Yes, a salaried employee can be required to work more than 40 hours in a week. No federal law caps the number of hours a salaried worker can be scheduled, and refusing the extra hours is generally not protected. The real question is whether those hours have to be paid at overtime rates, and that turns on a single classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act: exempt or non-exempt. Get that wrong, and thousands of dollars a year can quietly disappear from your paycheck.
Salary Alone Does Not Decide Overtime
Being paid a salary does not automatically strip you of overtime rights. The FLSA sorts workers into two groups. Non-exempt employees must be paid one-and-a-half times their regular rate for every hour past 40 in a workweek. Exempt employees are not entitled to overtime, no matter how long the week runs.1U.S. Department of Labor. Overtime Pay
The overtime requirement in 29 U.S.C. § 207 applies only to non-exempt workers, and no separate federal statute imposes a weekly hour ceiling on exempt employees.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 207 – Maximum Hours The exemption itself comes from 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(1), which carves out executive, administrative, professional, outside sales, and certain computer employees from both minimum wage and overtime protections.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 213 – Exemptions
Plenty of salaried workers are non-exempt. If that’s you, your employer must track your hours the same way they would for hourly staff, keeping daily and weekly records.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 21 – Recordkeeping Requirements Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) An employer who doesn’t track a salaried worker’s hours has usually decided that worker is exempt. Whether the classification actually holds up is a separate question.
The Three Tests That Determine Exempt Status
To be legally classified as exempt, a position must pass all three of the following tests. Fail even one, and you are non-exempt, and overtime pay is required.
Salary Basis
You must receive a fixed, predetermined salary that does not fluctuate based on hours worked or output. Your employer cannot dock your pay because business was slow on Tuesday or because you handled fewer files than usual. The paycheck must arrive in the same amount each period.5eCFR. 29 CFR Part 541 – Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees
Narrow exceptions exist. Full-day deductions are allowed for personal absences, full-day sickness absences under a bona fide leave plan, penalties for serious safety violations, unpaid disciplinary suspensions of a full day or more for workplace conduct, and unpaid FMLA leave.6U.S. Department of Labor. FLSA Overtime Security Advisor Partial-day deductions for personal absences are generally not permitted. If your employer routinely docks your pay in half-day increments, that practice can undermine the exemption entirely.
Salary Level
Your salary must meet a minimum threshold. The current federal floor is $684 per week, or $35,568 per year. The Department of Labor attempted to raise this in 2024, first to $844 per week and then to $1,128 per week for January 2025, but a federal district court in Texas vacated the entire rule in November 2024. The $684 figure from the 2019 rule remains in effect.7U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption From Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections Under the FLSA
That figure is a federal floor. Several states set higher thresholds, and where the state number is higher, employers must meet it.
Duties
Even if you clear the salary threshold, your actual day-to-day work must fall into a recognized exemption category. Job titles carry no weight. A “Manager” who spends most of the day stocking shelves and running a register is not performing exempt work, whatever the business card says.
Which Job Duties Actually Qualify
The duties test looks at your primary duty, meaning what you actually do most of the time. Your work must fit one of these categories:
- Executive. Your primary duty is managing the business or a recognized department. You regularly direct at least two full-time employees or the equivalent, and you have real authority over hiring, firing, or promotions, or your recommendations on those decisions carry meaningful weight.5eCFR. 29 CFR Part 541 – Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees
- Administrative. Your primary duty is office or non-manual work directly tied to running the business, not producing what the business sells, and you exercise genuine discretion and independent judgment on matters that affect the company.5eCFR. 29 CFR Part 541 – Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer and Outside Sales Employees
- Learned Professional. Your work requires advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning, typically gained through a prolonged course of specialized education. Doctors, engineers, lawyers, and accountants generally qualify.
- Creative Professional. Your primary duty requires invention, imagination, or original talent in a recognized creative field such as music, writing, acting, or graphic arts.
- Computer Professional. You work as a systems analyst, programmer, software engineer, or similar role, and your primary duty is designing, developing, testing, or analyzing computer systems or programs. Computer professionals can also qualify if paid at least $27.63 per hour instead of meeting the standard salary threshold.7U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption From Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections Under the FLSA
- Outside Sales. Your primary duty is making sales or obtaining contracts, and you regularly work away from your employer’s place of business. This is the only exemption with no salary requirement.
