Salaried Employees Being Forced To Work Overtime

[fychan46]

I live and work in Phoenix, AZ. I work for a major corporation. My direct supervisor is loading me up with work because we're busy. I told her I am overloaded and she said too bad, you'll just have to work through lunch and stay late. I am a salaried employee. I do not know if I am exempt or non-exempt and what that means regarding overtime. There are a lot of other employees that are afraid they'll lose their job so they stay late many nights and sometimes work 3-5 hours longer everyday. My boss is mad at me because I do not want to work late and skip lunch, just because a lot of other co-workers are doing this. So she now is giving me work from another employee to try and force me to work longer hours. The work is a little out of my scope and it is absolutely going to take me longer to do this work because I am still learning it. Everyday she makes a point to tell me everyone else is working late and piles on more work. No overtime is being paid to these employees and no comp days are being given. Is this legal?

[Jokul]

It is abusing the system, but yes it is legal. The salaried exempt employee is not eligible for overtime as he/she is exempt from the FLSA(Fair Labor Standards Act). There is no limit to the amount of hours an exempt person can be asked to work. Exempt positions are those that fit the FLSA requirements for the exemption. Most generally they are salaried positions which are paid more than hourly positions. Salaried positions can be non exempt but ususally not. The exempt or non exempt status is dependent upon the job and the job requirements. It is illegal to misclassify a non  exempt person as exempt to not pay overtime. There are large penalties for misclassification.

The Department of Labor is the best source to find out whether the position is exempt or non exempt. Here are a couple of good sites with information on the difference between exempt and non exempt and what it means.http://www.flsa.com/coverage.htmlhttp://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen75.asphttp://www.paychex.com/pdf/exempt.pdfhttp://labor-employment-law.lawyers.com/wage-and-hour-law/Wages-and-Hour-Law-Exe...

Shirley