According to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), salaried non-exempt employees are workers who don’t qualify for an exemption from the overtime provision. Salaried non-exempt employees are entitled to earn at least the federal minimum wage, are paid on a salary basis, and are entitled to overtime pay for every hour they work more than a standard 40-hour workweek. The overtime pay rate is one-and-a-half times their hourly rate.
Like other non-exempt employees, salaried non-exempt employees are also covered by the FLSA. The FLSA also sets a minimum weekly wage threshold for non-exempt salaries. In certain states, the starting pay per week is higher, in which case the higher state wage takes precedence; however, a non-exempt salaried employee cannot be paid less than the federal minimum wage.
Exempt employees aren’t covered by the FSLA and are excluded from overtime regulation, minimum wage, and other protections non-exempt workers enjoy under the FLSA.
Salaried exempt employees must receive a salary instead of an hourly wage. They are required to work the number of hours necessary to complete their tasks, even if it is more than 40 hours per week. However, their compensation remains the same regardless of their work hours. It means they are only paid the basic salary even if they work less than 40 hours and are not entitled to overtime pay if they work above 40 hours per week.
However, exempt employees generally earn fixed salaries higher than 40-hour-per-week minimum wage earners. Exempt employees are professional, executive, and administrative workers, typically white-collar workers.
By default, all job positions are non-exempt, and an employer can classify a position or one employee as non-exempt even if it meets the criteria for an exemption.
For example, an employer may change the status to non-exempt to solve attendance problems even if a position qualifies to be exempted. It is because non-exempt employees are closely tracked and monitored and are paid based on their worked hours.
However, the change should be made to make it long-lasting or permanent. If there is a week-to-week change or frequent back-and-forth shifting in the status, it may be a sign that an employer is avoiding paying overtime.
The main difference between salaried, non-exempt and hourly employees are compensated for their work hours during the week. Hourly jobs typically indicate how much an employee will be paid for each hour. Typical hourly jobs specify an employee's wage for each completed hour.
In contrast, a salaried employee receives a yearly sum known as a salary that is split up into pay periods. Employees who get a salary are compensated based on the hours their employers anticipate they will work. Salary workers frequently work longer or shorter workweeks than the "normal" 40-hour average.
However, hourly and salaried non-exempt employees are covered under FLSA rules and regulations and paid at least a federal minimum wage.
The answer to this varies from employee to employee.
Non-exempt employees have the security of being paid for every hour they work. In contrast, exempt employees can greatly enjoy freedom with a fixed salary, regardless of their work hours.
Exempt workers are freer to interact with coworkers without worrying about angering a manager. Non-exempted employees are closely supervised and can only take little breaks during the workday.
Non-exempt workers do not enjoy as many benefits as exempt employees and are paid less than exempt employees.
Because exempt workers are expected to complete tasks, they may need to work longer hours for which they aren’t compensated. So there can be cases where exempt workers are not adequately compensated. On the other hand, non-exempt employees typically get compensated for every hour they work.