Switching from nonexempt to exempt...need advice

PennyCarter · #1 10-23-2005, 10:21 PM

I've been in my job for a little over six months. I was hired in as an hourly employee. I was shocked when I found this out since I have my masters and work in mkt...most jobs are salaried, but of course it worked to my advantage b/c I get paid overtime. This past week I had several hours of OT b/c we had an event and I had to go out of town for some training. Then I was told on Thursday by the HR assistant not to worry about clocking out, I've been moved to exempt (as of last Monday).

This feels wrong on so many levels. I'm at a bank and my employee handbook (that we sign) says everyone is hourly except AVP's and above (which I'm not). They are only switching the mkt department (me and 2 others) to salary. I'm certain that this is b/c we have to work a lot of events and get more OT than in other depts. Everytime we've asked our boss about OT he's said its fine as long as there was a legit reason (events, major work load, etc.).

I feel like we should be notified PRIOR to switching our status (I deserve the OT for last week!. Everyone I've spoken with thinks I deserve a 30 day notice, but I don't know for sure. I also feel like I deserve some kind of raise to compensate me for the OT I usually work (I would be fine with comp time too). I think they are going to give me my annual raise (its due now) and let that be it. But I don't think that even a 5% raise (the best my company gives) will equal what I usually get in OT.

What should I do?????

Lil' Hannah · #2 10-24-2005, 08:50 AM

First off, hourly != non-exempt. Just wanted to make sure that was out there. You can be a non-exempt salaried employee, still entitled to overtime.

Now for your situation, if your job duties have not changed, you should not have been moved to exempt status. The DOL has 5 exemptions:

1. EXECUTIVE (examples: chief executive officer, controller, vice president, director)

2. ADMINISTRATIVE (examples: manager, supervisor, administrator)

3. PROFESSIONAL: LEARNED AND CREATIVE (examples: accountant, nurse, engineer, composer, singer, graphic designer)

4. COMPUTER-RELATED (examples: network or database analyst, developer, programmer, software engineer)

5. OUTSIDE SALES (examples: salespersons, contract negotiators)

Now this isn't the end all be all of the FLSA, but it's the most common exemptions you run across. The DOL's site also lists some qualifications for each exemption, I suggest you check it out (www.dol.gov).

If you should be classified as a non-exempt employee, I suggest you go to HR and tell them that you looked into the FLSA and you believe your position is non-exempt and that you are entitled to any overtime you worked. If they don't budge, I suggest you call your state's labor board to make a claim.

Basically, unless they gave you a new position before you went out of town (which should have been accompanied by a written notice anyway) then they can't really just switch you to exempt because they feel like it.

Good luck.

CarolinaDG · #3 10-25-2005, 08:54 PM

I agree. Unless they have changed your job duties, they cannot change you from exempt to non-exempt and vice versa. If you were supposed to be exempt, than that means they were doing something illegal in the first place. I'd make sure you're not on Chinese Overtime, too (sorry, I forget the politically correct way to say it). That is a non-exempt way to put you on salary, but even with that you have to sign a form that says you agree to not be paid overtime.