Overtime & FLSA | Jill Lynch Silva

What is FLSA?

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is the federal law that governs:

Who is eligible for overtime pay (non-exempt)
Who is not eligible for overtime pay (exempt)

You don't need to be a legal expert on the FLSA, but as a supervisor, you do need to understand the basics, especially how your employees are classified.

Why it matters:

Non-exempt Employees: These employees are hourly, must track their time, and are eligible for overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a work week.
Exempt Employees: These employees are typically salaried, and not eligible for overtime, even if they work more than 40 hours.
Overtime is calculated at 1 and a half times the standard hourly rate.

The key takeaway? You must know your employees' FLSA status and manage their schedules accordingly, especially if they're non-exempt. Let's look at a scenario next to bring this to life.

Scenario 1: Do I Approve Overtime?

You supervise Jordan, a non-exempt employee. At 4:45 p.m., Jordan tells you they need to stay late to finish prepping materials for a meeting tomorrow morning.

They've already worked 40 hours this week.

They say: "I'll just stay an hour extra. I don't mind, and I know we're short-staffed."

Multiple Choice: What's your response to Jordan? (Select the best option)

"Thanks, that's really helpful, I appreciate you staying."

"You can stay, but we'll need to adjust your schedule tomorrow to avoid overtime."

"No problem, just don't put it on your timesheet."

✓

"Let's check if overtime is approved first, we may need to shift some duties instead."

This is a common situation. A non-exempt employee wants to stay late to help, which is a great attitude, but as a supervisor, you can't simply say yes on the fly.

FLSA: Suffer or Permit to Work Doctrine

Let's talk about the concept that is foundational to understanding the Fair Labor Standards Act: the suffer or permit to work doctrine.

This means that time spent working, even if not formally requested, can be considered work that must be paid. An example would be an employee who works beyond their shift to finish a task, or who takes work home to complete in the evening.

This applies to unauthorized work even if there is a rule about overtime being approved in advance by the supervisor.

Compensable Time Under the FLSA

If an employer requires or allows nonexempt (hourly) employees to work, then the time is compensable (paid).
- Compensable work hours include time that employers know, or should have known, that employees are performing job duties.
Working off-the-clock is not an option.

An example of this situation would be: Coming into the office to make coffee and shoot the breeze isn't compensable (unless it's part of the employee's job to make the coffee).

This chapter sets up the compliance foundation the rest of Sample Foundational Supervisor Course Suite builds on. Supervisors need to recognize FLSA status and act on it correctly before the course moves into scheduling, pay, and remote-work decisions.