leocharre,
(IANAL) See http://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime_pay.htm and http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/fs17a_overview.pdf. In a general overview, the Fair Labor Standards Act says you are entitled to overtime unless you are exempt. You aren't exempt just because your employer would like to think so - you have to meet all the criteria. If you were paid an hourly rate and it was less than $27.63 then you are not exempt and are entitled to overtime.

As a side note, you should ping the local Perl Mongers in the area (DC.pm, Baltimore.pm and CAMEL.pm) to see if anyone knows of any local jobs. I may know of something too - if you /msg me I can give you more information.