Misclassified as a Salaried Employee

Just because an employer chooses to pay an employee a salary instead of an hourly wage does not mean that that person should be exempt from overtime pay, meal breaks, and rest breaks. If an employer is wrongly treating an employee as exempt, i.e. by paying them a salary instead of an hourly rate, that employee has been misclassified.

How Our Employment Attorneys Help You

KLF's employment attorneys work with you to determine whether you have been misclassified under California law. If your rights have been violated, your employer may owe you compensation. We negotiate on your behalf and file a lawsuit as necessary. If we find that your employer also has violated the rights of your coworkers, we may be able to help them, too.

Contact us regardless of whether or not you are confident that your employer properly classified you as salaried or hourly. And it does not matter if your employer misclassified you on purpose or not — if you don't meet the requirements of a salaried employee, you are entitled to overtime pay, set meal breaks, and set rest breaks, plain and simple. Based in Glendale, we represent employees in the Los Angeles area and throughout California. All consultations are free and confidential.

Who Should be Classified as a Salaried Employee?

Essentially, it comes down to job function. A properly salaried employee manages other employees, uses his or her own judgment in completing tasks as opposed to closely following instructions, is involved in the back end of the business in a supporting role, and/or is a licensed professional. A properly salaried employee must also earn at least twice the state minimum wage.

Note that employee misclassification tends to occur the most in entry level managerial positions. For example, a salaried assistant manager at a retail store who essentially does the job of a salesperson but also simply has to make the schedule every two weeks and has the keys to the store may very well be misclassified as an exempt employee.

Talk to an Attorney About Whether You Should be Salaried or Hourly

Proper classification as a salaried, i.e. exempt employee, is a complex issue. We recommend that you to contact the Kizirian Law Firm if you believe that you may have been misclassified. This issue is particularly difficult for non-attorneys to resolve on their own. You may contact our firm by emailing armand@kizirianlaw.com or calling (818) 221-2800. All consultations are free and confidential.