Are you a salary employee entitled to overtime?

One of the great fictions offered by many employers if that if they choose to pay their employees on a salary basis, then those employees are not entitled to overtime. Nothing could be further from the truth. The payroll decisions of an employer in the United States do not govern whether its employees deserve overtime, the Federal Labor Standards Act does. The Federal Labor Standards Act (or “FLSA”) is a law written nearly one hundred years ago that governs Americans’ rights to overtime. The relevant questions as to whether someone qualifies for overtime is not whether they are paid a salary, but rather the types of duties and responsibilities that worker has with the company. Many salaried positions should be receiving overtime. If you were not paid overtime by your employer, you can be entitled to all the unpaid overtime, plus an award of damages.