What is the difference between an exempt and nonexempt employee?
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) categorizes employees as either exempt or nonexempt based on tests contained within the Act. The Human Resources Office determines the FLSA status of each job title by applying the tests. To be exempt means an employee’s job meets the test criteria for an executive, professional or administrative exemption and the employee is not covered by FLSA. Therefore, the employee is usually paid a monthly salary and does not receive extra compensation for overtime hours worked. Conversely, to be nonexempt means that an employee’s job does not meet the test criteria, and the employee is covered by the FLSA. The employee must be paid for overtime hours worked. The Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to either pay or give compensatory time to employees for overtime hours worked, both at a time and one-half rate. How does overtime and compensatory time apply to exempt employees? Exempt employees do not have to be paid for overtime hours because they are not
