Are Assistant Managers Entitled to Overtime Pay?

You might be surprised to discover that the answer to the question of whether assistant managers are entitled to overtime pay is quite frequently yes. It has unfortunately become a cost-saving tactic among many companies to attempt to slap a managerial title on a job so that they can misclassify the position as exempt from overtime protection.

There are many position requirements that employers must meet when they call a position “exempt. The term “exempt” in this case means that the employee that holds this position is exempt from having to be paid overtime pay.

The opposite category of “non-exempt” means that not only must an employee be paid minimum hourly wage at the very least, they must be paid one and one-half times the base rate of pay for any hour worked over 40 in a given seven day workweek under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This is the meaning of the term “overtime pay.”

What are the Pay Status and Requirements Necessary to Classify an Employee as Exempt?

According to Monster.com, employers must pay an exempt employee a salary rather than an hourly wage in order to justify this classification. The term salary means that the employee is not paid more or less based on the number of hours worked in a given week.

If he or she must log more hours in to accomplish the necessary duties, there are no pay increases, but neither are there pay docks when the opposite is true for an employee entitled to pay.

In addition to being salaried vs. being paid an hourly wage, an exempt classification can only be given to a position if the employee makes a salary that amounts to a minimum of $455 per week, according to the Department of Labor’s website.

What are Some of the Job Duty Requirements Necessary to Classify an Employee as Exempt?

As indicated by the Department of Labor, there are three different types of exemptions that are recognized based largely on position duties: executive, administrative, and professional.

With the executive exemption to overtime requirements, the primary duty of the employee must be to either manage the enterprise in total or a part of the enterprise such as a department or subdivision. What comes with this is the granted ability to direct the work activities of a minimum of two workers and to hire and fire as seen fit.

The administrative exemption can be exercised if the position involves non-manual work directed toward supporting a manager or his or her customers. In this case, the classification can only occur if the job involves the granted ability to use independent judgment and decision-making.

Finally, the professional exemption must have specialized working knowledge in an area of expertise that requires extensive study and preparation. All of these exemptions require the baseline weekly pay and salary designation.

Often assistant or department managers spend the majority of their time doing the same tasks as non-exempt employees such as stocking shelves, assisting customers, cleaning facilities, and working cashier stations. These are not the duties that would qualify for exempt status and represent a trend of misclassification deliberately designed to save on labor expenses.

Employers may keep non-exempt employee’s hours very clearly controlled while expecting exempt employees to pick up the need slack without additional pay. If you feel your position was misclassified, you may be owed back wages and have a legal claim.

Join a Free Assistant Manager Overtime Pay Lawsuit Investigation

If you work or worked as an assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant, retail store or supermarket and you perform the same duties as the hourly employees, you may have been misclassified as exempt and are owed unpaid overtime pay.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.