"Exempt" or Not from Overtime

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Georgia

1. Are hospital employees entitled to Overtime pay? The group receives "hush hush" Comp time. HOWEVER, due to recent understaffing, many will not be eligible to take regular vacation, much less Comp time …& it doesn't roll over to the next year (which would further compound the problem with lack of staffing/availability to take time off).

2. "Certain" employees have gone to 8 hour shifts. Comp time is MOST accumulated on 10 & 12 hour shifts. Almost half of the group has now gone to 8 hour shifts …NONE of which include ANY women! Where is the equal opportunity there? The 10 & 12 hour shifts used to be rotated throughout the entire group. 8 hour shifts are obviously most desired …since we are not TRULY compensated for OT.

3. We were recently "given" executive benefits …although we are NOT executives, NOR did we sign anything accepting this. Basically, the ONLY thing we are "given" was more life insurance for "free," & we are now NOT able to roll over PTO (except into ETO). Does this make us "EXEMPT" from OT?

1.) Whether any employee in any industry is entitled to OT depends on their exempt status. FYI, comp time is illegal in the private sector. In no state is an employer required to allow employees to take vacation.

2.) Comp time is irrelevant since it is illegal in the private sector. The law takes no position on the length of shift (in a few states there are limits for nurses, but GA is not one of them). BTW, it's not clear whether you know this or not, but in the very large majority of states, including yours, overtime is based on 40 hours in a week, NOT 8 hours in a day. There is an exception, which your employer may be using and is entitled to use since you are a hospital, where OT must be paid for over 8 in a day but in that case if would only be due otherwise for over 80 in a two week period.

3.) No. Exempt status is based on your salary and your job duties ONLY. There is a floor salary of $455 per week; if you do not meet that, you are non-exempt automatically regardless of your duties. If you do meet that, then your job duties are the ONLY things that count towards your exempt status.

The bottom line is, if you are a non-exempt employee (which no one here can say because you've not said a word about what you do) then you MUST be paid overtime when you work the requisite hours, whether your employer is using 40 in a week or the 8/80 exception, and cannot legally use comp time. You can file a complaint for unpaid wages/unpaid overtime with the US DOL since the state DOL in GA defers all wage claims to them.

We do have a very good salary. However, other facilities pay OT for greater than 40 hrs/week. It appears that ALL of the women and a few men will be racking up the vast majority of "OT."

So, in trying to determine if we are "exempt" ...salary is definitely above the minimum. Job duties are advance practice nurses/phys assistants ...NOT executives, but supposedly exec benefits, which we did NOT sign for.

Whether you do or do not receive "executive benefits" has NOTHING to do with whether you are exempt or not. Neither does what other facilities pay.

Nurses CAN be considered exempt employees.

http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen75.asp

You might want to look at the professional exemptions in particular.

Good to know that the "executive benefits" doesn't factor in. Still not sure from that link if we are exempt or not …hmmm? I do know, however, the division of labor is NOT equal …& the "Comp" time is shady. Are we being thrown a bone to not demand overtime pay?

If you are an exempt employee, and I don't know if you are or not either, then comp time is legal.

If you are a non-exempt employee then it is not.

There are no circumstances whatsoever under which an exempt employee is due overtime, even if the exempt employee works 168 hours a week. There are no circumstances whatsoever in which a non-exempt employee who works over 40 hours a week can legally not be paid overtime.

FYI, I am talking about hours WORKED, not hours PAID. Vacation, holiday, sick, or other paid leave time does NOT count towards overtime.

I don't know what more to tell you. I am not inside your employer's head to know what their motivation or thought patterns are. I do not know all your job duties so I cannot establish whether you are exempt or not.

Got it. Thank you! I really appreciate your insight!