Whether an employee is exempt from the legal protections requiring payment for overtime is defined by labor laws and is based upon the nature of the work performed by the employee.<p>Ever since labor laws were enacted, employers have fought tooth and nail to deprive employees of their rights. You won't find many violations in union shops. But private non-union labor is rife with labor violations and one of the biggest is the scam of having hundreds of Vice Presidents - almost all of whom perform work that is legally protected under the labor laws as requiring overtime pay - but for whom employers cheat because there is no mechanism for enforcement (other than an employee filing a complaint with the Labor Department - when almost nobody understands the laws and never question why they are a VP and why they are being paid a salary).