Tweet about exempt/non exempt

[jennika]

Does anyone actually know what qualifies an assistant as exempt and non exempt in the US?  I am exempt but someone with the same title.. same responsibilities, but  she doesn't report to the CEO is non exempt (I do.)  Who is classified correctly?  By the way, if I look at Office Team's guidelines for pay, I am on at the very very low end of my title, so I don't get "paid" extra being exempt. 

[Atlanta Z3]

Exempt Admin:
This is a position that requires exercising independent judgment and discretion in “matters of significance” performing office or non-manual work. During an audit, the Department of Labor will be asking for your job descriptions and expecting to have those “matters of significance” spelled out. These employees should be creating and influencing policies, not merely following them.  These classifications must be undertaken on a job-by-job basis, always examining duties. Just looking at titles alone is not enough. A closer look at the total expectation of duties must be examined.

Short version employers want admins to be exempt so as to not pay overtime.  It can still be a wage and hour issue though.
I'm exempt and appreciate not have to fill in a time card minute by minute.

[Katie G]

Now in my case, I'm exempt, but I still have to punch in and punch out and can be docked if my hours are less than 40 per week.  So docked if under, but not paid if over.  Lose-Lose.   

[msmarieh]

Katie, that's actually not legal in the US. If you are exempt, you CANNOT legally have your pay docked for working less than 40 hours. You should investigate that further.

[Katie G]

Oh, trust me, people HAVE argued this.  We have a very cagey HR/Legal department.  See, the OT goes into the system as "unapproved."    Fortunately, we also have a cagey office manager who's good at working around the system so the docking has never actually happened.  (I was late - by an hour or so - twice this winter due to hitting unavoidable potholes and losing a tire each time.  Our OM finagled it so I wasn't penalized.) 

And the fact is, I could show up at 8:30 on the dot and leave at 5:00 on the dot and to hell with whatever's going on and they'd probably have no recourse against me.   But it would be politically stupid to do that.  I have a feeling my new boss would like to bring in her own person right now, so I just want to keep my head down until I find something else.  Still looking....

[Atlanta Z3]

That would make me work 8 hours and absolutely no overtime.  If you ever leave this company I would lodge a wage and hour eeoc complaint.  I would also be carefully and accurately track for my time each week in a personal journal.  This does not sound like a warm and friendly company.