Is your employment based on a 40 hour work week at 7 days a week? this is important. this answer is given based on those working hours. if so, any hours worked, after 40 hours, will be considered overtime and compensated as such. some employers allow compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay, if the employee elects. this means taking time off, at a later date, to equal the overtime worked. being on salary makes no difference, if all the above applies. there are federal laws that strictly address this situation. i believe its the federal fair labor law of 1972? not sure of the year. its on the web. check it out.

EDIT: 4/18/06: Having worked in DOL for the past 15 or so years, I'll pass on some interesting statistics---MOST if not ALL NON-GOVERNMENT (FED/STATE/LOCAL/) salaried workers are exempt under the laws. These are directly collected DOL statistics. There are very few exempt salaried employees---mainly because these employees fall into the exemption categories. Salaried employees that are "non-exempt" for the most part are called "salaried" when in reality their compensation structure is based on either a contractual agreement, standard workplan based on an hourly salary, or some other arrangement---but they are not paid a true set salary. That being said: Salaried employees who meet the definition of 'salaried employees' under the statute are exempt from the overtime regulations under Federal Law. Any state laws requiring compensation would be in conflict with the Federal law, and therefore illegal. Its unfortunate, but true, however you do have the right to redress by negotiating with your employer for compensation, etc for your extra work. For example, lets say you normally work about 42 hours per week---managment wants everyone to put in 55 hours a week 6 days a week. You could, on your next performance review, or appraisal request an increase in salary commesurate with the additional hours. Your organization is free to decline--unfortunately, if you decline to work the extra hours, you could be terminated. Its a catch-22... Maxing out employee hours is not a good thing be it an office job or another type of job. Example: An individual was hired as chief manager for a company. A normal workweek was 40 hours. But, the requirement was you work until the work is done--if it takes 2 hours a week---you have 38 off....etc. Well, at 40 hours per week, the average workyear is 2080 hours. The employee in question worked 5981.75 hours in 11 months(337 days)---without extra compensation, nor acknowledgement by the boss/owner. His health began to fail and a bunch of long seated problems overcame him. My advice is that if you work for a boss that wants you to work as many hours as possible--or expects you to consistently work as many hours as possible with no compensation, then you should start looking for another job. (Btw, the employee was me and it came out to just over 17.75 hours a day, 7 days a week---and I have the punch cards to prove it :-) ) All of this for my first non gov job in 20 years...LOL...

The question can't be answered meaningfully without knowing whether you're an exempt employee or not and what state you're in. Basically, exempt employees are exempt from being paid overtime, while non-exempt employees aren't. However, each state has its own laws regarding how overtime, missed time, and "comp" time are handled for both exempt and non-exempt employees. Each state also has its own regulations regarding how many hours an employer can require of an employee, with or without compensation. To find the answer to your question, you'll need to contact the state agency that handles wage and hour disputes and speak with them. Be sure to have your employee handbook available, as the answer may also depend on your company's policies. RJTRIES: This question was obviously asked by an employee who wants to know their particular rights regarding hours worked and compensation. I answered their question correctly, by providing them a way to find out. The question about whether "most" employees are exempt or not doesn't enter into it. What matters is whether a particular employee is exempt or not, and what their state laws are regarding compensation of exempt employees, which varies from state to state. And in response to your edited answer to this question, you have it exactly backwards. Federal (and most state) regulations require that an exempt employee must be paid on a legitimate salary basis. That's NOT the same as saying that all salaried employees are exempt! I'm sure you're very knowledgable in the field of statistics at the national level. However, as I've tried to point out elsewhere, there's a BIG difference between statistics at a national level and practical application at the state and business level.

It all depends upon your exempt status. Contact your area Wage and Hour office to get help in finding out. Of course, they may even be uncertain about it, but that's the best way to find out.

Yes. In retail they bleed you with "black out days".....if you raise a stink...you will be fired. Pursuing it requires paying a lawyer retainer fee....most lawyers will not touch a case (except Gerry Spence) like this...because a large company will paper it to death. It is not worth their time because they can make more money and faster return on day to day stuff like DUI's..and real estate. *most all families do not have the cash cushion nor the mental luxury to pursue such endeavers.

Yes. In retail they bleed you with "black out days".....if you raise a stink...you will be fired. Pursuing it requires paying a lawyer retainer fee....most lawyers will not touch a case (except Gerry Spence) like this...because a large company will paper it to death. It is not worth their time because they can make more money and faster return on day to day stuff like DUI's..and real estate. *most all families do not have the cash cushion nor the mental luxury to pursue such endeavers.

That depends entirely on what country you live in and what the laws are. In the US, you are classified either as "Exempt" or "nonexempt". Exempt means you aren't entitled to overtime. Non-exempt means that you ARE entitled to overtime. You can find the fair labor standards act which outlines who is exempt and who isn't on the department of labor website www.dol.gov

In some cases, the employer can pay "Chinese overtime", which can be a half-time for each hour over 40 in a week, instead of the time-and-a-half paid hourly workers. This can also be figured by dividing the basic salary amount by the total number of hours worked that week; as long as the result equals or exceeds the minimum wage, it is legal.

