Hi again, friends. We launched the Atlanta Employment Lawyer Blog several months ago and are enjoying it so much, and getting such a great response, that we decided to launch another blog—the Overtime Lawyer Blog. This one will be devoted to tracking developments under the Fair Labor Standards Act—otherwise known as the FLSA. The FLSA is the federal wage and hour law that sets forth the federal minimum wage (which is currently $6.55 per hour) and also requires that most “blue-collar” employees who work more than 40 hours in a workweek be paid overtime at a rate of one and one half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 per week.
As we explain in detail on our website, although the FLSA applies to virtually all U.S. employers, it does not guarantee that all employees receive overtime or the minimum wage. If you are exempt from the FLSA, then your employer does not have to pay you the minimum wage, and you can be required to work more than 40 hours in a week without overtime. Although the rules governing the exemptions are extremely complex, as a general rule, you are an exempt employee if you are paid on a salaried basis (in other words you receive a fixed amount of compensation every pay period no matter how much work you do) in the amount of at least $455 per week, and the type of work you perform is either executive, administrative, or professional. These types of exempt jobs basically involve work where you have substantial authority over the operations of your employer’s business, where you are involved in the administrative end of the business, or where your job requires an advanced degree. There are a few other miscellaneous exemptions that we discuss on our website, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s website also has great resources if you have any questions.
If however, you are not paid on a salaried basis, or your work is not executive, administrative, or professional in nature, then in most cases you are not exempt from the FLSA and you are entitled to overtime.
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Welcome to the Overtime Lawyer Blog!
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