With so many lawsuits involving situations where employers have misclassified nonexempt employees as exempt employees, it’s vital that employers understand the differences and the eligibility for each. This article looks at the classifications of exempt and nonexempt employees according to California laws.

California Exempt and Nonexempt Employee Classification

Salary 

To be exempt, an employee must be earning more than twice the minimum wage and must be in full-time employment. Earning is not an automatic qualification for exemption.

Exempt employees receive full weekly pay for all the weeks they worked. Therefore, the number of deductions that can be made on an exempt employee’s salary are few.

Job Title

An employee’s job title is not a determining factor. A big job title employee may still be nonexempt, as long as the job duties do not conform to the requirements to be exempt.

Duties Test

Employees under California laws need work half of the job time on exempt duties for them to become exempt employees.

A majority of employees classified as being exempt regularly make independent decisions at their places of work. Their jobs involve evaluating situations and deciding on the course of action independently.

Determination by California’s Labor Commissioner

A labor commissioner will examine the duties performed by an employee to determine if they’re to be categorized as exempt or nonexempt.

Deductions From The Pay of Exempt Employees

Employers should not deduct the pay of exempt employees for the day’s work is unavailable, so long as the employees are willing and in a position to perform work. In such cases, California laws on exempt employees require that they be paid the full weeks’ pay, even if they worked for one day.

California vs Federal laws on Exemptions

These are slight differences in the way federal and state laws apply to employee exemptions for specific job descriptions. The following are exemptions for California job duties.

Executives

Managers are still required to meet the requirements to be exempt. Otherwise, they would remain to be nonexempt.

Professional Employees

They still need to meet specific requirements for professional exemption.

Employees in Administrative Positions

Not every senior employee is exempt unless their duties match those performed by exempt employees according to California laws.

Computer Professionals

In the year 2000, state law was amended to be in line with federal law regarding computer professionals, exempting them from overtime.

Artists

Not many artists qualify to be exempt under California laws due to the nature of their work; most are self-employed, with full control of the hours they work.

Salespeople

They’re categorized into inside and outside salespeople to define their statuses as either exempt or nonexempt as defined by California laws.

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Many employers are trying to cut costs on overtime by all means in our ever-changing economy. Some of these measures for minimizing costs are coming at the expense of the worker. It is common for attorneys specialized in labor law in California to witness abuse of work conditions and employee wages. Many employees who are seeking legal aid for an overtime issue have also on top of that a wrongful termination case of a discrimination case.
Incorrect Payment
When it comes to simple aspects such as minimum wage pay for all the worked hours, some employers, whether intentionally or not, fail routinely to properly pay their employees. Another common issue encountered by attorney firms is not paying employees for travel between job sites or other non-commuting mileage. If left unchecked by an attorney specialized in California labor law, these amounts may add up quickly.

State Vs. Federal
At the state level, there is a difference between federal overtime law and California overtime law. The main difference is the requirement for employers in California to pay 2 times the normal rate if an employee has worked for over 8 hours on their 7th consecutive day of work or over 12 hours in a workday. For employees who just work over 40 hours in a workweek or over 8 hours in a workday, they qualify to be paid at 1.5 times their normal rate.

How to Become Eligible
In order to become eligible to receive overtime payments in California, the employee should be more than 18 years old and to work in a non-professional, non-administrative, non-executive job. This means that the overtime law applies typically for employees that work directly in production and they cannot choose when and how they perform their job.

The California overtime does not cover several categories of employees:

Executives – anyone who manages an organization or a department, is making more than double the minimum wage and supervises more than two employees.

Administrative Employees – anyone whose job doesn’t involve manual labor, is making more than double the minimum wage and can decide when and how they do their work.

Professional Employees – anyone who works in the arts, optometry, dentistry, medicine, law, engineering, accounting, architecture, teaching, sciences, is making more than double the minimum wage and can decide where and how they do their work. Some others such as journalists, student nurses, actors, and drivers are also not covered by some or all aspects of the overtime law in California.

If employees in California should receive overtime payments under the state law, but they are not paid, they can sue their employer under the provision of legal protection against workplace discrimination.