I READ THE GOV. NELA FSLA DOL 29FCRPART541 13(a)(1)AND RULE 23 STANDARD DUTIES TESTS COLLECTIVE ACTION PURSUANT TO 2166 FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT FOR UPDATED OVERTIME PAGES AND PAGES OF GOBLDY REDUNDANT OUTDATED LAWS RULES, WOW GOOD LUCK SOME ONE NEEDS TO RE WRITE THIS MESS SO YOU DONT NEED A LAW LAWYER TO FIGURE IT OUT ? IF YOU TAKE A JOB WITH A SALARY AT 40 HRS. A WEEK, BUT THEY TELL YOU TO BE AVAILABLE SATURDAYS AND GIVE YOU LAST MINUTE PROJECTS THAT YOU OFFERED TO DO MONTHS AGO AND MANAGEMENT SAID,NO WE WILL TAKE CARE OF IT AND HAD NO COMPETENT PERSON STEP UP NOW ITS A FIRE DRILL AND YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF 30 OFFICES, 2 OFFICE MANAGERS JUST QUIT AND ANEW STORE IS OPENING IN 3 DAYS .SO YOU HAVE TO WORK 7 DAYS AWEEK 12 HOURS A DAY BUT YOU ARE A SALARY PAID DISTRICT MANAGER WITH NO RIGHTS AND 3 EMPLOYEES THAT YOU JUST HAD TO FIRE FOR LOSING THE BANK DEPOSITS BECAUSE THEY WERE SHORT AN CASH OH WELL. ANSWER START LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB

All employees, salaried or hourly, are required to be compensated for the hours they work. Salaried employees are those that are compensated on a fixed amount basis for all hours they work, which determines a "regular rate of pay" for the hours that they work. Different situations determine how the "regular rate of pay is calculated". Salaried employees are classified as either exempt or non-exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions. So, the salary, as an exempt or non-exempt employee, still covers payment at a "regular rate of pay" for all hours an employee works. Under federal law (IF applicable to the particular employee), a non-exempt employee gets premium overtime pay based on 1 1/2 times the "regular rate of pay" for any hours over 40 hrs in a week. Exempt employees do not. But accepting a job as a legally legitimate exempt employee that meets the criteria of the law to be classified exempt accepts the "exempt salary" for all hours required to work without any "overtime" pay. There is no such thing as overtime for a truly exempt employee.

I would say no..........Although salaried employees prpbably would'nt earn overtime. Like us State employees...........We just get more time off and that really sucks. (exempt employee) First of all, as I'm burning up all my comp time...my annual leave continues to accrue so I rarely use my annual leave time. But guess what.......They put a cap on how many hours that can be carried over to the next year......which is a double............SUCKS!!!! It's my time!! I earned it! I came to work.......and they take it away!....Thanks for letting me get it out of my system.

Yes (but read on for clarification), assuming that the employee actually qualifies as an exempt employee. Salary exempt means that you are paid for the job, not for the hours worked. This means that you get the same pay whether you finish your duties in 20 hours a week, or 60 hours a week. Of course, the key here is whether or not you qualify as exempt. Most jobs that have a output that is directly related to time spent on the job don't qualify as exempt.

Can an employee be made to work 16 hours and return back to work within 8 hours?

He IS being compensated. His SALARY is his compensation. Now I'm sure someone can site some legality on why this isn't so. But I'm reminded of an incident that occurred when I told my employer I couldn't drive because I was out of "legal hours" (tractor trailer operator). He said, "You better find some hours from SOMEwhere." So, I'm sure an employee can't be FORCED to work excess hours, but he can certainly be CONVINCED to do so IF he wants to keep that job.

If you are an exempt employee, yes. If you are exempt however any time you take off requires you still to be paid

My husband is a manager and was hired on for 40 hours a week for salary pay. Two months into the jobs the employer decided he wants him there 12 hours a day 6 days a week for the same pay. Doesn't a contradt mean anything? Can he do that? There has to be a law somewhere, just because your salaried doesn't mean that you can be used. My husband took less pay to ave the job and now his boss is using him so he doesn't have to pay for another hourly employee. Unfair.

It depends upon the duties of the employee rather than the method of payment. Below is the FLSA home page which gives a brief description of what is and isn't an exempt position. http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html

That is not the case in every circumstance. I am a salaried employee and typically work m-f 8:00 to 4:30, but sometimes I have to work beyond 4:30 and for that there is no additional comp. If I have to work a holiday or weekend I can get a floating vacation day out of it.

Of course not. Your compensation is your SALARY.

No, you're only required to work the hours you've been contracted for. Anything beyond that is up to you.

Basically, yes. They also get paid for time they don't work, including sick time, vacation time, and holidays. However, if employers abuse employees' it only hurts the company in the long run.

Mr Bush helped make that rule sound.

not always, it depends on the employers written terms of the employees duties and responsibilities, commonly referred to as a "job description". ask to see yours. a prospective employee should know exactly what his employer will require of him, before they take a job.