Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Re: Salary Employee

Many employers confuse "salary" with "exempt".

If you are an "exempt" employee, you do not have to be paid overtime, no matter how many hours you work. However, to be an "exempt" employee, you must fit within one of the job classifications, which includes management (you must have the authority to hire, fire and make other management decisions), administrative employees, software designers, and several other very carefully defined categories. If your employer is telling you that you are an exempt employee, post here again or check with the Department of Labor and Industries with a specific description of your job duties. If you are exempt, there is no set limit on how many hours you can be worked for your salary.

If you are a salary worker but you are NOT exempt, the bad news is that the employer can still make you work long hours. The good news is that even though you are salaried, you must be paid overtime (150% of your regular rate) for any time over 40 hours per week that you work, if you are not exempt. If you are salaried,the employer must figure out what your hourly rate would be if you worked hourly at your present rate of pay. Payments of regular bonuses and commissions must be included in that calculation.

Hope that helps.