Hourly workers, like many retail and restaurant employees, are among those most vulnerable to wage theft. Companies may manipulate hourly workers into performing unpaid job tasks and can otherwise bend or break overtime rules to avoid paying those employees what they should.
Those who have pursued white-collar professions might assume that they have protection from wage-related company misconduct. After all, they should receive the same pay every week regardless of how much they work. However, not all white-collar employees are actually exempt from overtime pay requirements.
Sometimes those in white-collar professions deserve overtime wages based on how many hours they work. Particularly when overtime is common and adds up to more than an hour or two a week, some white-collar employees deserve overtime wages. Their employers may try to trick them into giving up that right by paying them a salary and denying them overtime wages when they work extra hours.
Not all salaries are exempt from overtime rules
Receiving the pay on a salary basis sometimes makes a worker except from overtime regulations. However, not all white-collar employees with a salary pay arrangement are actually exempt from overtime regulations. The employer has to provide a salary that meets certain federal requirements if the company refuses to pay overtime wages when the workers put in extra hours.
For multiple years, the minimum salary required to bypass overtime pay regulations was $35,568. However, that changed earlier this year and should change again at the beginning of 2025. Currently, workers have to receive $43,888 or more to be exempt from overtime pay rules. That minimum salary requirement increases again on January 1st, 2025. Beginning next year, workers who make less than $58,656 deserve overtime pay when they put in more than 40 hours.
White-collar employees, restaurant managers and assistant managers at retail establishments are among those who may not receive an exempt salary despite their employers refusing to pay them overtime wages. In scenarios where the salary provided does not actually exempt an employee, organizations may be responsible for paying them overtime wages for the time they worked.
Initiating a wage and hour claim can potentially help professionals to obtain the compensation they deserve for overtime hours they’ve already performed for an employer. Workers may need help documenting their time worked and learning about the laws that apply to their circumstances, and that’s okay.