Qualifications for being exempt from OT & unequal benefits

[JakeFirst]

Jurisdiction

Oregon

Hello! At my job I am running into two issues. The company I work for is in Oregon and has about 450 employees. The first issue is that I am listed as exempt from overtime, presumably because I am a salaried employee. I have looked at the Oregon OT exemption laws and see that they fall into 3 categories: Supervisor, Professional, and Administrative. I know I do not fall into the Professional or Administrative category, so the closest to part of my job function would be Supervisor. Here is what I think I know about the laws:

The Duties Tests

Exempt executives (supervisors) must satisfy the following duties tests:

• Primarily manage a distinct unit or subdivision within the organization.
• Spend most of the workweek performing management duties. This generally means more that 50 percent of the worktime, however, other factors might support exempt status if less than 50 percent of worktime is spent in management. Other factors could include: the employee is paid a significantly higher salary than is paid to nonexempt staff; the employee makes frequent management decisions; the employee is free from direct supervision.
• Supervise two or more full-time employees (or the equivalent of two or more).
• Have hiring or firing authority or, if not full authority, their recommendations are given particular weight.
• Customarily and regularly exercise authority to make decisions of significance.

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  My questions are hopefully simple (because all law is simple, right?):

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  1) In order to be classified as exempt, must ALL of the above statements be true? I believe that perhaps 3 at most of the above could possibly be attributed to me.

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  2) #2 above has several caveats; so if any of the options (such as myself making more than nonexempt staff), does that mean I fulfill that requirement?

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  3) I don't supervise anyone. I am considered an "honorary" assistant manager, although my job title is Purchasing Manager. That is misleading however, because I have seen my employee title with an on-line program (that handles our wages, requests for time off, etc.) and there is a "Manager" heading and it says "No" underneath it. So I'm thinking that alone should disqualify me from being exempt and allow me to be paid OT.

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  4) I have an immediate supervisor that sits two desks down from me. I am more or less in charge when he is not here, but he is my boss. I have another boss who is the department manager who works in another building.

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  My other issue is how benefits are handled. The company I work for has several paid holidays that we are closed. There are also 4 holidays that are paid for 90% of the company to not be here at work. More specifically, today is July 4th and most of my company is not at work today. Other people in the same department are getting a paid holiday to not be at work. I have to work (because the building I am in has a retail side so the retail side must be open).

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  Even more specifically, there is another Purchasing Manager in another building who is getting paid and does not have to work today. We have the exact same job function and work in the same department. I've been with the company 1-1/2 years longer and trained her to do her job last year. I am not paid any extra for working a holiday because I am salary, but I am also not given any additional days off so that I match what she gets. She also got Memorial Day off with pay while I worked and this will happen again on Labor Day. This isn't a protected class, so discrimination may not be the right term, but it seems that way? If we have the same job, same title, we're both salary, make about the same, how can she get additional paid days off that are not afforded to me -- well, legally anyway? If it is good for the goose, does it not have to be good for the gander?

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  The other buildings are mostly closed. My counterpart could easily open one of the building and do her job but is not required to while I am. I could not find information about this topic pertaining to Oregon or else I would have started there. Life isn't fair, employment isn't fair, and perhaps it is an ethical instead of a legal issue, but it seems I am not being treated equally to other employees on this matter. I would appreciate any opinions you have on the matter. Thank you!

 

[adjusterjack]

Where are you reading all that? If an Oregon statute, give me the statute number so I can read it. If you copied all that from a website that didn't cite a statute I wouldn't waste my time until you can find an Oregon statute number or verify that Oregon follows the US FLSA rules regarding overtime.

Even your state's Wage and Hour Division website refers to both Oregon law and federal law but doesn't cite any Oregon statutes.

Until you can answer the question "Oregon statute number or FLSA" all I can suggest is that you call your Wage and Hour Division and pose your questions to them:

State of Oregon: Wage and Hour Division

As for your other issue about the holiday:

1 - What happens with other employees is irrelevant.

2 - Unless it's an overtime issue, there's nothing illegal going on and how your holiday is treated is between you and your employer. Your recourse, as always, is to seek employment elsewhere if you don't like the current terms of your employment.

 

[cbg]

There are multiple options for an employee to be classified as exempt. Hiring, firing, and supervising 2 or more employees is only required for the executive exemption. There are others; professional, administrative, highly compensated, computer, and others. You only have to qualify under one exemption; for example, if you qualify under the administrative exemption you don't have to meet the qualifications under the executive exemption.

There is no day, including Christmas, Thanksgiving, or the 4th of July, that an employer is required to give you off. If you are exempt, you must be paid whether you work it or not, but unless you are non-exempt, work in either Massachusetts or Rhode Island and work in one of a limited list of specific industries, you do not have to be paid a premium for it.

 

[JakeFirst]

Thank you both for your quick responses. I will attempt to find the actual statutes but I had trouble navigating Oregon's system. I likened the holiday situation to being similar to two employees (we'll make them both male to take gender out the equation) who have the same job, do the same work, but do not receive equal pay. I thought perhaps it was more an ethical issue than a legal one and that is why I asked.

cbg, I was looking only at the Supervisory exemption rules; provided the information I provided was even accurate (without the statutes to back them up), must ALL of the parts of the Supervisor apply to me to be exempt, or does it only take 1 to be considered exempt? Because not all apply to me, only a couple at most. I was not considering that I should be paid any additional amount for working a holiday if I am truly exempt -- I was however asking if my exact counterpart could be treated differently and given essentially a paid holiday off while I am required to work and not equally compensated with a paid day off to match, which adjusterjack says is no. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[cbg]

If you do not meet all the qualification to be exempt under the Executive exemption, you are not exempt under the Executive exemption.

That doesn't mean that you might not be exempt under the Administrative exemption. Or the highly comped exemption. Or the professional exemption. As long as you meet all the rules under ONE exemption, it doesn't matter whether you meet all the rules for the others or not. If you meet all the rules for ONE exemption, then you can legally be considered exempt. EVEN IF you do not meet all the rules for another exemption.

Yes, your exact counterpart can be treated differently and given a paid holiday when you have to work, and are not equally compensated with a paid day off to match. Nothing in the law says that all employees in the same job have to be treated equally. There are exceptions, but you have posted nothing so far to suggest that any of them apply.

 

[JakeFirst]

It appears that this may pertain to me, but I cannot find the appropriate tests that this statute mentions: ORS 653.020, 29 U.S.C. § 213 I've read there are tests (which I knew about), but cannot find them clearly defined anywhere to see if I truly qualify. Most things I have read are too broad and this clearly calls for more specifics, I just haven't been able to track them down. This is in reference to the exemption of overtime for salaried employees.