“Employees whose jobs are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are either "exempt" or "non-exempt”. (FLSA, 2003)” In an organization normally the line staff are non-exempt and the supervisors, managers, and executive level employees are exempt. Not all employees are subject to the FLSA if they are covered under another Act.
“The current FLSA regulation used to identify whether or not a job qualifies for exempt status identifies five categories of exempt jobs: executive, administrative, professional, computer employees, and outside sales. (Mathis & Jackson, 2008)
Exempt employees are paid the same amount regardless if they work 30 hours or 60 hours. Normally, they are expected to remain at work until the job is complete. Employers do not have to pay exempt employees overtime. Non-exempt employees are entitled to no less than minimum wage and overtime pay which must be paid by their employers for any hours over 40 each week. An exempt employee normally supervises others and non-exempt employees normally are told what to do in their job function. An exempt employee usually hires, fires, or promotes staff that work for them. That being said, it is not always the case and in fact “there are white collar that have sued and won in court for overtime pay. (Mathis & Jackson, 2008)”
Compensatory time off in the private sector as long as it is equivalent to one and one-half times the individual’s hourly salary is an alternative to overtime pay. Exempt employees in the private sector are not offered this benefit.
References: Barada, P.W. (2011) What 's the difference between exempt and non-exempt workers? Retrieved from http://career-advice.monster.com/salary-benefits/salary-information/whats-the-difference-between-exempt/article.aspx FLSA (2003) Coverage under the FLSA. Retrieved from http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html Mathis, R.L. and Jackson, J.H. (2008). Human Resource Management. 12th ed. Thomson – South-Western: Mason, Ohio