Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employees must be paid a minimum hourly wage and an overtime premium of one and one-half times the regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of forty per week. Unless exempt, all employees must receive a minimum wage and overtime premium. Paying an employee salary or giving an employee a certain job title does not automatically exempt an employee from the FLSA. Only statutorily enacted exemptions, as clarified by Department of Labor regulations, exempt an employee from minimum wage requirements, overtime requirements, or both. Even then, employer actions such as making improper deductions from salaried, exempt employees can result in the loss of exemption for that employee and others. This is the one of a continuing series that discusses FLSA exemptions. The executive exemption allows employees who qualify as “executives” to be exempted from both minimum wage and overtime requirements. Only employees “employed in a bona fide executive capacity” qualify for the exemption. Any employee who meets all the following tests shall be considered an “executive” for this purpose: 1) The employee must receive a salary of at least $455 per week, not including board, lodging, or other facilities. 2) The employee’s primary duty must be management of the enterprise (or a department or subdivision thereof) in which the employee is employed. 3) The employee must “customarily and regularly” direct the work of at least two other employees. 4) The employee must have the authority to hire and fire other employees or have the power to suggest and recommend which employees are hired, fired, advanced, promoted, or otherwise changed in status and such suggestions and recommendations must be “given particular weight.” Future posts will provide further clarification of certain terms in the executive exemption as well as provide other tests that may qualify an employee as an executive. State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about the executive exemption.