Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

WHAT

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes federal regulations governing overtime and related wage requirements for U.S. workers. As a "public trust" created by the California State Constitution, the UC is exempt from certain state wage and hour laws, making the FLSA the applicable standard. To qualify as exempt under the FLSA, a position must generally meet all three of the following criteria:

1. The employee performs duties that fall within one of the recognized exempt categories.
2. The employee is paid on a salary basis¹ (not hourly).
3. The employee earns at least $684 per week² (the UC established a higher salary exemption threshold of $913 per week).

Employees classified as non-exempt under the FLSA are required to record all hours worked, which necessitates completion of timesheets. At UCI Campus and the College of Health Sciences, non-exempt employees are compensated on a biweekly basis (every two weeks), while exempt employees are paid on a monthly schedule. At UCI Health, all employees are compensated on a biweekly basis, regardless of FLSA exemption status.

¹“Salary basis” means a predetermined amount of compensation paid each pay period that generally cannot be reduced because of variations in the quality or quantity of the employee’s work.

²The salary level test does not apply to certain professionals, including: professors, lecturers, and other teachers whose primary duty is teaching; athletic coaches and assistant coaches if their primary duty is teaching and instructing athletes; undergraduate/graduate students engaged in research or extracurricular activities as they are not considered by DOL as employees; doctors and attorneys.

WHO

The FLSA salary threshold discussed above applies to staff titles.

* For information regarding academic positions, visit https://ap.uci.edu/compensation/flsa/.

For patient facing positions in healthcare, please see the SB525 web page for information about the FLSA Exemption Thresholds.

A calculator is provided to help part-time employees determine whether their salary falls below the FLSA salary threshold.

*The salary level test does not apply to certain professionals, including: professors, lecturers, and other teachers whose primary duty is teaching; athletic coaches and assistant coaches if their primary duty is teaching and instructing athletes; undergraduate/graduate students engaged in research or extracurricular activities as they are not considered by DOL as employees; doctors and attorneys.

	MONTHLY pay rate:
	Appointment % time: (between 1 and 100)