Can an employer force an employee to work extra hours on salary in Georgia? Any sources?

There are two classes of salaried employees, exempt and non-exempt. If you're exempt, they can require extra hours from you and not pay you OT. Non-exempt, they can still require extra hours, but have to pay you OT for them. This "exempt" refers to the federal OT law, and is totally separate from exempt on your W-4. The two have nothing to do with each other. There are rules that define whether you're salaried exempt or salaried non-exempt, and they mostly have to do with your job. Managers and highly paid professionals are usually exempt. Most entry level jobs aren't. You don't give enough info to say if you are, or not. What is your job?

If you are a salaried employee without a contract, then you are "at will." They can totally change the terms of the job and you have the option of staying or leaving. Think about it like this; if your company cut salary instead of making you work more hours, would you still have this same complaint? I take that back, because you probably would. You agreed to work, there was no contract. Your employer has revised their offer; you have the choice to turn it down and quit instead. "At will" employees have very few rights when it comes to this type of thing.

You work the hours your employer tells you to or you find a new job. Period. One of the disadvantages of being on salary is extra hours. And no, they don't have to extand your ,lunch break.

The short answer to your question is, yes your employer can require you to stay until 6pm.

"Salary" work is a bit of a trap. There is the Fair Labor Standards Act, which you seem to understand as it applies to "non-exempt" employees. While the true definition of "salary" is slightly different, most who say you are on salary mean that you are "exempt" from the FLSA. There are some benefits to being exempt that you don't get as an hourly non-exempt employee. For instance, you get paid for the day. If you work overtime, you don't get extra. If you take off for two hours to go to the doctor, you don't get docked. If you show up to work, you get paid--you aren't hourly, so you shouldn't get nickel and dimed over fifteen minutes of leave here and an hour and a half there--but you aren't allowed to nickel and dime them for working those extra hours either. (Usually that trade works out in your employer's favor.) Now, there is a catch. Neither your employer nor you get to decide whether you are exempt or non-exempt from FLSA--that is determined by your title, tasks, and responsibility. To be exempt from FLSA, you must be management. If they give you an area of responsibility and just let you run that stuff (no one usually hands you work--work just shows up), you may be a manager and it would be proper for them to make you non-exempt. If you just do work that gets assigned to you, you are not allowed to make any decisions for the company, and they expect you to take a half hour leave because you were a half hour late, then they are paying you illegally. If you think you are misclassified, you could complain to your boss or the IRS (they are who determines finally who is exempt and non-exempt if they get drug into it). Really though, I'd just look for another job while working there--if they look for any loophole to get out of taking care of their employees, then why would you work hard for them? Do you want to work at a place that will make you lazy? Do you want to work at a place that tries very hard (and perhaps breaks the law) to not pay you? I'd just get out as cleanly and as soon as possible rather than fighting the employer to get the nothing they owe me--and be 'that guy' for the rest of my time there. EDIT: I haven't worked in a field that would give me these answers in this century. Back in 1995, salary amount or being in IT did not affect exempt or non-exempt status. One company I worked for had to back-pay an IT department because they were classed exempt by the company and the IRS determined they were non-exempt. Oddly enough, we hand them a check and a raise, and they felt disrespected--exempt was a status symbol for them, and the IRS ruling insulted them by implying that they were merely highly-compensated repairmen. That may have changed since then.

I don't know what the laws in Georgia are, but generally speaking "hourly" workers are told when they must come in, when they must leave, when to have lunch and when to take breaks. Labor laws dictate what employers are and are not allowed to do. A salaried employee is generally "on his own", will do what is necessary and work whatever hours are required to get the job done, based on his or her experience and expertise. I have been both, and I have worked for companies who have hired both - and it is usually the salaried employees who stay late, come in early, or work on weekends because they understand that their salaries, their position, their careers depend on the success of the company and vice versa. If your negotiations were about "hours worked" rather than "accomplishment" there is something wrong. A salaried employee is not asked to "stay until six" unless there is work to do, and if you do stay, you do get the work done, and the company succeeds as a result, then you should be compensated for that with a raise. If you are focused on the hours rather than the job, maybe you should renegotiate your contract.