Simple rules for Exempt/Non-Exempt status?

TD

My company has offices in almost every major city in the US. I'm pretty up to speed with how the State of California looks at this issue, but not so clear on the other states.

Would it be safe enough for me to simply (wishful thinking, as it never is simple) classify any employee (regardless of their title and salary), who holds responsibilities that are of a basic clerical nature..... answering someone's phone, keeping someone else's calendar, faxing, copying, etc. to be non-exempt?

For us, employees with titles such as Executive Assistant, Admin Assistant, Account Coordinator, Production Manager/Asst. do not "regularly exercise discretion and independent judgement affecting matters of real and substantial significance..... to the general operation of the employer's business."

Is this enough?

Gillian

It is tougher to be exempt in California,under the Wage Orders, than it is under federal regulation (FLSA). You can safely assume that the clerical workers are non-exempt. Some of the titles in your next paragraph point to some problems if you classify them as exempt. The clerical related probably aren't, but others might qualify based on the executive exemption if they supervise as a regular part of their job.

Don D

Agreeing with Gillian, I also feel that you're pretty safe betting on those as non-exempt, if: their work is not primarily related to management policies or general business operations, there is not a predominance of their work being related to strictly admin duties, their responsibilities don't weigh heavily on exercise of discretionary powers, they have little or relatively little freedom from direct supervision and they don't typically and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgement. If you can't arrive at these 'exempt factors' with these people, it's a safe bet they're non-exempt. Most states do not impose criteria above and beyond those set in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Theresa Gegen TX

Employer's don't get in trouble when they classify employees as non-exempt and pay overtime. (Everyone can be paid overtime). The only way you will get in trouble is if you mistakenly classify an employee as exempt and don't pay overtime!

Good Luck!