[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Tonchi

They see-sawed back and forth so many times about overtime being forbidden to overtime being compulsory that finally they solved the problem by making every administrative employee above a certain grade "exempt". That meant that no matter how many hours per day/week you worked over your scheduled 40, you got paid a flat rate (formerly that was just for management). This allowed them to legally work you into the ground without having to mess up their budget for salaries. 20 years later, they are in court facing a class action suit over non-payment of overtime But as far as benefits, those of us with the required 40 hours got all expenses paid for any psychiatric care needed to cope with the stress the company caused.

I don't know when the current rules went into effect, but according to the Dept of Labor the minimum for 'exempt' is $455 per week which works out to about $23.5K if you don't take vacations. That is above the poverty level for a family of four, placing someone in the 'working poor' category, especially if they have to pick up their own health care.

Administrative Exemption To qualify for the administrative employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:

• The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $455 per week;
• The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers; and
• The employee’s primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.

• That last item is open to a lot of interpretation.