Am I Misclassified as Exempt? A 10-Question Check

Who this is for: Salaried workers who were told they're exempt and who work more than 40 hours a week.
What's going on: A salary and a title don't make a job exempt. The law looks at how much you're paid, how you're paid, and what you actually do all day.
What you can do: Answer the 10 questions below. If you work over 40 hours and two or more other answers come back yes, get the job reviewed.

You may be misclassified as exempt if you're paid a salary, told you're exempt, and your real job is the company's core work: serving clients, reviewing cases, coordinating services, and following its criteria.

A salary alone never makes a job exempt. Federal law requires three things: at least $684 a week, paid as a true salary, and duties that meet an exemption test. Your employer has to prove it. Your title proves nothing.¹

The 10 questions

Do you earn less than $684 a week ($35,568 a year) in salary? If yes, the executive, administrative, and learned professional exemptions don't fit. Each one requires at least $684 a week.²
Is your pay ever docked for partial days or slow weeks? An exempt salary is a set amount that isn't cut because of the quality or quantity of your work. Improper deductions can break the salary basis.³
Are you paid hourly or by the day, with no guaranteed salary? No salary basis, no white-collar exemption. A day rate isn't a salary.⁴
Is your main job doing the company's core work (serving clients, reviewing cases, coordinating services) rather than running the business? The administrative exemption covers work “directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers.”⁵
Do you follow criteria, scripts, checklists, or protocols to reach your decisions? The rule: “The exercise of discretion and independent judgment must be more than the use of skill in applying well-established techniques, procedures or specific standards described in manuals or other sources.”⁶
Do the decisions that matter go to a supervisor, physician, or committee? Review by a higher-up doesn't defeat the exemption by itself.⁷ But if you gather facts and apply criteria while someone else makes the call, that points away from discretion.⁸
Did your job require only a bachelor's degree in any related field, or no particular degree? The learned professional exemption needs a long course of study in a specific field, and the job itself has to require it. A social-science bachelor's isn't enough.⁹ See the learned professional exemption.
Do you direct the work of fewer than two full-time employees, with no real say in hiring or firing? The executive exemption requires both.¹⁰
Do you have a productivity quota for cases, calls, or reviews per day? Quotas measure output. Output is production work, not management of the business.¹¹
Do you regularly work more than 40 hours a week? Overtime is owed at time-and-a-half for hours over 40 in a workweek.¹²

How to read your answers

Yes to Q10 and to any two of Q1–Q9 is worth a call. Yes to Q10 plus Q4 or Q7 is the pattern we see again and again in case-manager and care-coordinator cases.

A yes to Q1 or Q3 is close to the whole answer on its own: without $684 a week paid as a real salary, the white-collar exemptions don't apply. Licensed doctors and lawyers are an exception.¹³

This is a screening guide, not a legal conclusion. Exempt status turns on the facts of each job. The employer carries the burden of proving the exemption¹⁴ by a preponderance of the evidence.¹⁵ Courts give exemptions a fair reading, with no thumb on the scale for either side.¹⁶

The jobs we see misclassified again and again

Case managers at insurers, managed-care companies, and nonprofit human services agencies
Care coordinators, service coordinators, and support coordinators
Utilization review and prior-authorization nurses
Caseworkers hired with any bachelor's degree (see the learned professional exemption)
Oilfield workers paid a day rate (see salary vs. hourly)

What employers say, and what the law says

What the employer says	What the law says
You're salaried, so you're exempt.	Salary is a pay method. The DOL put it this way in 2026: “Although employees and employers often use the terms ‘salaried’ and ‘exempt’ interchangeably, they are not synonyms.”¹⁷
Your title is Manager, Coordinator, or Analyst.	Titles don't count.¹
You use judgment every day.	Skill in applying the company's criteria isn't discretion and independent judgment.¹⁸
You have a college degree.	Only an advanced degree in a specific field, required by the job itself, counts.¹⁹
We pay you well.	Pay over $684 a week is step one. Even $107,432 a year still requires exempt duties.²⁰

What to gather before you call

Your offer letter, job description, and the job posting (especially the degree requirement)
A few recent pay stubs
Anything that shows your hours: your own notes, calendar, or a log of when you started and stopped
Names of coworkers in the same role, so we can see whether this is a group problem

What to do next

The FLSA limitations period is two years, or three for a willful violation, counted back from when you file or opt in.²¹ More on the statute of limitations.

