Most workers in North Carolina are eligible for overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours per week. However, there are exceptions in certain circumstances. The federal Fair Labour Standards Act does not require an employer to provide employees with mandatory rest breaks or meal breaks. Employers are generally not required to pay workers who are exempt from overtime, pay time, minimum wage, or provide paid breaks under state and federal law. The employer is effectively „exempt“ from complying with these laws. If you`re having problems with pay or overtime at work, it`s a good idea to talk to a local lawyer who has experience in payroll law. In North Carolina, you can make claims under federal and state overtime laws at the same time. A local employment lawyer can help you meet legal requirements to prove your claim and recover any other damages that may be owed. In North Carolina, employers are allowed to credit a certain number of tips from their employees in order for employers to pay minimum wage. When determining an employee`s regular rate of pay to be tipped for the calculation of overtime, the rate must include both the cash wage paid to the employee and the tip credit to reach at least the federal minimum wage. The payment of wages does not exempt an employee from minimum wage and/or overtime pay.
If an employee receives wages and does not receive overtime pay for more than 40 hours in a work week, it must be determined whether the employee is an exempt worker or not. The main categories of exempt employees are senior managers (supervisors), administrative employees and professional employees who meet certain requirements. One of the general requirements is that the hired exempt employee must receive a guaranteed salary of at least $684 per work week (no paycheck for outside sales), which would also be the promised wage rate for the employee. It does not matter how many hours the exempt employee works in a work week, since the guaranteed wage is paid for all hours worked in a work week, regardless of the number of hours worked. For more information about the requirements for an employee to be an exempt employee, see Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 541, which the North Carolina Department of Labor has adopted. It`s a little harder to calculate overtime if you have fluctuating work schedules, but your employer is still responsible for understanding the law and paying you accordingly. This type of schedule is common for those who may work a lot at one time of the year – for example, in the summer – and fewer hours the rest of the year. It is difficult to understand your rights under the RSA and state overtime legislation, and calculating the overtime pay required to determine the appropriate overtime rate of pay for non-exempt employees is complex. However, you don`t have to do it alone. Yes, exempt and non-exempt workers are also protected by all labour laws – with the exception of overtime and minimum wage regulations, which only apply to non-exempt workers.
This means that anti-discrimination laws (such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, ADEA, EPA, ADA, PDA), FMLA, OSHA, workers` compensation, unemployment compensation, and retaliation for reporting violations, as well as many other laws, still protect exempt workers. Although North Carolina has some state labor laws that differ from the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), state law only applies in cases where it provides broader rights or protections than federal law. It enforces which law (state or federal government) is most favorable to the employee. In most cases, however, federal legislation will cover overtime pay and minimum wage issues. If you believe your overtime rates have been violated under NC`s overtime laws, you can file a complaint with the North Carolina Department of Labor. If you want to make a wage claim, the compensation must be more than $50 and you must wait 10 days if the salary was on your last paycheck under North Carolina`s overtime laws. Call (919) 807-2796 to make a claim. Overtime pay fluctuation during the work week is a way of paying overtime in terms of time and half pay for the more than 40 hours of a work week when an employee`s time fluctuates from week to week. Employers whose employees work many hours a year and very few hours a week in another part of the year usually use it. Normally, an employer cannot offer comp time instead of paying overtime under North Carolina`s overtime laws. However, if the business operates in the private sector, employees who are exempt from overtime pay may receive compensatory hours for overtime worked, but compensatory time must be specified in the wage benefits policy.
Some occupations under the Fair Labour Standards Act and the overtime laws of the NC do not require certain employees to receive overtime wages. Some of these employees exempt under North Carolina`s overtime laws are as follows: While there are situations where workers legally run their own business and are properly treated as independent contractors who are not entitled to overtime, employers should not misrepresent workers` roles to avoid paying overtime. To calculate overtime pay when an employee has a fluctuating work week, the employer must divide the wage by the total number of hours worked that week, and then multiply the resulting hourly wage by at least 0.5 to get the remainder of the employee`s overtime wage. Most employers expect their non-exempt employees to work 40 hours per week on a fixed schedule. If they work more than the designated 40 hours, employers must pay them an hour and a half for overtime.