I've heard that Big 4 accounting firms don't pay overtime to their accountants who have not yet obtained their CPA. Is this true?
In California that would be a big problem since an accountant would only be "exempt" if they were licensed by a state or federal agency.
I think the GENERAL rule is that the Big 4 don't pay overtime for salaried, period... regardless of licensure status. I have heard of a larger regional firm which paid overtime, but that's it, to my knowledge. I'm interested to hear otherwise, though!
Is that state labor law out there or something? I always thought it was up to the employer to determine who was exempt.
-Holly
They probably have some kind of comp-time established though. Say - if you work 60 hours during tax season, you are only expected to work 45 hours during the "off-season".
Actually Federal law says that you can't "salary" someone at say $12,000 a year and mandate that they work more than 40 hours a week (say 45), such that their hourly rate (factoring in the time and a half) falls below minimum wage. Least that's what I remember from researching it a while back. Look for "overtime" or "salaried" on the DOL website.
California labor law takes precedence over Federal Labor Law when the state law is more restrictive, as long as the Court does not reject it. The State Assembly decided who is an Exempt employee and if you violate the law you may, and many are on a continuing basis, be prosecuted and heavily fined. The State's overtime rules are also different from Federal and payroll departments have to watch them closely.
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