Graduate teaching assistants, faculty members who teach courses online, and administrative employees like admissions counselors are among the many college employees who are generally not eligible to receive overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division said on Monday.
A new fact sheet released by the department clarified the various types of employees on college campuses that do not qualify for overtime pay. The release comes less than a year after a federal judge struck down an Obama-era update to the Fair Labor Standards Act that would have made employees who earned up to about $47,000 a year eligible for more compensation when they worked more than 40 hours per week.
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Graduate teaching assistants, faculty members who teach courses online, and administrative employees like admissions counselors are among the many college employees who are generally not eligible to receive overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division said on Monday.
A new fact sheet released by the department clarified the various types of employees on college campuses that do not qualify for overtime pay. The release comes less than a year after a federal judge struck down an Obama-era update to the Fair Labor Standards Act that would have made employees who earned up to about $47,000 a year eligible for more compensation when they worked more than 40 hours per week.
A proposal for a new overtime rule is expected from the Labor Department this year.
Employees who perform professional, administrative, or executive tasks fall under the “white-collar exemption,” which excludes them from earning overtime pay. Employees need to meet three requirements to be ineligible: earning a salary that is not reduced based on the employee’s work quantity or quality, earning no less than $455 a week, and doing a job with duties that involve administrative, executive, or professional work.
Employees who fall under the general category of “teacher,” like professors, adjunct professors, and other instructors, may not earn overtime pay, according to the fact sheet. This also includes faculty members who teach online courses.
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“The regulations do not restrict where bona fide teaching may take place, to whom the knowledge can be imparted, or how many hours a teacher must work per week to qualify for the exemption,” reads the fact sheet.
Student Workers
Students who work for their institutions are generally nonexempt hourly workers, but graduate teaching assistants, research assistants, and student residential assistants are types of student workers that may not earn overtime pay.
Because graduate teaching assistants are primarily charged with teaching, they are ineligible for overtime, and do not have to meet the salary-basis and salary-level tests, the fact sheet states.
Research assistants are also exempt from overtime because of the educational relationships students have with the college or university while working under a faculty member, according to the fact sheet. “Under these circumstances, the department would not assert that an employment relationship exists with either the school or any grantor funding the student’s research,” reads the fact sheet. “This is true even though the student may receive a stipend for performing the research.”
Administrative employees at colleges also may not be paid overtime when these three requirements are met: Their pay meets the salary-level tests, their primary job is leading an office or doing nonmanual work related to business operations or management of a college, and their job requires judgment and discretion “with respect to matters of significance.”
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Financial-aid officers and admissions counselors could be eligible for overtime, according to the fact sheet. The exemptions largely depend on employees’ duties, not just their job titles.
College librarians, psychologists, certified athletic trainers, and public accountants are also exempt from overtime and minimum-wage requirements, according to the fact sheet. These “learned professionals” are exempt from earning overtime if their primary task is performing work with required advanced knowledge, the advanced knowledge is in the learning or science field, and the knowledge is gained through specialized instruction.
Correction (4/18/2018, 10:35 a.m.): A previous version of this article stated that exempt employees cannot get overtime pay, implying that it is legally prohibited. Instead, employers are not legally required to pay overtime to employees who are exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The article has been updated to reflect this correction.
Fernanda is the engagement editor at The Chronicle. She is the voice behind Chronicle newsletters like the Weekly Briefing, Five Weeks to a Better Semester, and more. She also writes about what Chronicle readers are thinking. Send her an email at fernanda@chronicle.com.