In Georgia, the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees comes straight from federal law. Georgia has no separate overtime statute, so the Fair Labor Standards Act controls: an exempt employee draws a fixed salary with no overtime, while a non-exempt employee must be paid at least one and one-half times their regular rate for every hour worked beyond 40 in a workweek.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours To be exempt, a worker has to clear both a pay test and a duties test. Miss either one and they’re non-exempt, whatever the job title says.
The Salary Threshold
Pay comes first. To qualify as exempt, an employee generally must receive a guaranteed salary of at least $684 per week, which works out to $35,568 per year.2U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption from Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections Under the FLSA This is the number the Department of Labor currently enforces. A 2024 rule that would have raised the figure was vacated in federal court, so the earlier threshold remains in place.
If your salary falls below $684 per week, you are non-exempt. The duties question never even comes up. Plenty of salaried workers in Georgia are still owed overtime for exactly this reason.
Salary Basis
The salary must be paid on a “salary basis,” meaning the amount does not fluctuate based on hours worked or productivity in a given week. If you perform any work during a week, you’re entitled to the full predetermined salary for that week.3eCFR. 29 CFR 541.602 – Salary Basis An employer who docks an exempt worker’s pay for a half-day absence or a slow Tuesday risks destroying the exemption, which can trigger back-pay liability for every overtime hour that person ever worked.
The Duties Tests
Clearing the salary threshold is only half the analysis. The employee’s actual day-to-day work must fit within a recognized exemption category. Job titles carry no weight. A “manager” who spends most of the week stocking shelves is not exempt, regardless of what appears on the org chart.
Executive
An executive’s primary duty is managing the business or a recognized department within it. The employee must regularly direct at least two full-time workers, or the equivalent in part-time staff, and must have genuine authority over hiring and firing decisions, or at minimum their recommendations must carry real weight.4U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17B – Exemption for Executive Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act Two half-time employees can count as one full-time equivalent, but no one gets credit for supervising workers another manager is also directing.5eCFR. 29 CFR Part 541 – Section 541.104
Administrative
Administrative employees perform office or non-manual work directly tied to running the business or its general operations. The key is exercising independent judgment on matters that actually affect the company. An HR director setting compensation structures or a finance manager shaping budget priorities generally qualifies. A worker following scripts or applying routine procedures does not, even if the work happens at a desk.
Learned and Creative Professional
The learned professional exemption covers roles requiring advanced knowledge in a specialized field, typically acquired through prolonged education. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, and certified public accountants are the classic examples. The work must demand the consistent application of specialized expertise, not just a degree at the door.
The creative professional exemption applies to workers whose primary duty requires invention, imagination, originality, or talent in an artistic or creative field. Musicians, novelists, actors, and certain graphic artists generally qualify. Journalists can qualify when they contribute original analysis or interpretation, but not when they simply collect and organize publicly available facts.6U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17D – Exemption for Professional Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Computer Employees
Systems analysts, programmers, and software engineers can qualify for exemption if their primary duty is designing, developing, testing, or analyzing computer systems or programs. The exemption does not cover workers who simply use software as a tool, like a drafter working in CAD, and it excludes people who repair or manufacture hardware. Computer employees can be paid either on a salary basis or at an hourly rate of at least $27.63 per hour.7U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet – Exemption for Employees in Computer-Related Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act That hourly option is unique among the exemptions and trips up employers who assume every exempt worker must be salaried.
Outside Sales
Outside sales employees are exempt from both minimum wage and overtime, with no minimum salary requirement at all. The employee’s primary duty must be making sales or obtaining contracts, and the work must happen away from the employer’s place of business on a regular basis. Sales made by phone, email, or internet from a home office don’t count. A home office used as a base for phone solicitation is treated as the employer’s place of business, not a customer location.8U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 17F – Exemption for Outside Sales Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
Highly Compensated Employees
Workers earning at least $107,432 in total annual compensation face a lighter duties test. They need only perform one duty typically associated with an exempt executive, administrative, or professional role, rather than satisfying the full duties test for any single category. The total must include at least $684 per week paid on a salary basis; the rest can come from commissions, bonuses, or other non-discretionary compensation.2U.S. Department of Labor. Earnings Thresholds for the Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemption from Minimum Wage and Overtime Protections Under the FLSA
What Non-Exempt Status Actually Gets You
If you don’t clear the salary threshold, or your duties don’t fit any exemption, you are non-exempt and entitled to overtime pay. Federal law requires one and one-half times your regular rate for every hour beyond 40 in a single workweek.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 207 – Maximum Hours A workweek is a fixed, recurring 168-hour period. It doesn’t have to run Monday through Friday, but the employer can’t shift the cycle week to week to dodge overtime.
All hours worked count. That includes mandatory training, travel between job sites, and tasks performed before a shift officially begins. The overtime obligation isn’t limited to authorized hours either. If a non-exempt employee works 45 hours in a week, the employer owes overtime for those five extra hours whether or not they were pre-approved.9U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 23 – Overtime Pay Requirements of the FLSA
What Unpaid Overtime Is Worth
A successful claim entitles the worker to the full amount of unpaid wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages, effectively doubling what’s owed.10GovInfo. 29 USC 216 – Penalties The statute of limitations is two years from the violation, extended to three years if the employer’s violation was willful.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 255 – Statute of Limitations Wage and hour complaints in Georgia are handled by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division; the state Department of Labor directs workers there.12Georgia Department of Labor. Obtain Information About an Employment Issue
Comp Time Instead of Overtime
Private employers in Georgia cannot offer compensatory time off in place of overtime pay to non-exempt employees, even if the employee would prefer it. The FLSA doesn’t allow it in the private sector. State and local government agencies have a carve-out permitting comp time at a rate of at least one and one-half hours for each overtime hour worked. Public safety workers, emergency responders, and seasonal employees can bank up to 480 hours; other government employees are capped at 240 hours. Past the cap, additional overtime must be paid in cash.13U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet – State and Local Governments Under the Fair Labor Standards Act
How to Tell If You’ve Been Misclassified
Start with two documents: your job description and your actual time records. The job description shows what the employer said the role was; the time records show what you actually did. When those don’t match, that gap is where misclassification claims begin.
Ask yourself the practical questions. Does your pay stay the same every week regardless of hours, or does it fluctuate based on time worked or output? Does your salary clear $684 per week? If you’re called a manager, do you actually supervise the equivalent of two full-time workers, and do your hiring recommendations mean anything? If you’re called an administrator, do you exercise independent judgment on things that matter to the business, or do you follow procedures someone else wrote?
Requesting copies of your own payroll and time records is a reasonable first step. Employers are required to keep them, and comparing what those records show against the duties tests above is the fastest way to tell whether the classification on your paycheck holds up.