What Are Partial Exemptions from Overtime Pay?

Employees in South Florida who are denied overtime pay for hours worked beyond a 40-hour workweek are often told by their employers that they are ineligible for overtime pay because of their status. Generally speaking, employees must be classified as either exempt or non-exempt employees under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), meaning that they are either entitled to overtime pay (as a non-exempt employee) or ineligible for overtime pay (as an exempt employee). What are you supposed to do if your employer pays you for some overtime but fails to pay you the appropriate wage for all overtime hours, explaining that you have a “partial exemption” from overtime pay?

Partial exemptions from overtime pay do exist under the FLSA, but they are uncommon. Our South Florida wage and hour law attorneys can explain partial exemptions in more detail, and we can speak with you today about a potential wage theft claim if you have been denied overtime pay.

Partial Exemptions from Overtime Pay Apply in Limited Circumstances

Partial exemptions from overtime pay are not common and only apply in limited circumstances. According to the US Department of Labor, these are the only type of work situations in which an employee may be partially exempt from overtime pay:

• Employee is engaged in “certain operations on agricultural commodities”;
• Employee works for a bulk petroleum distributor;
• Certain hospital and residential-care establishments that have adopted a 14-day work period with employees and have provisions in place to account for overtime hours and appropriate pay;
• Employees who either do not have a high school diploma or have not completed eighth grade, and who are required “to spend up to 10 hours in a workweek engaged in remedial reading or training or other basic skills without receiving time and one-half overtime pay for these hours,” assuming that the employees are paid their regular wage during these hours and that any training is not job-specific training; or
• Employees work in either a public agency fire department or police department where a longer work period of 7 to 28 days has been established and where overtime only must be paid after a certain number of work hours in the period.

Contact a Palm Beach Gardens Wage and Hour Lawyer for Assistance with a Wage Theft Claim

If you were denied overtime pay, you should seek legal advice as soon as possible. Much too often, employers misclassify employees who are actually owed overtime wages at the rate of 1.5 times the regular rate of pay for hours worked beyond the 40-hour workweek. Most employees who are owed overtime wages, and who have rights to minimum wage and overtime under the FLSA, are not subject to the much less common partial exemption from overtime pay that we discussed above. As such, if you have been paid only partially for your overtime work, you may be owed back pay. One of the experienced Palm Beach Gardens wage and hour law attorneys at Sconzo Law Office can discuss the details of a wage theft claim with you today and can help you to seek the wages you are owed. Contact us for additional information.

Source:

dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa#8