Salaried or not?

I am an RN who was hired to do the required government paper work in a long term care facility. I was hired at an hourly rate. After about a year and a half as an hourly employee, our company suddenly changed my status to "exempt salaried". However, my duties did not change, I have no employees under me and I now report to the Director of Nursing rather than directly to the Administator. I am now being told that I have to work as many hours a week as my employer requires without extra compensation, such as comp time. I might also add that my pay stub reflects an hourly rate at 80 hours for two weeks and not a salaried rate. Is my status truly exempt salaried and am I required to work extra if asked without any compensation?

1 answer  |  asked Jan 20, 2009 6:16 PM [EST]  |  applies to Ohio

Answers (1)

Neil Klingshirn
Check the Administrative and Professional Exemptions

If you are paid the same amount each week regardless of the number of hours that you work, and your pay is more than $455 per week, then you are probably paid on a salaried basis, even if your pay stub shows 80 hours. If your employer reduces your pay because you work less than 40 hours, or docks your pay if you miss less than a full day other than due to illness, then you may not be salaried.

Whether you are paid by the salary is only half the question. The second half is whether you are also primarily performing exempt duties. The three types of exempt duties are Executive, Administrative and Professional. You are not performing Executive duties if you are not supervising anyone. However, you might be performing Administrative duties if you are exercising discretion and judgment in the performance of your employer's business operations. As an RN, you would qualify as a Professional, which requires study, etc., but it sounds like you are not performing Professional duties.

For more information on whether the duties that you perform are Administrative or Professional, go to the overtime regulations for Administrative and Professional employees, located at:

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/Subpart_C.htm

and http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/Subpart_D.htm

Best regards,

Neil.

posted by Neil Klingshirn  |  Jan 21, 2009 08:56 AM [EST]

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