overtime at the federal minimum wage. If you want 1.5 times your current salary, you will have to file a Civil suite. If it were me, I would look at the $$$$$$ and if it amounted to a lot of doe, I would definitely file a law suit.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

OK, that's what I needed to know. It's the job duties that make you exempt or nonexempt, and based on your description of what you were doing, you would not qualify as exempt. It is irrelevant what the job description said or whether you were performing additional duties.

Unfortunately, you will have to file your claim for unpaid overtime with the federal Dept. of Labor, since Georgia defers to federal law/enforcement for nearly all wage and hour issues, as they have no laws of their own. The reason I say "unfortunately" is that the federal DOL will, if their investigation deems it appropriate, order payment of overtime pay only to the extent of minimum wage. If you want to go for the pay at 1.5 times your regular rate of pay, you will have to file a civil suit.

There is no "unfortunately" with the federal DOL. if the investigation finds that overtime was worked and not paid, the overtime rate would be the regular rate for that particular workweek (salary ÷ hrs worked). In overtime workweek the regular rate is always the one enforce by Wage Hour, contrary to popular believe.

778-109...The regular hourly rate of pay of an employee is determined by dividing his total remuneration for employment (except statutory exclusions) in any workweek by the total number of hours actually worked by him in that workweek for which such compensation was paid.

There is no "unfortunately" with the federal DOL. if the investigation finds that overtime was worked and not paid, the overtime rate would be the regular rate for that particular workweek (salary ÷ hrs worked). In overtime workweek the regular rate is always the one enforce by Wage Hour, contrary to popular believe.

778-109...The regular hourly rate of pay of an employee is determined by dividing his total remuneration for employment (except statutory exclusions) in any workweek by the total number of hours actually worked by him in that workweek for which such compensation was paid.
Isn't this what Patty just said, but a little kinder with the unfortunate added to it? Not to mention, this is a post that is very old, and the OP has not been here to get answers for over 2 months. Have a good one ArmyRetCW3! So you know, I am not slamming you, I have read your posts, and you are a very smart person and we DO appreciate the free time you put into this to help others. ;)

No, that's not what he said, but I have seen the opposite. It's why many individuals in states where there is no state Dept. of Labor file civil suits instead of filing with the federal DOL.

No, that's not what he said, but I have seen the opposite. It's why many individuals in states where there is no state Dept. of Labor file civil suits instead of filing with the federal DOL.
Thanks Patty, for the clarification!

How do you know if your are an exempt or non-exempt? My boyfriend is a salaried employee, sometimes working more then 24hrs a day if that is possible. Once he worked 31 hrs. straight. He is oncall 24/7 365 with one weekend off per month. They get angry when he wants to sleep more then 2-4hrs at a time. Any advice??

How do you know if your are an exempt or non-exempt? My boyfriend is a salaried employee, sometimes working more then 24hrs a day if that is possible. Once he worked 31 hrs. straight. He is oncall 24/7 365 with one weekend off per month. They get angry when he wants to sleep more then 2-4hrs at a time. Any advice??

Please start your own thread. We need the state worked. We will also have some questions for you before we can provide an opinion.