There is an epidemic of IT Workers being misclassified as exempt from the overtime pay in California. The question of overtime is fact intensive and determined by your daily tasks.
Information Technology careers can make grueling demands on workers. Long Hours and Late Night work are commonplace. Many workers are expected to work extra hours without receiving overtime pay. It is not up to the employer, nor the employee, who qualifies for overtime pay. State statutes decide who gets overtime, and the determination of who gets overtime pay is often complex. First, Workers must be paid at least $96,968.33 per year, as of 2020, to be exempt from overtime pay. Second, the daily tasks of a Worker are analyzed according to Labor Code
Labor Code, § 515.5, subd. (a)(2).
The key to proving that you were misclassified is proving to the court that your primary tasks were not tasks that fit in to any of the exemptions. For example, a Linux Systems Administrator could be found to be exempt, depending upon tasks and the particular employee's place in the Enterprise. I offer added value stemming from my experience working in the IT Field.
An example of an exempt computer professional is one whose primary tasks include "documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer programs related to the design of software or hardware for computer operating systems." This sort of exemption should not apply to all members of a development team. Systems administrators, build engineers, support staff, database admins, and application engineers have been found to be both exempt and not exempt. With a brief consultation, we can help determine if you have a claim for missed overtime pay because of misclassification as exempt.
External Resources:
This Article describes in detail how to determine is an IT Worker is exempt from receiving overtime pay.
https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Glossary.asp?Button1=E#employee%20in%20the%20computer%20software%20field
California Department of Industrial Relations definition of "employee in the computer software field."