Firing or punishing you for raising an FLSA complaint is illegal.²² See retaliation protections.

Siegel Law Group has recovered more than $100 million for workers in federal overtime cases, including a $38.7 million class and collective settlement in Pruess v. Presbyterian Health Plan,²³ where the firm was lead counsel. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

This website contains attorney advertising.

FAQ

Can my employer make me work over 40 hours on salary without overtime?

Only if you're truly exempt. If you're not, every hour over 40 is owed at one and one-half times your regular rate.¹² See salary vs. hourly.

My offer letter says exempt. Does that settle it?

No. A label in an offer letter is a job title by another name. Status depends on salary and duties.¹

Do I need coworkers to bring a case?

No. But the FLSA lets workers in the same situation join one collective action, and each one files a written consent.²⁴ See collective actions.

I'm a registered nurse. Am I automatically exempt?

No. RNs generally meet the professional duties test,²⁵ but the job's primary duty still has to use that advanced knowledge, and you still need a salary of at least $684 a week. See utilization review nurses.

Keep reading

Free, confidential case review: (214) 790-4454.

We take overtime cases on contingency. We advance the costs of the case, and if we recover, those costs are repaid out of the recovery. If we do not recover, you owe us nothing — no attorney's fee and no costs.

Notes

29 C.F.R. § 541.2 (job titles insufficient).
29 C.F.R. §§ 541.100(a)(1), 541.200(a)(1), 541.300(a)(1).
29 C.F.R. §§ 541.602–.603.
Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, 598 U.S. 39 (2023).
29 C.F.R. §§ 541.200(a)(2), 541.201.
29 C.F.R. § 541.202(e); see § 541.704. See 29 C.F.R. § 541.202 (discretion and independent judgment).
29 C.F.R. § 541.202(c). See 29 C.F.R. § 541.202 (discretion and independent judgment).
29 C.F.R. § 541.202(c)–(e). See 29 C.F.R. § 541.202 (discretion and independent judgment).
29 C.F.R. § 541.301(d); DOL Op. Ltr. FLSA2005-50. See DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2005-50 (Nov. 4, 2005).
29 C.F.R. § 541.100(a)(3)–(4).
29 C.F.R. § 541.201(a).
29 U.S.C. § 207(a)(1). See 29 U.S.C. § 207.
29 C.F.R. § 541.304(d).
Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188, 196–97 (1974) (“the application of an exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act is a matter of affirmative defense on which the employer has the burden of proof”).
E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera, 604 U.S. 45 (2025).
Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, 584 U.S. 79 (2018).
DOL Op. Ltr. FLSA2026-1 n.1. See DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2026-1 (Jan. 5, 2026).
29 C.F.R. § 541.202(e). See 29 C.F.R. § 541.202 (discretion and independent judgment).
29 C.F.R. § 541.301(d); FLSA2005-50. See DOL Opinion Letter FLSA2005-50 (Nov. 4, 2005).
29 C.F.R. § 541.601.
29 U.S.C. §§ 255(a), 256.
29 U.S.C. § 215(a)(3). See 29 U.S.C. § 215.
Pruess v. Presbyterian Health Plan (D.N.M.), final approval June 24, 2026.
29 U.S.C. § 216(b). See 29 U.S.C. § 216.
29 C.F.R. § 541.301(e)(2).
See also: 29 C.F.R. Part 541 (eCFR, current text).
See also: 91 Fed. Reg. 27833 (May 15, 2026) (DOL restores the $684 text).
See also: Corning Glass Works v. Brennan, 417 U.S. 188 (1974).
See also: 29 U.S.C. § 255.