I am a physician assistant working in fl. I am paid hourly, as an employee. My employer states that because we (a group of PA's) are considered professionals under the federal labor laws they are not required to pay us overtime. We are paid on a monthly basis and routinely work around 50-60 hours per week. If I am right in thinking that we should get overtime, how do we go about pursuing the subject? The employer states he will not voluntarily pay. Thanks for any help.

Your employer may be right. There are certain professional positions which qualify as exempt but specifically allow for hourly rather than salaried pay. You can read more about that on the DOL web site under the FLSA and specifically, the professional exemption.

And here's the direct link to the discussion of the Professional exemption:
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17d_professional.htm

I read the link provided, but it seems that all the requirements have to be met in order to be exempt. As I mentioned i am not salaried but paid on an hourly pay rate only. By my interpretation that means I am not exempt. Am i misinterpreting the language or is there some other definition of salaried? Thanks again.

That's the exception, though. Certain professionals can STILL be paid on an hourly basis and be exempt from the overtime requirements. If you meet ALL the other requirements, you can be considered exempt, even though you aren't on "salary". Now, whether PAs can meet the duties tests, the DOL can advise if you contact them directly. 1-800-4USADOL.