SILKIN MANAGEMENT GROUP: MORE ON EXEMPT AND NON-EXEMPT EMPLOYEES

Part 2

Silkin Management Group has presented several articles about office policy on our different blog sites over the last several weeks. Yesterday, due to interest from Silkin Management Group clients, we went a little deeper into one area covered in one of our articles on policy – exempt and non-exempt employees. In that article we discussed in much greater detail exempt employees. You can link to yesterday’s article here: http://silkinmanagementgroup.net/silkin-management-group-more-on-exempt-and-non-exempt-employees/.

Today we will cover in greater detail information about non-exempt employees. These are the types of employees that Silkin Management Group clients, or any business should have on an hourly wage basis. The difference between exempt and nonexempt employees is basically who gets paid overtime and who doesn't. If you don’t know the difference, it could be very costly.

Non-Exempt Employees:

Non-exempt employees are employees who are subject to all the provisions of the Fair Labor and Standards Act (FSLA). This is based upon the type of duties performed by the employee and their normal level of decision making authority. These are normally non-professional positions, positions that are not executive or managerial in nature. Non-exempt employees receive hourly wages; they are subject to wage and hour laws, most importantly including overtime pay. Non-exempt employees are normally required to account for hours and fractional hours worked.

For Silkin Management Group clients this category might include receptionists, accounts personnel, and other non-technical and non-managerial positions.

It is extremely important to check with an attorney conversant in labor laws if you have any question about who is an exempt or non-exempt employee. Should you incorrectly classify a non-exempt employee as exempt, it could end up costing you a great deal of money in fines and unpaid overtime. All Silkin Management Group consultants highly recommend to their clients to double check with their attorney on these decisions.

Several good websites to visit that will give you more information on this subject are:
http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryn/g/nonexempt.htm
http://www.paychex.com/pdf/exempt.pdf
http://www.hrhero.com/topics/exempt.html


If you would like more information about Silkin Management Group or Silkin Management Group’s Office Policy and Job Description Manual, feel free to contact us at: 800-695-0257.


Gary Crawshaw
Silkin Management Group Consultant