Those who qualify for professional exemption are most commonly salary employees, but can also be classified as hourly. Professional exempt work is generally intellectual, requires higher levels of education, and needs discretion and judgment.
Working more than 8 hours in a day offers the same overtime rate as over 40 hours in a week. Even if the employee works less than 40 hours in the week, long days provide additional compensation. If the long day extends to more than 12 hours, the rate increases to double the employee's regular hourly rate.
Work Hours in Virginia There are no laws governing how many hours or days a week Virginia employees over the age of 16 are allowed to work. There are no federal guidelines, either. Paying Overtime: Virginia does not have its own laws dictating the payment of employee overtime.
The law allows employers to classify those employees earning over $455 per week as salaried workers. In this case, overtime regulations don't apply. For that reason, employers attempt to misclassify employees making below that threshold as salaried and avoid paying overtime rates in this way.
Negotiate a cutoff for overtime hours If, for example, you feel that working more than 60 hours a week will affect your performance and pose a risk to your health, ask your employer if they can clearly stipulate a cap on overtime hours in your contract or employee agreement.