By Randy Estes, September 17, 2026
It’s one of the most common things we hear from Louisiana workers: “I’m on a salary, so I don’t get overtime.” Employers say it so often that most people take it as fact. It isn’t. Being paid a salary is only one small piece of whether you’re actually exempt from overtime — and even a real salary doesn’t settle the question.
Overtime comes from the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires time-and-a-half for hours over forty in a workweek. An employer can skip overtime only for workers who fit a specific exemption, and one requirement of the common “white collar” exemptions is that you’re paid on a “salary basis.”
A federal regulation, 29 C.F.R. § 541.602, defines that term. You’re paid on a salary basis if you regularly receive a predetermined amount each pay period that is not subject to reduction because of variations in the quality or quantity of your work. In plain terms: a true salary doesn’t move up and down with how busy the week was or how much work there happened to be. If you do any work in a week, you get your full salary for that week.
And yes — this is still the law. The U.S. Department of Labor reaffirmed the current framework in a rule issued in May 2026, and the minimum salary a worker must earn to even be considered for these exemptions is $684 a week, about $35,568 a year (29 C.F.R. § 541.600).
Here’s the trap in the “you’re on salary” line: a salary is necessary, but not enough. To actually lose overtime, you have to clear three hurdles at once — you’re paid on a salary basis, you earn at least $684 a week, and your real duties fit an executive, administrative, or professional role. Plenty of salaried Louisiana workers meet the pay part but not the duties part, and they are owed overtime. Your title and salary don’t decide it; what you actually do all day does.
There’s a second problem employers often miss. If your employer treats your pay like an hourly wage — docking it here and there — then you may not really be on a salary basis at all, and the exemption can fall apart. The following kinds of deductions are signs you are not being paid on a true salary basis:
Under 29 C.F.R. § 541.602 and § 541.603, an employer that has an actual practice of making these improper deductions loses the exemption — not just for you, but for everyone in the same job working under the same manager during the period the docking happened. Losing the exemption means those workers are owed overtime for their hours over forty.
Some deductions are allowed and do not blow the exemption — a full-day personal absence, a full-day sick absence covered by a bona fide leave plan, unpaid Family and Medical Leave Act time, and certain good-faith discipline. The line usually turns on full-day versus partial-day, and on the reason. And if your employer keeps a clearly written policy against improper deductions and promptly repays a mistaken one, an isolated slip generally won’t cost the exemption — but a routine practice of docking pay will.
If you’re salaried but your check shrinks when you leave early, miss part of a day, or work a slow week, that’s a red flag on two fronts: it may show you were misclassified to begin with, and it may show the exemption doesn’t hold even if the label seemed to fit. Keep your pay stubs — they are the clearest record of whether you were truly paid a fixed salary or your pay was quietly treated like an hourly wage.
Don’t accept “you’re on salary” as the final word on overtime. Write down your weekly pay, the hours you actually work, your real duties, and any time your pay was reduced. The FLSA lets you recover unpaid overtime — generally two years back, or three if the violation was willful — and often an equal amount again as liquidated damages, plus your attorney’s fees. Filing deadlines apply, so the sooner someone reviews your situation, the more you can protect.
If you’re paid a salary and working well over forty hours a week, or your salary gets docked, call Estes Davis Law at (225) 336-3394 for a free, confidential consultation. Se habla español. We’ll look at how you’re really paid and whether you’re owed overtime under the law.
This article is general information about Louisiana law and is not legal advice. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome; every case depends on its own facts. For advice about your situation, please consult an attorney.
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