The Fair Labor Standards Act states that employees who manage others don’t need to be paid for overtime. But what about managers who also do physical or clerical work?
Read the facts of this real-life case and decide: Who won?
The facts:
A woman managed a store and worked at least 50 hours a week. Since she was a manager, the company classified her as exempt and didn’t pay her OT. However, she felt she was misclassified because she normally spent 60% of her time on non-managerial duties, like stocking shelves, sweeping the floors and running the cash register. She sued the company for unpaid OT.
The employer said:
Even though she had a lot of other work to do, the woman was hired to manage — so she was a manager for the purposes of OT exemption.
Who won the case?
Answer: The employer.
Why? Employees are exempt if managing is their “primary duty” — regardless of how much time they spend on each specific task. The time element can be a useful indicator of someone’s primary duty, but it isn’t conclusive.
The “relative importance” of each duty is also a key factor. In this case, the court said, the woman could stop performing her non-managerial tasks and the store would still function — but if she stopped managing, it would close.
Therefore, the woman was exempt from OT.
Cite: Thomas v. Speedway SuperAmerica, LLC
