I am currently investigating an overtime claim on behalf of a payroll clerk. Many times companies treat payroll clerks and the accounting clerks as exempt employees when they pay them a salary to cover all hours worked. Unless the payroll clerk exercises independent discretion in their duties, the designation as an exempt employee is improper.

In order to exercise discretion on the job, an employee must be able to make policies and approve variations to policies. In the case of which I’m currently investigating the payroll clerk had no authority to do anything out of the ordinary. She entered the payroll data from numerous fast food restaurant employees and prepared it for submission to the chief financial officer.