The administrative category is the most commonly misapplied. “Discretion and independent judgment” sounds broad, but the regulations define it narrowly. It means comparing possible courses of action and making decisions that genuinely affect the business, such as formulating policies, committing the company on matters with significant financial impact, negotiating binding agreements, or resolving major issues on management’s behalf. Following detailed procedures, applying set techniques from a manual, tabulating data, or handling routine clerical work does not qualify, even if the title reads “analyst” or “coordinator.”8eCFR. 29 CFR 541.202 – Discretion and Independent Judgment
How Overtime Is Paid If You’re Salaried Non-Exempt
If your position doesn’t meet all three tests, you’re non-exempt, and every hour past 40 in a workweek must be paid at one-and-a-half times your regular rate.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 207 – Maximum Hours Your regular rate comes from dividing your weekly salary by the number of hours the salary is meant to cover. Earn $800 per week for a 40-hour schedule, and your regular rate is $20 per hour, with overtime hours paid at $30.
The math shifts if your salary already covers more than 40 hours. If you were hired at $900 per week for a 45-hour schedule, your regular rate is $20 ($900 ÷ 45), and you’re owed an additional half-time premium of $10 per hour for the 5 overtime hours, adding $50 to the $900 base for a $950 total.9U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 23 – Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA
One workaround employers sometimes try is offering compensatory time off in place of overtime pay. Work 50 hours this week, take Friday off next week. For non-exempt employees at private companies, that arrangement is illegal under federal law. The FLSA permits comp time only for public-sector employers such as state and local government agencies.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 207 – Maximum Hours In the private sector, non-exempt overtime must be paid in cash at the required rate.
Can You Be Fired for Refusing Overtime?
This is where the answer stings. In most of the country, employment is at-will, meaning your employer can terminate you for nearly any reason not specifically prohibited by law. Refusing overtime is generally not a protected reason. If your boss asks you to stay late and you decline, you can be let go for that refusal in most states, even if you’re non-exempt and would have been owed overtime for the hours. The right to be paid overtime and the right to refuse overtime are two different things.
Exceptions exist. Termination is illegal if the real reason is discrimination based on race, sex, disability, religion, or another protected characteristic. It’s also illegal if it violates a union contract or an individual employment agreement that limits required hours. And an employer cannot fire you for complaining about unpaid overtime you’re owed. Under 29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3), it is illegal to fire or discriminate against an employee for filing a complaint about wage violations, participating in an investigation, or testifying in a related proceeding.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 215 – Prohibited Acts The protection covers written and verbal complaints, and most courts extend it to internal complaints made directly to the employer, not just formal filings with the Department of Labor. Remedies for retaliation include reinstatement, back wages, and liquidated damages equal to the lost wages.11U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 77A – Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
What Misclassification Is Worth
Calling a worker exempt when the tests aren’t met is one of the most common ways salaried employees quietly lose money. An employee who was wrongly classified as exempt can recover unpaid overtime going back two years, or three years if the violation was willful, meaning the employer knew or should have known the classification was wrong.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 255 – Statute of Limitations The default remedy also includes liquidated damages equal to the full amount of unpaid wages, effectively doubling what the employer owes.13U.S. Department of Labor. Back Pay A court can reduce liquidated damages only if the employer proves the misclassification was made in good faith with a reasonable belief that it was lawful.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 260 – Liquidated Damages
A private lawsuit can also recover attorney’s fees and court costs, and the Department of Labor can pursue enforcement on its own, including an injunction to stop the violation.13U.S. Department of Labor. Back Pay The numbers add up quickly. An employee who worked an average of 10 unpaid overtime hours per week at a $20 regular rate over three years is owed more than $46,000 in back pay alone, before liquidated damages.
If you think your classification is wrong, start by pulling out your job description and comparing it against the duties tests above, then look at what you actually spend your time doing week to week. If the two don’t match the exempt categories, the classification is worth challenging. The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor accepts complaints, and private lawsuits are available.
State Law Can Raise the Floor
The FLSA is a federal floor, not a ceiling. Many states impose higher salary thresholds for exemption, stricter duties tests, or additional overtime rules such as daily overtime, which pays time-and-a-half for any hours past 8 in a single day rather than just past 40 in a week. When state and federal rules differ, employers must follow whichever law is more generous to the employee.15U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 7 – State and Local Governments Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
Because the federal threshold has been frozen at $684 per week since 2019, some state thresholds have moved well ahead of it. A worker earning above the federal minimum but below the state minimum may be non-exempt under state law and entitled to overtime the employer isn’t paying. Your state labor department can confirm the exact salary threshold and any additional overtime rules that apply where you work.