Q: If my employer requires me to remain on premise, i.e. work overnights, is this considered double time overtime pay?

A: A properly classified exempt salaried employee is never able to get overtime. You agree to work whatever hours are necessary to get the job done in exchange for the salary.

The question therefore is whether you are properly classified as an exempt employee. If not, then you should be getting overtime premiums. To be exempt you must be being paid at least double the minimum wage (assuming a 40 hour week( and you must be spending the majority of your time doing things that are considered to be administrative, executive or professional as those terms are defined in the Wage Order for your industry. Watching dogs is not an exempt activity, so the other job functions you perform would have to be analyzed to determine if you are to be paid overtime or not.

It would be a good idea for you to locate and consult with an experienced employment law attorney as soon as possible to explore your facts and determine your options. I would suggest you look either on this site in the Find a Lawyer section, or go to www.cela.org, the home page for the California Employment Lawyers Association, an organization whose members are dedicated to the representation of employees against their employers.

Most employment attorneys who practice this area of law offer a free or low cost consultation in the beginning and then, if the matter has merit and value, will usually agree to work on a contingency basis, meaning you can hire an attorney without paying any money until the matter results in a positive outcome for you. Many advance all the costs of the litigation as well. Do not let fear of fees and costs keep you from finding a good attorney.

Good luck to you.

A: That Neil is a very sharp guy, and I agree with what he has said. The issue is: are you properly classified as exempt or is this "misclassification." If your employer employs less than 25 people, he has to be paying you at least $960 per week just to qualify you as exempt, no matter what your duties. That is $1920 every 2 weeks and over $3840 a month. Your duties have to be executive or managerial in nature and you have to supervise at least 2 other employees. (Dogs don't count.) If he is misclassifying you to work nights a couple of days a week, he must be doing the same to some other co worker for the nights you are not there. Double time is double the hourly rate and it occurs after the 12th hour of work in a day and after the 8th hour on the 6th and 7th days. There is weekly overtime after you work a total of 40 regular hours, everything is at least OT, but there is no weekly double time.

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