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So I had to add the overtime and straight time to the employees' vacation time on the PTO spreadsheet chart on file.
This is illegal. I understand that you are trying to compensate your employees for the extra hours, but the way that you are doing it is simply illegal.
It is a federal law that all hourly employees be paid overtime (at 1.5xhourly rate) for each hour worked over 40. It needs to be paid with their normal check for the week. If you pay biweekly, and the employee works 50 hours one week, and 30 the next, they need to be paid for 70 hours at regular time, and 10 at OT.
It does not matter if an employee signs saying that they are ok with this. State laws can only make OT pay more strict, not more lenient.
Any business that employs these practices risks a lawsuit for the OT pay, as well as a fine. I believe (but could be wrong) that the fine is $10,000 per violation.
There are exceptions to all of this for farm workers, but that is a small segment of the population.
There are exceptions to all of this for farm workers, but that is a small segment of the population.
Also I believe any union employee is exempt from the federal rules. This is because the contract states how you will be paid. In my case I am only paid overtime (1.5x in my case, other companies only pay straight time) if I work on a day off. No matter how much I work on my scheduled days on, I will not be paid over time.
As an IT support person I spend everyday, after hours and on weekends, keeping up on trends or studying. I don't get paid for this.
Yeah, my bf does the same, plus the 3am calls, the Sunday at 5am calls, during vacation calls, and on and on. He's sick of it, is rarely allowed more than 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, is lucky to find a minute to shove half a sandwich down his hole, and on.
Yeah, my bf does the same, plus the 3am calls, the Sunday at 5am calls, during vacation calls, and on and on. He's sick of it, is rarely allowed more than 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, is lucky to find a minute to shove half a sandwich down his hole, and on.
I'm in IT as well... although I don't have it as bad as it sounds your bf does, I do have to keep up with all the emails even outside of work and even take conference calls at random hours due to some global projects.
It's one of the bad parts of working in IT. But when you look at how much IT pays, you really don't have much of a choice if you want to make the same kind of money..... unless you happen to have an MD degree on the side.
Also I believe any union employee is exempt from the federal rules. This is because the contract states how you will be paid. In my case I am only paid overtime (1.5x in my case, other companies only pay straight time) if I work on a day off. No matter how much I work on my scheduled days on, I will not be paid over time.
Union employees paid by the hour are not exempt from FLSA laws. The union contract may add additional benefits, start OT at fewer hours/week, etc., but cannot negate federal law.
The FLSA are minimum standards. You have to meet them, or you are in violation of the law. Simple as that.
Yeah, my bf does the same, plus the 3am calls, the Sunday at 5am calls, during vacation calls, and on and on. He's sick of it, is rarely allowed more than 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep, is lucky to find a minute to shove half a sandwich down his hole, and on.
People classified as professionals, which includes IT (also, teachers, managers with HR and budgetary responsibilities, doctors, etc) are known as exempt employees. They are salaried. In a nutshell, they can work 1 hour/day, or 24, and they get the same pay.
Hourly workers working overtime with no overtime pay?
I went thru the same thing during the recession in the 80's. I was hired salary and the bookkeeper made that decision on her own (my mistake for not speaking up) I worked many weeks 10-20 hours overtime sometimes more. My employer took total advantage of the recession by making us work our asses off and not hiring much needed help.
People classified as professionals, which includes IT (also, teachers, managers with HR and budgetary responsibilities, doctors, etc) are known as exempt employees. They are salaried. In a nutshell, they can work 1 hour/day, or 24, and they get the same pay.
To add some clarity there are more than just farmers who are exempt from FLSA OT rules.
My mother works in the airline industry and unless the company classifies the hours as overtime-- she does not get paid an overtime rate because her industry is exempt.
She can work 45 hours in a week and be paid 45 hours straight time.
She could work 40.50 hours in a week and because the period of time she worked the .50 hours was classified by the company as Overtime-- she will then be paid at an overtime rate.
There are other industries but I am not as familiar with them (my company's non-exempt hourly workers are included in FLSA requirements).
There are specific rules about who can even be classified as a salaried employee. It is not based on profession and job title but in reality what kind of work you do.
There are some executive assistants who could be based on their roles and responsibilities be considered exempt from overtime.
However, many companies are like mine-- they take a conservative approach to determining who is hourly versus salaried (because you could have many lawsuits if you make someone salaried who would really be considered hourly when under the microscope of FLSA criteria). A job is more than likely to be classified as hourly unless it is pretty obvious that it can be classified as salary.
At the end of the day, a company will never get in trouble legally by making you an hourly employee-- but they can face lots of trouble if you are inaccurately classfied as exempt from overtime.
For 5 years + I worked 45~60 hours for 40 hrs pay. Why? The company took three job positions and 'combined' them into one. Then they reclassified the job title. Having a family, a mortgage, etc. I had little choice. I worked second shift so working till 3 AM was the norm as well as working one of my days off. All for free. I considered it a cut in pay. I always felt my efforts were appreciated. I was wrong. I only helped my immediate supervisor look better to his supervisor. And my efforts were overlooked and I was never thanked.
When I discovered my day shift counterpart was getting 45 hours per week simply by clocking in 30 minutes early and not clocking out for lunch, I realized she was collecting OT pay for her work I was doing. I wised up after I had to take medical leave two years ago. Now every day my cell phone buzzes at punch out time, I leave no matter what task I was in the middle of doing. I don't even say the company name when I'm off the clock.
Result: They are hiring more people and splitting up the responsibilities similar to what it was before. But only one.
Learned: If you give, they WILL take. They will NOT appreciate your extra effort. My performance reviews have always been excellent, even since I 'cut' my hours. If you don't finish today, there is always tomorrow.
You know it's funny, when I was in myrtle beach last year (june 08') a few people told me that south carolina has some sort of law called the 'right to work law' where people know beforehand that they will not get paid overtime even if they work over 40 hours/week. Now I'm not sure if that's for all jobs in the state, maybe that's just in the hotel/restaurant business.
That's not what right to work is...
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Hourly workers working overtime with no overtime pay?
