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Full Time Non-Exempt Employee Toolkit

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), establishes rules for minimum wage, overtime pay, and other workplace protections. Current regulations maintain that positions must meet the following criteria to be classified as Exempt:

  • Salary basis - the employee must be paid on a salary basis
  • Salary threshold - the employee's salary must exceed the threshold set by the FLSA, currently $35,568 annually, $684 weekly
  • Duties test - the actual work performed by the employee must meet criteria for exemption

This webpage provides detailed information to help non-exempt employees navigate the nuances of a Non-Exempt classification. 

Non-Exempt Toolkit

Non-Exempt Status

A non-exempt employee is a worker, typically categorized as staff, who is covered by federal overtime laws that ensure they are compensated for overtime hours worked and receive overtime compensation for any hours worked over 40 in a work week. These employees do not meet the salary threshold in addition to the duties test for specific job categories, resulting in a non-exempt status. It is the practice of the college to compensate full-time employees overtime hours with compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay. Hourly part-time employees are paid at a rate of 1.5 times their regular hourly rate for their overtime hours worked.

Payroll & Time/Leave Reporting
  • Being classified as non-exempt will not change your base salary or your payday. Full-time employees will still be paid monthly on the last business day of the month.
  • The non-exempt leave report looks different and also serves as a timesheet. 
  • Non-exempt employee report 40 hours minimum weekly as any combination of all hours worked and leave taken (vacation, sick, comp time, holidays, non-contract time) for the work week which goes from Saturday through Friday midnight.
  • Leave reports are submitted in the Employee Dashboard on the last work day of the month. A grace period will follow the due date, in which employees can submit their time/leave and supervisors can approve of time/leave reports. Reminder emails stop as soon as the employee submission or supervisor approval has been completed.
  • Comp time must be used before vacation time is reported in the leave report.
  • When reporting all leave (except holidays), use only the amount necessary to bring the weekly total to 40 hours. Example: 34 hours worked + 6 hours vacation = 40 hours for the week.
  • Holidays are reported as 8 hours for each of the 13 designated paid holidays, which inludes those who work a reduced 9, 10, or 11-month contract.
  • Winter Break hours are reported only for days designated by HR between Christmas and New Year's Day and are reported as additional Holiday hours.
Overtime & Compensatory Time
    • In general, the college does not approve overtime hours.
    • If needed, the employee requests overtime in advance and requires approval by the supervisor. Employees who work overtime without prior approval may be subject to disciplinary action.
    • It is the practice of the college to compensate overtime with compensatory time (comp time).
    • Comp time is accrued at a rate of time and one-half (1.5) for every hour of overtime worked.
    • Employees may not accrue more than 120 hours (80 hours of overtime multiplied by 1.5).
    • Employees must use comp time before using vacation time in their leave report.
    • Comp time not used at the time of employment separation will be calculated and paid out at the employee's normal hourly rate.
    • Support Guide
    • Comp time process

Kuali Forms:

Non Contract Time
  • Non-contract time is only applicable to staff employees on shorter contracts. Example, less than 1 FTE or shorter contracts such as a 10 or 11-month.
  • The FLSA salary threshold is not prorated for shorter contracts. The threshold still remains at $35,568 annually.
  • Non-contract time refers to periods when an employee is not scheduled to work according to their contractractual terms. 
  • Non-contract time is unpaid leave and separate from vacation, sick, or other paid leaves.
  • Non-contract leave hours are non-compensable.
  • Employees are allotted a set number of hours at the beginning of each fiscal year and are expected to report usage of these hours over the year to reflect the time they are off contract.
  • Support Guide

Kuali Forms:

Tutorial Library
  • Leave Reporting
  • Entering time
  • Comp time form
  • Non-contract leave reporting