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As an employee, there are certain expectations of you. The primary one being that you will do your work, and fulfill your obligation and that your employer will compensate you for your labor. Sometimes individuals will even receive overtime if they work more than 40 hours a week. While some employees are eligible for overtime, others are not, and they are often referred to as exempt employees in Tampa wage and hour cases.

One of the exemptions is a highly-compensated employee. Anybody that makes over $134,000 a year is an exempt employee for wage and overtime claims. Other exemptions include managerial exemptions for somebody that manages people, hires and fires people, and is involved in the decision-making.  Being misclassified as an exempt or non-exempt employee can have a massive impact on your income, which is where an attorney can help. If you have questions about exempt and non-exempt employees, or you wish to pursue a case, get in touch with a skilled FLSA lawyer today.

Executive Exemptions

The managerial exemptions are actually called the executive exemption and in order to be under this exemption, exempt employees in Tampa wage and hour cases must meet the following requirements:

  • The employee must be compensated on a salary basis at a rate not less than $455 (or up to $913) a week
  • The employee’s primary duty must be managing the enterprise or managing a customarily-recognized department or some subdivision of the enterprise
  • The employee must customarily and regularly direct the work of at least two or more other full-time employees or their equivalent
  • The employee must have the authority to hire or fire other employees or the employees’ suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring, firing, advancement, promotion or any other change of status of other employees must be given particular weight

Administrative Exemption

The next exemption is called the administrative exemption. To qualify for the administrative exemption, the following tests must be met: firstly, the employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 (or up to $913) a week.  Secondly, the employee’s primary duty must be the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers. Thirdly, the employee’s primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to the matters of significance. 

Next is the professional exemption. To qualify for this, an individual must meet the following requirements: 1) the employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 (or up to $913) a week, 2) the employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment, 5) the advanced knowledge must be in the field of science or learning, 4) the advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized and intellectual instruction. 

Next is the outside sales exemption which has the test that the employee’s primary duties must be making sales or obtaining orders or contracts for services or for the use of facilities for which a consideration will be paid by the client or customer. The employee must be customarily and regularly engaged away from the employer’s place or places of business. 

Differences Between Exempt and Non-Exempt Employees

Most exempt employees are either highly compensated or highly skilled managerial workers that are able to negotiate their contract and make sure that they are compensated properly. The FLSA has put into place to protect the non-exempt employees. 

Most of these employees are hourly workers that are not managers, that do not have specialized degrees and that do not make over $130,000 a year.  A lot of these employees are taken advantage of by their employers because their employers do not think they are going to fight back. 

That is why the FLSA is put in place. It is to help these employees fight back against the employers that are not treating them properly and, most of the time, the employees do not know how to navigate these waters which is why it is very important to hire an attorney that specializes in FLSA and wage and overtime work and make sure that these attorneys take the case from the beginning because they can set them up to be successful against the employer in these situations. 

Ways a Lawyer Can Help an Employee a Misclassification Issue

The way an attorney can usually prove a misclassification issue is interview other employees at the workplace to see if an individual actually was a manager, to go through the pay stubs, to see if they may meet the high salary requirements and to also go through what and how their employer has treated them and corresponded with them throughout the life of their employment. If an individual is not in a decision-making position, then the conversation with their employer will be much different than those employees that are managers and are making decisions.

All of this proves whether or not an individual fits into the exemptions that their employer is trying to classify them in order to avoid paying overtime and minimum wage. If you have questions about exempt employees in Tampa wage and hour cases, get in touch with a Tampa FLSA lawyer. An attorney can assist you with your case.