A good place to start when faced with any overtime pay issue is to examine the employee classification: is the employee classified as exempt or non-exempt?
An exempt employee is not entitled to receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 hours per week and is thus “exempt” from the rules of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Non-exempt employees are required to receive overtime pay and therefore are classified as “non-exempt.”
The misclassification of employees can be a costly error, so making this determination is a critical step in the onboarding process for new employees and when creating a new position.