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Most salaried position are considered to be higher paying jobs that require higher education, while the majority of hourly positions are considered to be lower paying jobs that require very little to no education. There are exceptions to both, of course.
I work hourly and hope to work hourly for the rest of my life. I feel as though a salaried position is a scam. Let's take, for example, my friend Steve the accountant. During off seasons, Steve works 40/hrs per week, where he makes $1,000 a week. However when tax season comes around he has to put in 80hr work weeks FOR THE SAME MONEY, $1,000 a week. If that's not a scam, I don't know what is. I gotta hand it to the person who invented salaried positions, they were a genius. Usually companies hire you with an inflated salary and then make their money back during the overtime in which they don't have to pay you for - happened to my friend Steve. I know there are non-exempt salaried positions but for this discussion let's just pretend we're comparing the AVERAGE salaried worker to the AVERAGE hourly worker.
Did you realize that during off season, the actual hours of work might be equivalent to 20 hours or fewer per week even though Steve is present in his accounting office...so he gets paid for the remainder of hours for doing whatever pleases him. If he is money driven, he can certainly explore opportunities to earn extra money outside his salaried job.
If one works a salaried position then they should be paid overtime for extra hours. The disadvantage of an hourly position is that when there is no work there is also no income. But a salaried person still gets paid for coming to the place of employment even if s/he has very little to do there.
I'm hourly and wouldn't have it any other way, at least with my company.
I clear $100k with overtime pretty much every year. I don't pay a dime for healthcare ($5 copays and $2 prescriptions), have 4 weeks vacation, have my dry cleaning paid for, don't pay tolls, and a bunch of other little perks. Overtime (which is around $52 an hour or so) is plentiful.
Management, however, just lost a week of vacation and has pay exorbitant rates into their healthcare, get no overtime, and can be fired at any time.
Many workers are utterly confused about the difference between salaried employees and hourly employees when it comes to overtime pay. There is not an automatic difference in the rules of overtime just because of the manner in which an employee is paid.
The law does not differentiate between salary/hourly employees. It differentiates between exempt and non-exempt employees.
Exempt employee--the employee is exempt from overtime pay rules. Generally, this means this employee makes decisions without oversight and/or manages other employees as a major part of employment. Exempt employees must make over $23,600/yr, be paid on a salary basis, and perform exempt job duties---such as management of others and etc. Some professions are automatically exempt as well---lawyers, doctors, RN's, accountants, architects, and teachers, for example. Also, those making $100,000 or more, involved in non-manual labor, and performing at least one administrative, management, or executive exempt job duty are exempt.
Non-exempt employee--the employee is not exempt from overtime pay rules. This is every employee that, among other factors, does not make their own decisions on work to be performed, and/or manner in which it is to be performed, and does not, as a major part of their time, manage other employees. The vast majority of employees are non-exempt. They are often hourly employees, but a lot are paid on a set salary basis as well. NO MATTER WHICH MANNER IN WHICH THEY ARE PAID THEY ARE ENTITLED TO OVERTIME.
The confusion, I think, is that since exempt employees are almost always salaried employees, non-exempt employees paid in the same manner assume they are also not entitled to overtime. Yet, many salaried employees ARE entitled to overtime.
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