Getting paid a low salary can be a curse!  Working long hours with no overtime pay can be punishing for employees who barely make more than twice the minimum wage.  Moreover, salaried positions often involve more demands, more responsibilities, and more stress.  As a result, workers who are overworked can end up unsatisfied and underpaid.  However, sometimes employees should really be paid overtime despite being “salaried.”  The problem is that these types of employees might be working a ton of overtime and not getting paid for it.  Therefore, this article will look at one piece of exemptions—how much does an employee have to be paid on a salary basis to not get overtime?

Many people assume that salaried employees don’t get overtime, but hourly employees do.  The reality is quite different.  Importantly, what people should be wondering is whether they are exempt or non-exempt.  So what does exempt mean?  Exempt means exempt, or outside the protection from certain labor rules, such as overtime, meal and rest periods, etc.  On the other hand, non-exempt means that an employee gets the protections available under law.  For the purposes of simplicity, let’s note that exempt employees don’t get overtime, while non-exempt employees do get overtime.  So who gets to be exempt or non-exempt?

Exemption status isn’t simple; but there is one point to consider.  Notably, California Wage Orders generally require that an employee must be paid twice the minimum wage rate on a monthly basis in order to meet one requirement of exempt status.  Therefore, if an employee doesn’t earn at least twice (2x) minimum wage in a month at forty (40) hours a week, then an employee cannot be exempt.  In other words, if an employee is not paid at least that amount, the employee will likely be entitled to overtime.  There are other requirements for exempt status, but we will tackle those in another article.

Here’s a general chart for annual and monthly salaries based upon the state minimum wage, taking into account increases over the past few years.

January 2012 – July 1, 2014 – Min. Wage $8.00 / Hour.

-Annual Estimated Salary @ 2x Min. Wage- $33,280.00

-Monthly Estimated Salary @ 2x Min. Wage- $2,773.33

July 1, 2014 – January 1, 2016 – Min. Wage $9.00 / Hour.

-Annual Estimated Salary @ 2x Min. Wage- $37,440.00

-Monthly Estimated Salary @ 2x Min. Wage- $3,120.00

January 1, 2016 – January 1, 2017 – Min. Wage $10.00 / Hour

-Annual Estimated Salary @ 2x Min. Wage- $41,600.00

-Monthly Estimated Salary @ 2x Min. Wage- $3,466.667

If you have questions involving whether you were paid enough to qualify for the exemption, contact an experienced labor lawyer for a free consultation immediately.  Time may be of the essence because there usually is a limitations period for which to file a potential claim for unpaid overtime and wages.  Many of these types of cases are covered by laws allowing for attorneys’ fees, so you may be able to get attorneys’ fees covered as well.