Can an employee be classified as hourly (vs. salaried) and still be exempt status?

Question

I know you can be non-exempt hourly and even non-exempt salaried, but cannot find concrete evidence that you can be exempt hourly. So if you meet the requirements to be exempt from overtime treatment by the FLSA, and you are paid on an hourly basis, then any hours over 40 you would not get time and 1/2 (or premium pay). I would think the FLSA rules are in place to avoid that type of treatment. So I can be docked as an hourly employee for not fulfilling 40 hours in a week, but if I work more than 40 I only get straight pay. That seems to err on the side of the employer which the FLSA rules are usually there to protect the employee.
Can anyone point me to a legal review or somewhere on the FLSA website that proves this treatment is not accurate (or the contrary)? Thank you.....FLSA-Challenged...

Answer 1

Are you a member of the Society for Human Resource Management? www.shrm.org

They have a tool kit and a research center you can call for answers to these types of quesitons.

How often do employers have to pay their employees?

The FLSA does not regulate the frequency of employee compensation and therefore does not require employers to pay their employees, whether exempt or non-exempt, at any specific intervals. However, pursuant to most state's laws, every employer must typically pay all wages due to its employees on regular paydays designated in advance by the employer. Additionally, many state laws provide that employers must pay wages according to a certain schedule.

For example, New York law requires that manual workers are paid weekly and not later than seven calendar days after the end of the week in which wages are earned, and that clerical and other workers are paid not less frequently than semimonthly. Similarly, California law provides that wages are due and payable twice during each calendar month, but that salaries of executive, administrative, and professional employees of employers covered by the FLSA may be paid once on or before the 26th day of the month during which labor was performed if the entire month's salary is paid at that time.

Pursuant to Pennsylvania law, all wages, other than fringe benefits and wage supplements, earned in any pay period are due and payable within the number of days after the expiration of that pay period as provided in a written contract of employment. If not so specified, such wages are due and payable within the standard time lapse customary in the trade or within fifteen days from the end of such pay period. Overtime wages may be considered as wages earned and payable in the next succeeding pay period. Moreover, in Pennsylvania whenever an employer separates an employee from the payroll, or whenever an employee quits or resigns his employment, the wages or compensation earned are usually due and payable not later than the next regular payday of the employer on which such wages would otherwise be due and payable.

There is similarly no requirement under the FLSA that overtime compensation be paid to non-exempt employees at any specific interval. The general rule under the FLSA is that overtime compensation earned in a particular workweek must be paid on the regular pay day for the period in which such workweek ends. When the correct amount of overtime compensation cannot be determined until some time after the regular pay period, however, the requirements of the Act will be satisfied if the employer pays the excess overtime compensation as soon after the regular pay period as is practicable.

Payment may not be delayed for a period longer than is necessary for the employer to compute and arrange for payment of the amount due and in no event may payment be delayed beyond the next pay day after such computation can be made. Additionally, where retroactive wage increases are made, retroactive overtime compensation is due at the time the increase is paid.