University Human Resources

Overtime Pay

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Overtime Pay

All positions at Brown University, including student employees, are governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Rhode Island labor laws. The FLSA is a federal law that mandates when overtime pay is required, as well as complementary Rhode Island labor laws. Specifically, it requires that employees who work in positions not exempt (non-exempt) from the FLSA be paid time and one-half for time worked in excess of 40 hours in one work week. FLSA has set a minimum weekly rate for exempt employees. Consequently, all employees earning less than the minimum are automatically not exempt from overtime (non-exempt). 

The online training in Workday Learning called Understanding Federal and State Laws Governing Compensation is available to learn more about Managers, Timekeepers and HR Coordinators' roles and responsibilities regarding pay, specifically for nonexempt employees.

Tracking and Authorizing Hours for Employees in Non-exempt Positions

Non-exempt employee duties in tracking and authorizing hours worked

  • Non-exempt employees are required to record all hours worked each week to ensure they are compensated accurately.
  • Each week, non-exempt staff must submit their time worked via Time Tracking in Workday to their supervisor for review and approval.
  • Non-exempt employees who believe they are not being compensated for all hours worked should contact Compensation and Organizational Services.

Supervisory Duties in Tracking and Authorizing Time

  • Supervisors must authorize in advance all time worked in excess of the number of hours in an employee's normal work week.
  • This allows the supervisor time to determine if the employee's schedule either in the current or following week should be adjusted to accommodate the increased hours.

Supervisors who are aware, or who have reason to suspect, that a non-exempt employee is working in excess of the normally scheduled hours without prior approval, must take action to stop the employee.

  • If an employee continues to work unauthorized overtime, the employee must be informed in writing that this cannot continue and, if such behavior continues, disciplinary action will result.
  • Whether or not overtime has been approved in advance, it must be paid if it is worked

For more information on payment of non-exempt staff including Sunday and holiday pay, see the Non-Exempt Staff Pay Policy.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Exemption Classification Information

To be classified as exempt, the position must be performing executive, administrative, professional, or computer-related duties and meet the following duties and salary tests: 

  • Employee primarily performs executive, administrative, professional, or computer-related duties as defined by the regulations (duties test) 
  • Employee is salaried - i.e. paid a predetermined amount not subject to reductions based on work performance (salary basis test) 
  • Employee’s salary exceeds the levels specified in the regulations (salary level test)

Described in the FLSA, the duties test is different for each category. To determine whether an employee is exempt, an analysis of each position is required and is based on duties and responsibilities, so an employer cannot declare that a position is exempt based on a class, type of role, title, or category of position without doing the functional analysis. Whether an employee meets the duties under one of the categories (i.e. executive, administrative, professional or computer-related) is generally determined by assessing the employee’s primary duties.

  • Executive - The employee’s primary duty must be managing a department or subdivision; the employee must customarily and regularly direct the work of at least two or more full- time employees or their equivalent, and the employee must have the authority to hire or fire other employees (or the person’s suggestions and recommendations as to the hiring, firing, advancement, promotion, or any other change of status of other employees are given particular weight).
  • Administrative - The employee’s primary duties must be the performance of office or non- manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers and must include the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.
  • Professional - The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment in a field of science or learning. Additionally, the advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
  • Computer-Related - The employee’s primary duty is computer systems analysis, computer programming, software engineering; application of system analysis techniques and procedures including consulting with users to determine hardware, software, or system functional specifications; and the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems.

Effective December 1, 2016, Brown increased the salary threshold to be considered exempt to $48,000/year. This salary threshold was implemented in response to the Department of Labor announced changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which were going to take effect December 1, 2016 to $913/week ($47,476). On November 22, 2016 a federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the $47,476 exempt salary threshold increase. The judge’s injunction means that changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) did not go into effect as planned on December 1, 2016. However, Brown decided to continue with the changes that had already been communicated to employees.

In order to pay staff on a consistent basis and ensure equity for staff who have similar roles, responsibilities, and titles, all staff in grade 8 are overtime eligible and paid hourly. Having employees in similar roles and classifying them differently could prompt discrimination claims. 

FLSA Frequently Asked Questions

The University is, as are all other major employers, covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which requires that certain employees receive overtime pay for any hours over 40 worked during the employer’s work week.

All employers must make good faith efforts to be in compliance. Employers who willfully fail to comply may be subject to substantial financial penalties.

Positions whose responsibilities meet the exemption test and the employees occupying them are “exempt” from the requirement to pay overtime. Jobs with primary responsibilities that do not meet the exemption test are classified as “non-exempt” and the employees occupying them will be eligible for overtime pay.

  • Positions whose primary responsibilities involve managing a department or unit including employment-related decisions for the work of at least 2 full time equivalents.
  • Work requiring advanced knowledge acquired by a prolonged course of study with a Bachelor’s Degree as the minimum.
  • Producing work that is original and creative that depends on the employee’s invention, imagination or talent.
  • Positions directly related to management/operations that include the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.
  • Computer employees whose primary duty is the application of systems analysis techniques and procedures; the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs or machine operating systems.

Human Resources determines the exempt status based on the job description and discussions with the employee and supervisor as needed.

Exempt staff are paid a salary to perform a job. They use discretion to determine how to perform their work and decide how much effort they wish to commit to it. Consequently, there are times when they need to work more than 37.5 hours, and they do not receive additional compensation for those hours. If exempt employees take off an hour here and there, they cannot have their sick or leave balances reduced for those hours.

At Brown, any employee earning less than $1,058 per week ($55,000 FTE) is automatically classified as non-exempt. All the various work arrangements, e.g., 5 hours a day/4 days, or 7.5 hours a day/3 days, etc., make it a little less straightforward to manage, but the concept remains the same. You have hired someone to do a job that you expect can be performed within a specified period of time whether it be 30 hours or 37.5. Some weeks the work may take more time, but exempt staff are hired to complete a job, and are not paid hourly. Consequently, part-time exempt staff do not automatically receive additional compensation when they need to work additional hours to get the work done.

Yes, if they worked more than their scheduled hours.

Yes, staff may not volunteer to work additional hours without compensation.

Yes, if he worked more than 40 hours you need to pay him. However, Brown’s policy states that staff who fail to obtain prior approval for overtime can be disciplined. You should contact your HR Generalist to discuss the matter.

No, all hours worked in a work week must be paid.

They will not earn additional pay if you adjust their schedule so that they do not exceed 37.5 hours for the week.

It’s a shared responsibility, but supervisors have direct responsibility for managing staff and ensuring compliance with policy and practices. The employees that have the Timekeeper role have a shared responsible with managers for ensuring non-exempt staff are entering hours.

If you still have questions, contact Compensation Services at ext. 3-9026 or 3-9320 for clarification on any FLSA policies and practices.