Overtime Pay for Computer Pros
The Standards for Denying Overtime Pay to Computer Specialists Because such a big part of running a business requires computers a tremendous amount of technical training and expertise is needed to manage these complex systems of hardware and software. The computer specialists and IT professionals who are given the primary responsibility for maintaining these systems and are required to deal with breakdowns by diagnosing, troubleshooting and resolving very difficult and complex problems on a daily basis. However just because this kind of work requires extensive training does not mean that the company has the right to classify these employees as “exempt” from being paid overtime. San Jose Labor Law Attorneys have determined that federal law governs this issue as set down by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Their opinion letter of October 26, 2006 (FLSA 2006-42), which was published by the US Department of Labor (DOL) discusses the issue as it pertains to the job that IT Support Specialists do. The letter discusses two areas where there may be an exemption:
- The Administrative Exemption
- The Computer Employee Exemption
In analyzing this, one must be aware that both federal labor laws and California labor laws demand that all employers pay their non-exempt employees at least the minimum wage for all the hours they work plus overtime which is one and a half times the regular hourly rate of an employee’s salary for all hours they worked over forty hours in one week’s time. The Administrative Exemption This exemption is often referred to as the “white collar” exemption and there is a legal exemption for overtime pay if an employee actually has a bona fide administrative, professional or executive position in the company as the terms are spelled out in 29 C.F.R. Part 541. For this exemption to legally apply the employee must:
- Spend the majority of their workday analyzing, troubleshooting, and resolving very complicated issues dealing with business applications, hardware and networking.
- This employee is required to be paid at least $1,615.20 a week
- Their primary duty is not manual labor but office work, which is related directly to managing or operating the employer’s business or taking care of the company’s customers.
- Their primary duty must also include exercising discretion and using their independent judgment making decisions regarding matters of significance.
In most situations these requirements are not met, as the employee is NOT able to exercise discretion and use their own judgment in making decisions regarding anything significant. The term “significant” means the decisions they make must have a significant influence on how the company is run that employees this person. In most instances this relates to upper management as they’re the ones that make the decisions regarding operations and determine the overall course of the company. Just because IT work is highly specialized, technical and complex or the fact that the company could incur significant losses or consequences if the IT employee does not or can not do the job properly doesn’t imply that this particular work is significant to the general business operation or to the management of the company. If an employee does meet some, but not every single one of these requirements then this exemption does not apply. The employer must pay this employee overtime unless they can find another exemption that would apply. The Exemption for Computer Employees:
- Under Sections 13(a)(1) and 13(a)(17) of the Fair Labor Standards Act there is an alternative exemption, which covers:
- Computer systems analysts
- Computer programmers
- Software engineers
Other high-skilled computer workers who meet certain standards and tests regarding their duties at work Note: I did not include the HYPERLINKS as while typing it kept clicking through to the web page. It also would not pass copyscape and might be flagged as being duplicate content. You decide if you want to include it in the paragraph above. These employees are eligible to be exempt from both overtime pay and minimum wages as professionals. To qualify for the exemption, the employer must:
- Pay the employee either a fee or a salary not less than $455 a week
- Pay the employee at least $27.63 an hour
This exemption only applies to the kind of employees who have the primary duty of applying the systems analysis procedures and techniques, which includes having consultations with users to figure out the right hardware or software or the system functional specs; the development, design, analysis creation, documentation, testing and/or modification of the company’s computer programs or systems, which include prototypes which are related to or based on user or the system’s design specs; the design, testing, documentation, creation and/or modification of computer programs that have to do with machine operating systems; or any combination of all of these duties.
- The type of employees who qualify and have these duties include:
- Computer programmers
- Computer systems analysts
- Software engineers, Other workers with similar skills
An employee’s job title does not necessarily determine that employee’s status in terms of being exempt from overtime pay. The rules and laws that relate to the different criteria that an employer has to meet for them to be able to classify an employee exempt from overtime pay are difficult to decipher. It is often necessary to obtain the advice of an experienced California Labor Law Attorney. Call our offices at United Employees Law group for your FREE CASE REVIEW TODAY.
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