Managers, Supervisors, Assistant Managers and Associate Managers

Many employees who are classified by their employers as “salaried managers” or “supervisors” are entitled to overtime pay.  This is because their actual job duties do not exempt them from FLSA regulations.  Whether your job duties are truly classified as manager or supervisor is very fact specific.  Note that many of these same rules and problems apply to “assistant managers” and “associate managers” as well.

Consider the following factors: 

Do you “manage” or “supervise” other employees?

• Management or supervision of other employees means that two or more full time employees report to you for work assignments and oversight of their daily tasks
• Look behind the title to see what work is really being performed

Are you subject to pay docking if you miss part of the regular work day? 

• If so, then you are not exempt from overtime pay because pay docking is inconsistent with your status as a “salaried” manager or supervisor

Do you really spend a majority of your time performing management or supervisory duties?

• This is where most employers get into trouble.
• Managers/Supervisors must spend at least 80% (in retail and service industries 60%) of their time in management duties.
• In other words, if you spend a large part of your time performing tasks such as ringing up sales, preparing food orders or filling in for absent non-managers then you may not be a “true” manager or supervisor and could be due overtime.
• Some employers will abuse so-called salaried assistant and associate manager employees, requiring them to perform a large amount of “fill-in” work for non-salaried employees who do not show up for work.  This occurs more often when hiring is tight.  This illegal practice works because the employer uses as an incentive the possibly becoming a manager with a much greater salary and eligibility for greater bonuses.  Often, the salaried assistant and associate manager employees will work a very large number of overtime hours, resulting in a very large amount due the employee.  The amount due could be in the tens of thousands of dollars.  Unfortunately, this unfair practice is much more common than most people think.
• Some examples of management duties include:
  1. Setting the schedules of other employees;
  2. Making decisions about hiring or firing employees; and
  3. Directing the work of at least 2 other full-time employees.

Are you paid on an hourly basis or on a salary? 

• If you are paid hourly, then you are not exempt from overtime pay regardless of your management duties.  You should be due overtime pay for hours in a week worked over forty.