The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a federal law that is designed to protect workers nationwide. There are a number of provisions in the FLSA, covering a number of areas. For example, the FLSA defines the 40-hour work week and what constitutes overtime; it establishes the minimum wages and who qualifies for them; and it establishes when minors can and cannot work and for how long.

The FLSA covers approximately 130 million workers, which means there’s a good chance you’re covered, although it’s not guaranteed. The Act only applies to those employers with annual sales totaling $500,000 or more, who are engaged in interstate commerce, and to other certain employers, whose employees engage in interstate commerce. Keep in mind, that the $500,000 figure is for total sales, not net sales or revenue. Since that comes to about $42,000 per month, just about all established businesses will qualify, even small ones.

You may be wondering about the “interstate commerce” part of that. Because times have changed and we’re far more mobile these days, the courts and the Department of Labor have defined and interpreted “interstate commerce” very broadly. If a business ever deals with out-of-state vendors, or sells products made in other states or overseas, or even occasionally deals with out-of-state customers or clients, they are assumed to be engaging interstate commerce. Because nearly everything having to do with our interconnected economy will be considered interstate commerce, it’s usually best for employers to assume they are subject to the FLSA.

Besides businesses with less than $500,000 in gross receipts and the few whose commerce is not “interstate,” employers who are specifically exempted from the FLSA include: small family farms; seasonal amusement or recreational businesses; small newspapers with a circulations of less than 4,000, or those who deliver newspapers; workers on foreign ships; and personal companions for the infirm and elder.

There are a number of narrow categories of employees who are exempt from the FLSA, even if their employer is not. Among these are:

Overall, the vast majority employees are non-exempt, and subject to wage and overtime provisions of the FLSA. Although some employers are under the impression that employees who are paid a salary are exempt, that is simply not the case. Even employees who are paid “straight salary” are still subject to overtime and minimum wage requirements, unless they fit into a Department of Labor-defined category, such as those defined above.

It is also not the case, as some employers apparently believe, that giving an employee an important-sounding title will create an exemption. The Department of Labor’s test for an exemption has to do with the employee’s job description and the duties performed, not the job title.

The post The FLSA: Who’s Really Exempt? appeared first on Saenz & Anderson | Attorneys at Law Serving Aventura, FL and Miami-Dade County.