FLSA Regulations: Basic Principles On Employee Overtime Exemptions

(Part 2 of the Wage-Hour Compliance Series)

This Part 2 in our series addresses the challenge that businesses face in complying with the FLSA rules on treating certain employees as "exempt" from the law's overtime pay requirement.  The litigation explosion over exemption disputes is a sign that the rules on exemptions are not simple to interpret and apply.

Employers understandably struggle with the question of whether or not a particular employee qualifies for one of the overtime exemptions under the FLSA. The regulations defining the most familiar exemptions (Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employee) often seem ambiguous or worse.  Making things more challenging, the burden of proof in a contested exemption case is on the employer.