OT laws For Automotive repair facility South Carolina

[pumpkinshine]

I work at a car dealership in Rock Hill, SC. Im an hourly paid technician and work over 40 hours a week and i dont get paid OT. Is that right? Also, are flat rate technicians exempt from OT considering the only get paid for the work they perform?

[Betty3]

Is your job as a technician classified as exempt or non-exempt? Even some non-exempt workers are exempt from overtime including: those who sell cars & trucks, & mechanics or parts persons who service cars & trucks.

[DAW]

Agreed. The rules for employees who work for auto dealers can be found at:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs11.htm

[pumpkinshine]

Im really not sure if im exmt or non-exempt. Where could i find that information? All i know is that i get paid hourly and work over 40 hours a week, with no OT pay.

[Pattymd]

If you're paid hourly, in the type of work you do, you're nonexempt.

[ArmyRetCW3]

If you're paid hourly, in the type of work you do, you're nonexempt.

The above statement in not entirely accurate, if the employee is employed by a car dealership. Employees of a car dealership regardless of method of payment, salary or hourly can be exempt from the overtime provisions, IF they are paid on a commission basis, which technician usually are.

Employees “employed by” the automobile dealer “in activities within the scope of its exempt business.” Because Section 7(i) exempts “any employee of a retail or service establishment” if Section 7(i)’s compensation requirements are satisfied, all business performed by such an establishment constitutes “activities within the scope of its exempt business” for purposes of Section 7(i) and 29 C.F.R. § 779.308.

all employees of the establishment are exempt if their compensation complies with the requirements of Section 7(i). Employee duties are irrelevant.

The nature of the employer’s business, not the work performed by a particular employee, determines whether establishment-based exemptions, like and including Section 7(i), apply. See, e.g., Hamilton v. Tulsa County Pub. Facilities Auth., 85 F.3d 494, 497 (10th Cir. 1996)

(establishment-based exemption “turns on the nature of the employer’s business, not on the nature of the employee’s work”); and Gibbs v. Montgomery County Agricultural Soc., 140 F. Supp. 2d 835, 843-44 (S.D. Ohio 2001) (the employer’s principal activities, not the work actually performed by employees, determines the applicability of establishment-based overtime exemption). See, also, Brennan v. Texas City Dike & Marina, Inc., 492 F.2d 1115, 1119 (5th Cir. 1974) (“principal activity” of establishment determines eligibility for establishment-based exemption).

Because the establishment is a retail or service establishment, Section 7(i) exempts all employees whose compensation satisfies the requirements of Section 7(i). Indeed, Section 7(i) is an establishment-based and compensation-based exemption. 29 C.F.R. §§ 779.302-.303. If an establishment qualifies as a retail or service establishment, then any employee employed by that establishment is exempt if the employee’s compensation satisfies Section 7(i)’s two other requirements: compensation of one and one-half times the minimum wage and more than one-half derived from commissions on goods or services.


http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/opinion/F..._17_1_FLSA.pdf

[Pattymd]

Perhaps I didn't state it clearly or you misunderstood, Army. "Exempt" from the overtime provisions of the FLSA is not the same as an "exempt" employee. Nonexempt employees CAN be excluded from the OT requirements under FLSA, as in this particular case. Doesn't make them "exempt" employees for all other purposes.