Los Angeles Employment Lawyer Blog

In California, the Department of Industrial Relations has provided in depth charts to determine whether you qualify for overtime pay at the standard rate of time and a half, or to a lesser degree, and in some cases, not at all. Depending on your job, you may either be considered to be an exempt employee (one who does not receive the typical overtime pay schedule) or a non-exempt employee (those who receive hourly wages and overtime pay at the standard amount). It is important to know which qualification you fall under as this determines the amount of overtime you are rightfully owed.

A non-exempt employee is simply any employee who does not fall into one of the enumerated exemptions determined by the Department. To see if you qualify as an exempt employee, start by identifying if your job places you in any of the below categories:

• Executive, Administrative and Professional employees


• Employees in the computer software field who are paid on an hourly basis and meet all of the other requirements set forth in the Orders


• Employees directly employed by the State or any political subdivision thereof, including any city, county or special district.


• Outside Salespersons


• Any individual who is the parent, spouse, child, or legally adopted child of the employer


• Any individual participating in a national service program, such as AmeriCorps.


• Drivers whose hours are regulated by the U.S Department of Transportation Code of Federal Regulation, Title 49, Sections 395.1 to 395.13, Hours of Service of Drivers


• Drivers whose hours are regulated by Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations, subchapter 6.5, section 1200 et seq.


• Employees covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement if the agreement expressly provides for the wages, hours of work, and working conditions, and if the agreement provides premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked and a regular hourly rate of pay for those employees of not less than 30% more than the state minimum wage.


• Employees (except minors) whose earnings exceed one and one-half times the minimum wage and more than half their compensation represents commissions


• Student nurses in a school accredited by the California Board of Registered Nursing or by the Board of Vocational Nurse and Psychiatric Technician Examiners


• Employees who have entered into a collective bargaining agreement under the Railway Labor Act


• Taxicab drivers


• Airline employees who work over 40 but not more than 60 hours during the workweek due to a temporary modification in their normal work schedule not required by the employer and arranged at the request of the employee


• Full-time carnival ride operators employed by a traveling carnival


• Crew members employed on a commercial fishing boat Fish and Game Code Section7920 et seq.


• Professional Actors


• Employees whose duties are exclusively those of a motion picture projectionist


• An announcer, news editor, or chief engineer employed by a radio or television station in a city or town with a population of 25,000 or less


• Any employee who is engaged in work that is primarily intellectual, managerial, or creative, and which requires exercise of discretion and independent judgment, and for which the remuneration is not less than two times the monthly State minimum wage for full time employment


• Sheepherders


• Irrigators


• Employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement if the agreement provides premium wage rates for overtime work and a cash wage rate of at least $1.00 per hour more than the state minimum wage.


• Personal attendants


• Any person under the age of 18 who is employed as a babysitter for a minor child of the employer in the employer's home.

Each of these categories has different outcomes of being exempt. Some change the overtime wage distribution, some completely allow no overtime pay based on reasons of salary and work done during the workweek that outweighs the need for overtime pay. However, if you believe that you are owed wages either due to not being paid minimum wage, overtime pay, or you are a non-exempt employee, please call for the Law Offices of Greenberg and Rudman LLP at 1-800-252-9776 for a free consultation in California on how the law may protect your rights.

http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_OvertimeExemptions.htm