It was a commercial asking, “Do you work extra hours but don’t receive overtime pay? Are you asked to work off the clock at times?” And it went on in this vein. At the end, it revealed that it was an ad for a plaintiffs law firm, urging people to call to get assistance in pursuing wage-and-hour (overtime) claims. This indicates that the overtime investigation issue has risen to a new level of visibility—and for schools, is serious.
It is critical that schools “audit” each position in the school to ensure that it is correctly classified for overtime pay purposes. The good news is that the exempt/nonexempt status of most positions is easy to determine:
- Administrators—exempt
- Teachers—exempt
- Clerical support, maintenance, kitchen staff—nonexempt (overtime eligible)
There will be “gray area” positions that are more difficult to classify (e.g., does the Development Assistant role exercise enough “independent judgment regarding matters of significance” to be appropriately designated as exempt?). These positions warrant consultation with an HR or compensation professional (or labor attorney) to ensure that you’ve classified them appropriately. Our main concern, though, is with the “easy” ones—i.e., are you treating the clearly non-exempt positions correctly with regard to recording hours worked and paying overtime?
One fallacy that many employees (and employers, too) rely on to their detriment is, “I’m not eligible for overtime because I’m salaried.” This isn’t necessarily true. While being paid on a salaried basis is a necessary requirement of being exempt, nonexempt employees can be paid on a salaried basis, too. This doesn’t mean that they’re exempt—it just means that they can be paid a salary, but they are still eligible for overtime pay when overtime is worked.
Let us take the radio commercial as a friendly reminder. What can you do to ensure that you don’t get a letter from this law firm seeking overtime pay for their client?
