Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Re: Exempt versus non-exempt.

Employers cannot enter valid agreements to alter an employee's actual status. That status is determined by the employee's actual duties, not the particular title the parties agree to assign to the employee. In your case, assuming you do not qualify by your duties as exempt, i.e., you are not within the administrative, executive, or artistic exceptions to the overtime law, your employer is required to pay you overtime. Merely being "salaried" or being called a "manager" would not change your non-exempt status.