Are employees who make a monthly salary of at least twice the minimum wage exempt from overtime pay?

Most likely, no.  In addition to the monthly salary requirement of twice the minimum wage, a California employee also has to meet all of the criteria in at least one of the following job categories:  Executive Employee, Administrative Employee, Learned Professional Employee, or Artistic/Creative Professional Employee.  There is also an exemption for a Computer Software Employee, but the salary requirement is much higher.  The criteria for each job category are quite specific. 

Since it is difficult to meet each of the foregoing criteria, many exempt employees are misclassified.  Because of this, we have developed a proprietary Employee Classification Questionnaire available with our Employer Handbook that you should fill out for every exempt employee you hire (or promote to exempt status) to ensure they are properly classified.

Note: Misclassification of nonexempt employees as exempt can lead to HUGE liabilities.A recent case investigated by the Labor Commissioner’s Office found that a Jack in the Box franchise owner had misclassified 40 managers as exempt employees.The citations issued included $416,783 in unpaid overtime wages and penalties, $218,227 in minimum wage violations and penalties, $169,427 in liquidated damages and $98,647 in waiting time penalties (when workers are paid less than minimum wage, they are entitled to liquidated damages that equal the amount of underpaid wages plus interest).