$1.8 million lesson about OT exemptions

The rules on which employees are exempt from overtime may be complicated, but a recent court ruling highlights one simple fact:
Misapplying the exemptions can cost companies a lot of money.
TAC Worldwide, a Massachusetts-based staffing firm, has just agreed to pay $1.8 million in back wages to 973 employees who sued for being mistakenly classified as exempt from OT.
Most of the affected employees held IT-related positions. Job titles of those who sued include: network engineer, help desk representative, technical writer, software tester and network administrator.
A common classification mistake is focusing on title rather than actual job duties. Employees may have titles that sound exempt — but employers still need to look at what those employees do on a daily basis and make sure the duties match up with at least one of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s OT exemptions.
For more information on the exemptions, click here.
Cite: Chao v. 888 Consulting Group, Inc.