salary or non-salary
oklahoma

hi,
My wife has worked the past week from 8:30 in the morning till 10:00 or later (last night 1:00 in the morning) she has worked up to 74 hours in one week. i was curious how for a supposed salary person, is she to be compensated once she hits the 80 hrs mark. her boss never pays any over time i once watched my wife work 110 hrs in two weeks. i dont understand what exempt means, or non exempt. noone else in the company works those hours including the boss who takes 3 week vacations after her two week vacation, after 5 days of a headache. other employees who are supposidly salary have there pay docked. her boss says she is salary because she gets paid whether she is there or not, but seeing my wife is always there (10-12 hours a day) i dont believe she is being compensated for the time owed. seeing she is probaly not going to be compensated this time, i am curious any course of action we can take to make sure she is getting compensated

david bowlby

"Salary" is merely a pay method. The question is whether she is exempt or nonexempt from overtime laws.

If she is exempt, the employer has no legal obligation to provide any additional compensation, days off, other benefits or perqs, etc.

If she does not know whether she is exempt or nonexempt, maybe we can help if you tell us what exactly her duties are.

she is a mortgage processor. She processes, closes, funds, and sometimes originates loans. she also pays the bills (so to speak), performs the payroll (which gets sent to a corporate office). I asked her this morning if she was exempt and she doesnt know. Her boss said she would compensate her for the extra time she works. Her paychecks always say 1000, but if salary is what she is getting paid, so does mine. She has been keeping copies of her time cards, and at times working 60-70 hours in a week. All i want is her to be compensated for her time that she is working. Other employees have there pay deducted for there missed time, even though the "you make salary" claim has been made. This stuff is confusing.
thanks for all help

My gut feeling is that she would not qualify as an exempt employee, but it will be interesting to see what the employer says when she asks him.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17a_overview.htm

I'm not making any judgements as to your wife's exempt or non-exempt status, just explaining how the process works.

What matters is not how she is paid, but whether her job duties qualify her to be exempt or non-exempt. Most, but not all, exempt employees are paid on a salaried basis; most, but not all, non-exempt employees are paid on an hourly basis. Only certain exempt employees can be paid on an hourly basis; any non-exempt employee can be paid on a salaried basis AS LONG AS they also receive overtime when it is worked.

In your state, and in most but not all other states, overtime begins when an employee has worked a total of 40 hours in a week. Any hours over and above 40 in a week must be paid at time and a half. There is no requirement under Federal or Oklahoma law that they ever be paid double time or anything over and above time and a half, no matter how many hours she works.

If she qualifies as an exempt employee, then there are NO circumstances whatsoever in which she is entitled to a single penny over and above her regular salary. Exempt employees are not legally entitled to overtime or any extra compensation based on their hours worked. However, they may not have their pay docked except in very limited circumstances even if they work less than their standard hours, and they can never be docked in partial day increments unless they are on FMLA.

If she is a non-exempt employee, there are NO circumcumstances in which she would NOT be entitled to overtime for any hours worked over 40 in a week. However, the employer is entitled to dock a non-exempt employee for any time they do not actually work.