Direct answer
A salary label does not create exemption. FLSA exemption requires a duties test — executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, computer — plus the salary threshold, which rises with 2026 state layers. Analysts, coordinators, and "team leads" with no real authority are the most common misclassification cases. If you do the work, you get the overtime.
Updated November 9, 2026 · Reviewed against US DOL Wage & Hour Division
Salaried Is Not Exempt
A salary label does not create exemption. FLSA exemption requires a duties test — executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, computer — plus the salary threshold, which rises with 2026 state layers. Analysts, coordinators, and "team leads" with no real authority are the most common misclassification cases. If you do the work, you get the overtime.
The Back-Pay Math
Two years lookback (three for willful) at time-and-one-half on your effective hourly rate: salary divided by actual hours. Claims with liquidated damages double the number. The FLSA liquidated damages guide shows the doubling rule, and the wage claim path is in the wage claim guide. Keep the time evidence: calendar invites, badge logs, and Slack hours — see calibration records for the format.
The Exempt Defense Employers Use
- "We pay a salary" — irrelevant without the duties test.
- Job title claims: exemption follows duties, not titles.
- State thresholds beat federal: California, New York, and Washington use higher bars in 2026.
Write your duties list before filing. The professional bio tool builds a clean duty inventory you can adapt for the claim — avoid the words "assist" and "support" for exempt roles.
Retaliation and the Timing Window
FLSA anti-retaliation covers complaints, hours cut, and schedule punishment. File the wage claim, then watch the retaliation window; the whistleblower guide covers state overlays. Related: the FLSA workweek and remote wage jurisdiction for teleco workers.
Put the rule into action
Build The Duties Record Before You File
Exemption is argued with what you actually did, not with your title or your pay method. Write the duties inventory first, dated, and keep it to facts a payroll record can confirm. The federal test has two parts: a salary above the current threshold and a qualifying duties test under the FLSA. Confirm the current salary threshold on the DOL Wage and Hour Division page before you quote a number in a demand letter.
- List the work you own: projects you lead, budgets you control, hires you make, and approvals you give.
- List the work you do not own: who sets your priorities, who approves your time off, who signs your expenses.
- Record supervision counts. An executive exemption needs direction of two or more full-time employees, and a lead who schedules no one does not meet it.
- Record independent judgment. Following a fixed playbook is not the administrative test, no matter how the job description reads.
- Keep calendar invites, badge logs, ticket history, and shift schedules. Hours are proved with records, not recollection.
Start from the FLSA exempt definition so you know which test your role is actually claimed under.
Run The Rate Math On Your Own Payroll
Overtime is owed at time and one-half of your effective hourly rate, and for a salaried misclassified employee that rate is your salary divided by the hours your pay was intended to cover. Do the arithmetic on your own pay statements before you file so the claim is a number, not a complaint.
- Take the weekly salary from the pay statement, not the annual offer figure.
- Divide by the hours the salary was set for. If the handbook says 40, use 40; if the schedule you worked was 55, document that too, because the rate changes.
- Multiply overtime hours by 1.5 times that rate for each week.
- Total by week and keep the worksheet. Liquidated damages can double the wage amount, see the doubling rule in the FLSA liquidated damages material.
- Confirm which weeks fall inside the lookback: two years normally, three for a willful violation.
Model the wage exposure with the final paycheck timing calculator for the unpaid-hours line, and send the written demand through the final paycheck demand letter.
State Thresholds Beat Federal, And Location Decides Where
Several states impose a higher salary bar, a daily-overtime rule, or a stricter duties test than federal law. California, New York, and Washington use higher thresholds than the federal floor, and California adds daily overtime past eight hours. Where both apply, you are protected by whichever rule pays more.
- File the federal claim with the DOL Wage and Hour Division, and the state claim with the state labor agency, since deadlines and remedies differ.
- Check the state page for your work location before you choose a route: see the California final pay and wage rules or the full state map.
- Remote workers usually claim in the state where they worked, not where payroll sits. Keep the remote approval email, home-office stipend, and the address on record.
- Do not assume a comp-time or flex-time arrangement is legal in your state. Many private employers cannot substitute time off for overtime pay.
Retaliation for an overtime complaint is protected under federal law and under several state statutes. Keep the complaint date, then document any schedule change, hours cut, or reassignment that follows inside the workplace, remote and review section.
| Claimed Exemption | The Test It Must Meet | Common Misclassification Tell |
|---|
| Executive | Management duties plus supervising two or more staff | Team lead with no hires and no approvals |
|---|
| Administrative | Independent judgment on matters of significance | Follows a fixed script or pricing sheet |
|---|
| Professional | Advanced knowledge in a field of profession | Degree used for routine output only |
|---|
| Outside sales | Primary work away from the office selling | Inside desk work is the real job |
|---|
| Computer | Systems analysis, design, or similar roles | Help-desk and support hours |
|---|
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does a salary automatically mean no overtime?
- No. Salary is a pay method, not an exemption. A salaried employee who fails the duties test is non-exempt and owns overtime at time and one-half of the effective hourly rate, regardless of what the offer letter says.
- How many weeks of overtime can I claim?
- Federal claims normally reach back two years, and three where the violation was willful. State wage statutes often run longer and add interest or treble damages. Check your state deadline before you assume the federal window is the only one.
- What evidence proves the hours I worked?
- Records, not memory. Badge logs, calendar blocks, ticket timestamps, sent-mail times, shift schedules, and the work-log emails you sent yourself. Keep a contemporaneous log going forward, because a log started after the dispute is weaker.
- Can I be fired for filing an overtime claim?
- Retaliation for a protected complaint is unlawful under federal law and under many state statutes. Document the complaint date and every adverse action that follows it, then file the retaliation claim separately from the wage claim.
The duties test, the salary threshold, and the look-back for unpaid overtime are federal and state rules, and the state thresholds in this build were graded from reported sources. Confirm the threshold, the duties test, and the filing deadline with the state agency named on the state rule pages before you quote a number, keep the work record with hours, schedule, and duties, and read the exempt status definition before you accept a title as the answer.
Sources (official record — verify before filing)
US DOL Wage & Hour Division