The Ins and Outs of Overtime Pay for IT Computer Employees Per Massachusetts and Federal Laws

Determining Whether IT Computer Employees are Entitled to Overtime Pay Under Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws

According to Massachusetts and Federal laws, IT computer employees are entitled to overtime pay unless they are (1) paid a guaranteed salary of at least $684/week and (2) perform certain types of duties. Massachusetts employers must satisfy both the salary test and the duties test in order to classify an IT employee as exempt from overtime pay.

I am a salaried IT Computer employee in Massachusetts. should I be paid overtime?

Your employer has to satisfy both a salary test and a duties test to classify you as exempt from overtime pay. If your salary is at least $684 per week then we move on to verify the duties test. If your salary is less than $684 per week, then you should be paid overtime.

There are two duties exemptions that may apply to IT computer employees: the administrative exemption and the computer professional exemption. To satisfy the duties test for administrative employees, an employer must prove the following:

• the employee’s primary duty must be the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers; and

• the employee’s primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.

To satisfy the duties test for computer employees, an employer must prove the following:

The employee must be employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer or other similarly skilled worker in the computer field whose primary duty is to perform one or more of the following:

1. the application of systems analysis techniques and procedures;

2. the design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs;

3. the design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or

4. a combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.

As a general rule of thumb, IT computer employees that perform routine troubleshooting tasks, like routine service requests, password resets, network connectivity issues, software and hardware updates, installing software and hardware, are more likely to be entitled to overtime. Over the years, Steffans Legal has represented IT professionals, network engineers, and IT Support Specialists in claims of unpaid overtime as a result of their employer misclassifying the employee as exempt from overtime. If this sounds like you, you may be owed overtime. Call our office today for a free consultation.