"My company just recently reclassified most of us non-executive exempt workers as non-exempt because is was legally safer than not paying us overtime."

No, no, Nicole. (Sounds like a musical, doesn't it?)

If they did that and you didn't fit the requirements (nicely stated in your post), your company would be in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) and the Labor Dept could come down on them.

Classifying, say, a receptionist as exempt wouldn't make the person exempt if the US Dept of Labor came a-snooping. The primary test is independent judgement and action: does the employee regularily, and as part of their job, exercise independent judgement and take action independently?

I'm exempt. I also get 6 days of "Administrative Leave" each year in place of compensatory time off.

Here's some information:

"Exemptions

Some employees are exempt from the overtime pay provisions or both the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions.

Because exemptions are generally narrowly defined under FLSA, an employer should carefully check the exact terms and conditions for each. Detailed information is available from local Wage-Hour offices.

Following are examples of exemptions which are illustrative, but not all-inclusive. These examples do not define the conditions for each exemption.
Exemptions from Both Minimum Wage and Overtime Pay

    * Executive, administrative, and professional employees (including teachers and academic administrative personnel in elementary and secondary schools), outside sales employees, and employees in certain computer-related occupations (as defined in Department of Labor regulations);
    * Employees of certain seasonal amusement or recreational establishments, employees of certain small newspapers, seamen employed on foreign vessels, employees engaged in fishing operations, and employees engaged in newspaper delivery;
    * Farm workers employed by anyone who used no more than 500 "man-days" of farm labor in any calendar quarter of the preceding calendar year;
    * Casual babysitters and persons employed as companions to the elderly or infirm."

There is more information here (where I got the quote above) or read the whole thing (and then some)here.

None of this is simple, and I strongly urge anyone getting into it to contact their local DoL office for guidance (or to drop a dime if you think you've been wronged). I have had to get into this in the last couple or three years, and it can be a real can of worms!

Of course, what will happen in the future or what a particular office will do, who knows? But this is the law right now.