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How many of you work late into the night? Do you get compensated for the extra hours? These are some of the employment issues that arise in various organizations. However, today you can get legal representation from experienced employment attorneys such as UELG. But first, it is important to understand what exemption from the overtime laws mean. For better understanding, one should get acquainted with the following terms:

1. Overtime

Overtime is the extra working hours beyond the normal working hours. The normal working hours depend on various factors, for instance:

• Agreement between the employer and the employee on the working hours
• The profession or trade e.g. Doctors, Engineers, Nurses, Drivers, Teachers, Lawyers, among others.
• Legislation; the labor or employment laws

2. Labor laws

Labor laws are present in every state or country. It is essential as it helps prevent disputes among workers and employers. An employer may decide to force his or her employees to work extra hours without compensating them. Alternatively, the law considers other factors such as health of the employees. This ensures productivity as it preserves the health of workers.

Exemption from overtime laws

With all that said, the concept of overtime can now be explained. First, if you work for longer hours, your employer should pay you. However, not all employees get compensated. When you get paid for the extra time, you are Non-exempt employee otherwise you are exempt employee. In other words, you are exempted from overtime pay. For more information, read through the following topics:

Affected employees

The labor law affects the executive, administrative, and professional employees. They further include the following;

• Employees in the computer software field: If they are paid on hourly basis and they meet the requirements stated in the orders, they are exempted from the overtime laws.
• Drivers: if you are a driver plus your working time is regulated by the U.S Department of Transportation Code of Federal Regulations, then you are exempted. Nevertheless, those drivers whose hours are regulated by the Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations are exempted as well. In addition, Taxi cab drivers do not enjoy the privileges of non-exempt employees.
• Airline employees: Only those workers who work over 40 but not more than 60 hours during the work weeks due to changes not required by their employer but only at the request of the employee.
• Announcers, News Editor or Chief Engineer working in a radio station with a population less than 25,000 people.

Other employees affected include:

• Baby sitters especially under 18 years of age babysitting a minor in the employer’s house.
• Those employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement.
• Irrigators,
• Sheepherders
• Professional actors

Bottom line

There are legal institutions that deal majorly with employment issues. You can visit the United Employment Law Group for any assistance.

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As per the California Law, in case of ” non exempt employees”, the employer has certain responsibilities like paying for overtime and meal expenses. In case of ” exempt” employees, there are no such rules. In order to claim exemption, it is up to the employer to prove that the employee is exempt. Here are some of the most common exemptions under the California Law:

1. Managerial Exemption: In order to claim Managerial Exemption, the employee must meet the following points:i) The employee must have managerial responsibilities in one of the department or sub division of the enterprises.
   ii) The employee must be in charge of supervision of at least two employees.
   iii) Employee has the authority to hire a person or fire a person.
   iv) Employee frequently takes important decisions while performing his or her duties.
   v) The monthly salary of the employee should be at least 2 times more than the minimum wage of the state.

   2. Administrative Exemption:

   In order to claim this exemption, the employee must meet the following requirements:

   i) Employee spends majority of the time in work which is related to the normal business operations.
   ii) Employee always works under the supervision of a manager.
   iii) The monthly salary of the employee should be at least 2 times more than the minimum wage of the state.

   Computer Professional Exemption:

   In order to qualify for this exemption, the following guidelines has to be met:

   i). The employee must spend majority of the time in any one of the following works:
   a) Interacting with the users in order to improve the existing hardware and software systems.
   b) Involved in the design, development and testing of the various computer programs.
   ii) The employee must be extremely skilled and well aware about the different computer systems and their application.
   iii) The hourly wage of the employee must be above the minimum limit.

   4. Inside sales employee: In order to claim exemption under this head, the following guidelines must be met:

   i) The wage of the employee must be more than 1.5 times the minimum wage limit of California.
   ii) Majority of the compensation of the employee must be in the form of commissions.

2. Outside sales employee: In this case, these are the following guidelines which must be met:i) Must be at least 18 years of age.
   ii) The employee must spend majority of the time working in locations outside the place of the business.
   iii) Must be involved in selling only tangible items.

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Law protects employees from being punished or fired by employers for taking leave of work to serve jury duty. Employers are also restricted from trying to discourage or intimidate employees from serving on a jury. They are allowed to require proof from employees that there was called in for jury duty before they are allowed time off work.

Jury Selection Process

Whether or not the juror knows any of the defendants, witnesses, victims, experts or investigators in the case or if you happen to have any particular knowledge about the case not publicly known.

