Takeaway: Where an employer is claiming that an employee is not entitled to overtime pay because he or she falls under one of the exemptions to the overtime rule, the burden is on the employer to demonstrate that the employee is exempt, and exemptions will only be applied to employees plainly and unmistakably within their terms.
An employee seeking overtime pay could bring his claim to trial because the employer failed to show that the worker was an exempt employee, a California appeals court ruled.
The burden is on the employer to show exempt status, and the employer did not do so; therefore, the trial court erred in dismissing the claim, the court said.
The employer develops immunotherapy treatments. The employee began working for the company in 2015 as the director of quality assurance. His offer letter stated that his responsibilities included oversight of quality assurance compliance and managing a quality management system. His starting salary was $180,000 per year.
Although the employee often worked more than eight hours per day, the company did not pay him overtime wages. He received a merit increase to $183,600, effective Jan. 1, 2017. He was terminated on Feb. 8, 2018.
The employee sued the company for failure to pay overtime wages, among other claims. The trial court dismissed the claim before trial, and the employee appealed.
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