The Myth of the Salaried Employee as Exempt

Employers often classify workers as "Exempt" by paying them a salary and telling them they are not entitled to overtime. But just getting a salary is not enough.

To be "Exempt" under the FLSA, employees must also perform exempt work. Many times employees who get salaries don't do the right kind of work to be exempt. Sometimes employers will call their employees exempt just to get away with not paying them overtime. This is against the law. For example, people with titles like "Assistant manager" or "supervisor" may do very little actual supervision and may not be exempt workers in many cases, even if they are paid a salary. Want to know more about who is and is not exempt? See the "Are You Exempt?" page.