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What is a non-exempt employee?

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A non-exempt employee is someone who earns at least the federal minimum wage and is entitled to overtime pay for all hours worked beyond a 40-hour work week (in addition to any state overtime laws). Non-exempt employees generally earn an hourly wage, though they can sometimes earn a salary.

According to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), non-exempt employees:

  • Are directly supervised by managers who run workflows
  • Cannot be bona fide executive, administrative, professional, and outside sales employees (physically going out into the field to meet with prospective customers to sell products or services)

What does non-exempt mean?

Non-exempt is a type of employee classification that describes employees who qualify for FLSA regulations on wages and paid overtime.

Can employers require exempt employees to work certain hours?

Employers can create work schedules for exempt employees as long as they abide by any state and local regulations that stipulate meals and breaks.

How can employers classify exempt and non-exempt employees?

To classify an employee as exempt, employers can follow the three-pronged test. Anyone who does not meet the following criteria and earns an hourly wage is considered non-exempt:

  • Salary level: Earnings are at least $684 per week or $35,568 per year.
  • Salary basis: Payment is provided regularly and at a fixed rate that matches the annual salary no matter the number of total hours worked.
  • Duties: The employee is assigned tasks that match those performed in the administrative, professional, executive, computer, or sales fields.

What is an example of a non-exempt employee?

Examples of non-exempt employees include interns, restaurant servers, retail associates, and similar jobs. Even if non-exempt employees’ earnings are more than the federal minimum wage, they still take direction from supervisors, not from administrative or executive professionals.

What are some examples of exempt employees?

Under the FLSA, the most common exempt employees have job responsibilities that are considered administrative and relate to computers or outside sales.

Some examples of jobs that could be classified as exempt include:

  • Office manager
  • Lawyer
  • Marketing associate
  • Graphic designer
  • Teacher
  • Sales manager
  • Software engineer

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