Can an employer switch employees back and forth between salaried and hourly status, so that they're salaried during busy seasons when they work more than forty hours (and thus don't get overtime) but are hourly during other times of the year?
Can an employer switch employees back and forth between salaried and hourly status, so that they're salaried during busy seasons when they work more than forty hours (and thus don't get overtime) but are hourly during other times of the year?
If the employees are eligible to be paid as salaried workers under federal regulations, then they can be moved back and forth from hourly to salaried status. If their earnings fall below the federal minimum threshold for salaried workers, then it would not be permissible.
Under the FLSA, an employer is always free to pay an hourly wage to a worker who qualifies as an exempt employee. What an employer cannot do is improperly classify a non-exempt employee as exempt in order to avoid paying overtime.