How Do I Know If I’m am Exempt or Non-Exempt Employee in California?

Knowing whether you are an exempt or non-exempt employee is necessary for many reasons. It affects your pay, the number of hours you work, and to what protection you’re legally entitled. It’s essential to know the difference between the two as misclassification can lead to hour violations.

Exempt Employees

When filing out for tax information, you may ask yourself, “What is an exempt employee? Am I considered one?” The answer is more straightforward than you think due to the great distinction between exempt and non-exempt employees.

An exempt employee holds a position that is considered a high-rank or a high-skill profession. Exempt employees have more restrictions than non-exempt employees due to the Federal Labor Standards Act or state laws, meaning the FLSA cannot guarantee compensation for overtime work.

Roles for exempt employees usually include executives who manage a company or department and make no less than $35,568 a year or $684 a week. Exempt employees are strictly salaried or hold these positions:

• Professional
• Executive
• Administrative
• Outside sales
• Creative
• Software/Computer related

Non-exempt Employees

To make it simple, non-exempt means you’re eligible to be compensated for overtime work. As a worker, the FLSA protects you, which means your employer cannot refuse to pay you overtime if you’ve completed over 40 hours of work.

So how do you know if you’re an exempt or non-exempt employee? Non-exempt employees earn the federal minimum wage or more or can also be salaried employees. As long as you do not hold any of the positions listed above, you qualify as a non-exempt employee.

Hour Violations and Misclassification

Wage and hour violations can happen to any employee. An hour violation is when your employer does not pay you properly for your hours worked. These hour violations may occur due to the misclassification of your role.

Misclassification happens when you are a non-exempt employee yet labeled as an exempt employee, or vice versa. If you feel like a misclassification of your employment status is happening, you should speak with your HR department or seek legal counsel.

Contact the Team at Fulton Law Corporation

Misclassification and hour violations have a detrimental effect on your pay and status. At Fulton Law Corporation, we can assist you with proper legal counseling to make sure your employer is held accountable for their violations, and you get the compensation you deserve.

If you have been the victim of hour violations or misclassification, contact us today! Give us a call at (916) 993-4900 or visit our website for more information.