After these questions are asked and answered, the jury pool is whittled down. The next step is the judge and attorneys for both sides of the case will decide upon the first twelve jurors who satisfy their requirements.

If necessary, the court may decide it is prudent to select some alternates. These back-ups are treated like jurors and listen to all the evidence presented in the case. They do not participate in the actual deliberations unless something prevents one of the original jurors from completing their duty.

Once the jurors are selected, the judge will explain what is expected of them. The judge will probably go over housekeeping items such as if the juror needs a break during the trial, what they can bring into the jury box, how long they have for lunch and what time they are to report each day.
How Long Are Trials?
Most local trials only last a day. Some jurisdictions have made the determination that if you are placed on a jury during the time you are “on call” you have satisfied your commitment and are released from coming back for a period.

During the actual trial, you’ll sit in a designated box and are expected to listen to all the testimony before forming an opinion. Some jurisdictions allow note taking, put provide you the notebooks and pencils as you are entering and leaving the courtroom and collect them as you leave. Some jurisdictions are concerned that people won’t pay close attention and have disallowed note taking.
Who Gives The Jury’s Decision
A foreperson is either determined by the court or elected by the other jurors. This person is the voice of the entire jury and will be responsible for communicating to the court via the bailiff if they can’t hear the testimony, can’t see the visual evidence, it’s too warm or cool, they need a break, etc.

The foreman is also responsible for passing along any information from the court to the jurors. For example, making sure everyone as signed the attendance form and fill out the necessary paperwork to receive their daily stipend.
Is There Any Downtime?
The jury only hears testimony and attorney comments which the judge deems appropriate to the case at hand. Any other information which the judge feels will be prejudicial to the defendant will be discussed while the jury is outside the courtroom. These periods can be short or long depending upon what is discussed.

This is an opportunity for jurors to talk among themselves about anything not related to the case. This is also a good time for a juror to read the paper or book, balance a checkbook, set up doctor’s appointments, etc.

While jury duty can be inconvenient, it can also be a wonderful educational experience in how the judicial system works.

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In California laws, overtime is regarded as any hours performed over 8 hours in one day or forty hours during a week. There is an exemption to this law if the organization has instituted a bona fide alternative work week where you usually work ten hour days, four days per week.

In such cases, the overtime is after ten hours in place of 8, and also after 40 hours during the week. This particular alternative work week has to meet certain requirements, and it may not end up being carried out using a person by person basis.

If you don’t fit in an Exemption, California regulations put it clear that all of the hours worked above eight on a daily basis or 40 in a 7-day period or worked on the seventh consecutive day of a new work 7-day period get paid and times an employee’s regular rate of pay.

Furthermore, hours worked above 12 in a day or hours over eight worked on the 7th consecutive day in a 7-day period will be paid at two times the employee’s daily rate of pay.

People not covered by California overtime laws

Job opportunities that can be Exempt from California’s overtime laws and regulations:

1. Commissioned marketing employees of the retail industry, as well as services corporations if over fifty percent of the worker’s wages are derived from commissions as well as the staff, average a minimum of one and one-half times the actual minimum wage for each hour the employee worked.

2. Computer programmers that are compensated at least $37.94 for each hour worked (this represents the 2009 minimum amount hourly condition – it adjusts each year). They must carry out work that may be intellectual or even innovative as well as the exercise involving discretion and independent judgment.

3. Executive, management, professional like actors and even some journalists, or outside marketing staff members.

4. Union staff members who are protected by a collective bargaining agreement providing you with premium salary rates for every overtime hours worked by union staff members.

Can you be made to work overtime? 

Yes, an employer can decide to make the employees work more than the stipulated time. In this case, the employer can use means like termination as a way of punishment if the employee refuses to work

What to do if not paid for overtime?

In situations where the employer may refuse to pay you the overtime wages, one can file a wage claim or even a lawsuit against the employer responsible so that you can recover your lost wages.

What next?

If it happens that you have worked for overtime and you have not been given your wages, you can contact an overtime attorney. Overtime lawyers are people who have specialized in ensuring that their clients get their full paycheck in every week depending on the agreement between the employer and the employee.

They will fight for you and ensure that you get what you deserve. In our current economy, every penny matters. Time is precious and for that reason, you have to ensure you get the most out of what you do. You can claim overtime if not paid for up to four years back.

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