Understanding Exempt Employees vs. Nonexempt Employees in California
With so many lawsuits involving situations where employers have misclassified nonexempt employees as exempt employees, it’s vital that employers understand the differences and the eligibility for each. This article looks at the classifications of exempt and nonexempt employees according to California laws.
California Exempt and Nonexempt Employee Classification
Salary
To be exempt, an employee must be earning more than twice the minimum wage and must be in full-time employment. Earning is not an automatic qualification for exemption.
Exempt employees receive full weekly pay for all the weeks they worked. Therefore, the number of deductions that can be made on an exempt employee’s salary are few.
Job Title
An employee’s job title is not a determining factor. A big job title employee may still be nonexempt, as long as the job duties do not conform to the requirements to be exempt.
Duties Test
Employees under California laws need work half of the job time on exempt duties for them to become exempt employees.
A majority of employees classified as being exempt regularly make independent decisions at their places of work. Their jobs involve evaluating situations and deciding on the course of action independently.
Determination by California’s Labor Commissioner
A labor commissioner will examine the duties performed by an employee to determine if they’re to be categorized as exempt or nonexempt.
Deductions From The Pay of Exempt Employees
Employers should not deduct the pay of exempt employees for the day’s work is unavailable, so long as the employees are willing and in a position to perform work. In such cases, California laws on exempt employees require that they be paid the full weeks’ pay, even if they worked for one day.
California vs Federal laws on Exemptions
These are slight differences in the way federal and state laws apply to employee exemptions for specific job descriptions. The following are exemptions for California job duties.
Executives
Managers are still required to meet the requirements to be exempt. Otherwise, they would remain to be nonexempt.
Professional Employees
They still need to meet specific requirements for professional exemption.
Employees in Administrative Positions
Not every senior employee is exempt unless their duties match those performed by exempt employees according to California laws.
Computer Professionals
In the year 2000, state law was amended to be in line with federal law regarding computer professionals, exempting them from overtime.
Artists
Not many artists qualify to be exempt under California laws due to the nature of their work; most are self-employed, with full control of the hours they work.
Salespeople
They’re categorized into inside and outside salespeople to define their statuses as either exempt or nonexempt as defined by California laws.
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