FLSA is more than salary

Compliance isn't a checklist. It's the grey area about who gets to say no.

Someone asked for my advice last week about whether they could compel a salaried team lead to work on Saturdays.

Simple answer: Yes. 

The real question: Do you need to pay extra for it?

"I've seen people who sued and won when they were fired for not working weekends, though..." the questioner said.

These are the situations where compliance climbs out of your handbook and stirs the pot IRL.

This wasn't a preference issue. It was a classification issue.

Most teams treat FLSA salary exemptions as a payroll hack. But you need to do more than pay someone a flat rate for them to be exempt from overtime.

If the team lead is truly exempt under FLSA, the company can set availability expectations. But if they don’t meet the duties test, the company might need to adjust their schedule or pay them overtime.

Paying on a salary basis is just one leg of the stool. To be exempt, you also need to make sure: 🦿 Their salary is high enough ($35,568/year in all but 6 states) 🦿 They have the authority to hire/fire, lead others, and shape outcomes

Fail any of these tests, and the stool collapses. And so does the exemption status.

And then what? Jail? 

No. You just need to pay them overtime. It's not the end of the world, assuming you actually do it.

The risk isn’t theoretical. It’s operational. You need to understand what compliance risk looks like in the wild to put your knowledge to use.

🔎 Have you ever spotted FLSA misclassification in the wild? Tell us about it.

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