• Labor laws are administered by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.Tennessee state contour against blurred USA flag image by Stasys Eidiejus from Fotolia.com
  
  The federal Fair Labor Standards Act sets national minimums for all labor in the United States. Through the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), all employers, including employers in Tennessee, must pay a minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (as of August, 2010), with some exceptions. Hourly employees and some salaried employees are also guaranteed overtime pay under the FLSA in certain situations. Additionally, many states, such as Tennessee, have adopted additional state labor laws to protect workers.
  
  

Overtime

• The FLSA guarantees all employees in the United States overtime for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours in one week or any consecutive seven day period, with some exceptions. Through the Fair Labor Standards Act, overtime is calculated at one and a half times' the employee's regular hourly wage. Many states, such as California, have adopted state labor laws to require overtime in other scenarios, such as working more than eight hours in one day. Tennessee, however has not adopted state labor laws addressing overtime, therefore the federal laws apply in Tennessee.
  
  

Overtime Exemptions

• Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, certain employees are exempt from overtime requirements. Whether a property manager in Tennessee is exempt or not, depends on if he is paid by salary or hourly, what the rate of his regular pay is and the nature of his work. To be exempt from the federally mandated overtime provision, the property manager must be paid a salary equal to $455 or more each week.
  
  

Other Considerations

• In addition to a minimum weekly salary, property managers must also not be employed primarily in a physical capacity to qualify as exempt from the overtime provision. More specifically, to be exempt from overtime, the property manager must perform mostly clerical and other administrative-type work and not be engaging primarily in physical labor such as fixing and making repairs within the property units.