Confused, even after I talked to the Labor Board.
Problem, I am a salary employee. I work 11 hours days, 4 days a week. In top season I am putting in more then 11 hrs a day. I am not a manager and I have no signed contract. Last year toward the end of season I was told that my salary would be cut in half. This was around the end of July. By the time Aug. came, my pay was once again cut. I was givin less hours but still had the same job discription. I was told by the Labor Law person that if I was not a manager my boss had the right to cut my pay. But she also told me that I have the right to file a complaint for over time owed to me. I also am on call from Thursday nite thur Sunday, till at least 7:30 pm. My hrs. start at 5am till 4pm. I am still using my own cell phone for on call. I still am using my own car for deliveries. I have been promised a company phone since last Oct. of 06' I am now in the process in revising my resume and will continue to follow up in looking for another job. As of now I am stuck and I am hoping that someone will help me understand and my rights as a salary employee.

"Salaried" and "hourly" are just payment methods and do not legally mean much by themselves. The rules are very different for Exempt Salaried and Non-Exempt employees.

Not all employees can be Exempt. Only employees who qualify for one of the many Exempt classifications can possibly be treated as Exempt. This is based on actual job duties and sometimes the nature of the employer's business. This is information you did not include. Exempt employees paid on a salaried in CA must be paid at least $640/week (in 2008).

Any employee can be Non-Exempt and employers are never required to classify an employee as Exempt. Non-Exempt employees must be paid CA minimum wage is $8/hr (higher in some local juristiction) and follow the CA overtime laws. Paying a Non-Exempt employee on a Salaried basis does not by itself change the minimum wage or overtime requirements (with one small strange exception).

Generally speaking, employers have the right to cut anyone's pay (inlcuding managers) on a go forward basis, absent a contract, a CBA, or violations of the above rules.

Hi,

My wages for salary are as follows: $1050.00 every two weeks.

We are paid on the 5th and the 20th each month. I work for a catering company and my job consist of taking phone calls and phone orders from clients. I also monitor the pc for catering orders. I input all bills into Quickbooks and process invoices for payments. I expidite all catering that leaves the building. I make sure that all packaging and food stock orders are complete. I just need to know if I have just cause in filing a claim for overtime that might be owed to me. I do have records of all my time cards. Last weekend, I added up my hours and since it was the Holidays, my boss put me back on my reg. schedual and I worked 5 days. I worked a total of 51 hrs. One of those days I worked from 5am to 8:44pm. Please let me know if there is any other info that you might need to know.

Thank You for your fast response.

You are not paid enough to be legally classified as Exempt Salary in California ($640/week in 2008 and $600/week in 2007). That should be impossible for the employer to talk around.

Based on your duties as described, you sound Non-Exempt, although I suspect that your employer will maybe describe your duties very differently should push come to shove. Both parties are allowed to present their side of things should this get reviewed. Also, there is no one working for the state of California who cares even a little bit about anyone's opinion on Exempt classification other then their own. Good news is that they do not care what the employer thinks either and the employer has the legal burden of proof.

There are no sure things, but the chances that a wage claim with CA-DLSE would suceed are better then that it would not.