AZ: Movie theatres exempt from overtime?

[randomguy]

Hi, I'm employed at a movie theatre and they have said that they are not obligated to pay time and a half for anything over 40 hours a week. Their justification for this is because of the "nature of the business." They claim that we are part of the entertainment industry and are exempt from overtime laws.

However, the job is not part of the entertainment industry at all, and would actually classify as service and janitorial. Selling tickets, popcorn, and cleaning the theatres after a movie would hardly classify you as an entertainer in my book.

Are the theatres really exempt for paying overtime or would I have some dirt on them?

[JJensen]

The theatre is correct. The Fair Labor Standards Act states that employees of motion picture theatres are exempt from overtime. I myself find this amusing and perplexing and I'm researching as to when this came about and why. I'm betting it does have something to do with the entertainment industry bit, but not sure.

[Beth3]

To the best of my recollection, the FLSA was passed in 1934 and there have been very few updates since then. My guess is that this provision dates back to that time and may have made some sense 70 years ago, even though I have no idea what that would have been (perhaps Congress wanted to make sure going to the movies was as cheap as possible during the Depression?)

[JJensen]

Originally Posted by Beth3

To the best of my recollection, the FLSA was passed in 1934 and there have been very few updates since then. My guess is that this provision dates back to that time and may have made some sense 70 years ago, even though I have no idea what that would have been (perhaps Congress wanted to make sure going to the movies was as cheap as possible during the Depression?)

If you Google "Fair Labor Standard Act", the first link is (of course) to the DOL website page on the FLSA. The first link on THAT page is the actual FLSA in a PDF format.

What is nice about it is that it has different type faces & sizes for different amendments to the FLSA, so you can find out when a certain amendment was made.

Apparently, the original FLSA in 1934 had both an overtime AND minimum-wage exemption for movie theatre employees. However, the FLSA was amended in 1974 and part of the amendment removed the minimum-wage exemption. Why they didn't remove the overtime exemption as well is a mystery...