I am a project manager for a contracting company in mass. I was recently told that i would be put on a salary because I "had too much overtime last year". I work six days a week from 7 am to at least 5 pm. I was told my salary was based on my "job description, no matter how many hours it takes". I average about 60 hours a week. Am I eligable for overtime pay after 40 hours? Keep in mind i took about a $500.oo per week pay cut when i went on salary.

I am a project manager for a contracting company in mass. I was recently told that i would be put on a salary because I "had too much overtime last year". I work six days a week from 7 am to at least 5 pm. I was told my salary was based on my "job description, no matter how many hours it takes". I average about 60 hours a week. Am I eligable for overtime pay after 40 hours? Keep in mind i took about a $500.oo per week pay cut when i went on salary.

Are you salaried exempt, or salaried non exempt? I think the senior members will need to know this to answer your question.

Non-Exempt employees must be paid OT - there is no legal requirement that Exempt employees be paid OT. Hourly and Salaried are just payment basis methods and do not say anything to whether or not OT is required. Any employee can be considered Non-Exempt by their employer, and any Non-Exempt employee can be paid on either a Hourly or a Salaried basis.

Exempt is more complicated. Not all employees can be legally considered Exempt. For an employee to be legally treated as Exempt, they must pass on of the FSLA (federal law) Exemption tests. I am including a webpointer below. You are not including enough information to give you a good answer, but if you are indeed Exempt, then the Admistrative or Executive classifications are most likely. Also, some states like CA have their own Exempt rules which are more restrictive then the federal rules.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm

How do i know if i am exempt?

How do i know if i am exempt?

This link may help you determine that.

http://www.overtimecases.com/faq.html#q11

How do i know if i am exempt?

There are two different issues.

If your employer considers you to be Exempt then your employer is not paying you OT for hours worked past 40 in the work week. Since you say you are working OT, it should be very easy for you tell whether or not you are being paid OT.

The other harder question is that assuming your employer considers you to be Exempt is whether or not they are correct. You are the only person is familar with the specifics of your job duties. You need to go to one of the websites listed in this thread and you need to review your job duties against the Exempt rules listed there. While you may not consider yourself expert on this, the sad truth is that most employers do not know much more then you do. If you actually go to the website and read the rules, you will know (at least) as much as your employer. Job titles are legally meaningless. Someone (aka you) needs to take a hard look at your job duties and maybe figure out how many hours each week you spend on each duty on average. This "duties test" is what should be used to determine whether a specific Exempt classification is legimate.

If you think you are misclassified, then you can file a wage claim with either the state or federal DOL.

A few initial questions may help out here:

Can you tell us what you actually do - your primary duties?

Do you supervise anyone or direct their work? If so, how many people are on your team?

Do you have the authority to hire and fire anyone?

Is your "project work" your primary duty? Is your "management work" related to the general busines operation of the company or your customers? What does "project manager" actually mean with respect to your work?

Does your work involve the exercise of discretion and independent judgment? If so, are the matters you deal with significant?

Does you work require professional degree?

Is your project work in computer programming or analysis?


Start with those questions, and there may be some follow-up depending upon what you tell us.