Has Your Employer Classified You As Exempt?

The state of California is a good place to be employed. This is because the law and the courts take the rights of employees seriously. The California Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is a set of laws that builds upon federal wage and overtime laws of the same name. These laws provide the bare minimum when it comes to wages, hours, record keeping, and break rights.

However, not all employees are protected by these rights. There are “exempt” employees for whom employers do not have to comply with minimum wage, overtime, and break laws. These include certain “executive”, “administrative”, “professional”, computer professionals, and outside sales people. To qualify, their actual job duties and responsibilities, their ability to make their own decisions, as well as their salaries, must comply with the relevant wage order.

Far too often, employers misclassify employees as “exempt”. This benefits these employers as they are not paying the misclassified employees overtime, keeping the mandated level or work hour records, or providing rest breaks. In fact, if employers work these exempt employees for ridiculously long hours, they can actually wind up paying them less than the minimum wage. This actually rewards an employer for misclassifying employees if they don’t get caught.

If you have worked for Terminix as a Technician in the past four years, and you have been classified as exempt, then you should speak with an attorney immediately. This is due, in part, to a simple rundown of your actual duties and responsibilities as a Technician.

Indeed.com provides anonymous employer reviews posted by employees. One Terminix Technician described the job as follows:

“This is not an easy job. There is a lot of heavy lifting, twisting, manual labor, and climbing. Typical work day requires getting to work early to prepare the work truck, going to set locations and a crammed vehicle and placing tarps and taking tarps off of homes.”

This sounds like a lot of physical and manual labor, as well as a lot of time driving and preparing your work truck. Therefore, if you have been classified as exempt, I would have very serious questions about the legitimacy of this classification.

Let Moss Bollinger Work For You

Misclassification of employees as exempt is a very common method by which employers commit wage theft. You have strong legal rights as an employee in California and do not have to remain silent as you get ripped off. Contact Moss Bollinger. We are smart, experienced, and effective. Let us stand by you and help you enforce your rights. We work on a contingency basis. Call our office today at for a free consultation or reach us online.