Do Salaried Employees Get Overtime?

When you owe overtime to a salaried employee

A salaried employee still owes overtime unless they pass BOTH tests: earn at least $684/week AND perform specific duties (real managerial authority, independent judgment, certain professional categories). Pay a salary but skip the duties test, and the employee is "salaried non-exempt" — owed overtime at 1.5× their hourly equivalent for any hour past 40.

The trap: most "salaried" employees who fail the duties test never have their hours tracked — the employer assumed salary covered everything. When records are missing, federal law presumes the employee's claim is correct. A coordinator paid $50,000 who claims 10 unpaid OT hours/week, doubled by federal liquidated damages across 2–3 years, adds up fast. One misclassified position usually means dozens of workers.

How to handle salaried non-exempt employees

• Audit every salaried position — confirm the duties test, not just the salary.
• For anyone who fails: switch to non-exempt and track hours per day and per week.
• Pay 1.5× the hourly equivalent for every hour over 40 — federal rule.
• Keep hour-by-hour records for at least 3 years (longer in CA, NY, HI).
• In CA, PA, or AK, don't use the "fluctuating workweek" half-time method — banned.

Where salaried non-exempt cases get expensive

• The "project coordinator" paid $45,000 who follows a procedure your office wrote — fails the duties test, owes 2 years of unpaid overtime.
• The "shift manager" who can't hire, can't fire, and supervises no one — same trap, same back-pay.
• The salaried admin who routinely works 50-hour weeks and whose hours were never tracked — federal law lets her estimate stand.
• Trying the federal "half-time" overtime shortcut for a salaried non-exempt employee in California — banned, every workweek is a separate violation.

When in doubt, track the hours

The "salaried = exempt" assumption is the #1 wage-and-hour mistake in the US. The salary is the easy half of the test; the duties are the half that gets you sued. If you ever have to defend the exemption, the only thing that holds up is a record of the hours actually worked — track them for every salaried employee, even the ones you're certain are exempt. Without that record, the employee's estimate wins.