Some of the most common errors that employers make regarding the California overtime laws are:

• Misclassifying retail or store managers as exempt under the "executive" exemption. A retail manager is non-exempt (and entitled to overtime pay) if he/she spends more than 50% of his/her time on "non-management" tasks, such as sweeping up, selling, helping customers, cashiering, merchandising, stocking merchandise, recovery, maintenance work, or other similar duties that are usually performed by hourly workers.

• Misclassifying office employees exempt under the "administrative" exemption. Most general office employees are non-exempt unless they perform work that is directly related to setting company policy or managing the company's business.

• Misclassifying computer technicians or customer service workers as exempt under the "administrative," "professional," or "computer programmer" exemptions. Employees who handle mostly routine installation, configuration, servicing, or maintenance of computers or computer network systems are usually non-exempt.

• Attempting to avoid paying overtime by making the employee "salaried" is a common error.The employee’s actual job tasks, not the form of pay, determines whether the employee is entitled to overtime compensation.

• Asking employees to "waive" overtime pay. This is against the law!

• Deducting from a salaried employee's pay for absences of less than a full work day. In order to be exempt, the employee must be paid his/her full salary for any day that he/she performs any work whatsoever. For example, an exempt employee must be paid for a full day even if he/she leaves work early to take their neighbor to the dentist.

• Docking a salaried employee's pay for making an error while working. In General, an employer cannot impose a penalty or fine on an exempt employee or suspend them without pay (except in full-week increments).

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United Employees Law Group, PC
Walter L. Haines
Attorney at Law

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