A forum That Deals With Overtime Pay?

[JohnBates]

Hi everyone,

My question doesn't really pertain to ethics, unless it would be the ethics of my employer

I'm searching for a forum (Tek-Tips or elsewhere) that would relate to overtime pay disputes for IT employees.

My situation is that as salaried programmers, our employer is now requiring us to work an additional 30 minutes per day... permanently. So rather that a 40 hour work week, ours is now 42.5. (We all expect to put in extra hours when working on some projects - no problem there.) But this is different because it they have changed our scheduled work hours - again permanently. i have found discussions that pertain to hourly programmers. But none that say whether this is legal when the programmer is paid on a salaried basis with no compensation for OT.

A long way of asking if anyone knows of a discussion forum that relates to this.

Thanks, John

 

[benlinkknilneb]

Hi John,

That question seems (to me) to fit just fine here.

Was there any sort of written agreement about what was expected in terms of hours? If there was, then I think you can make waves about it... but if not, I wouldn't know what to tell you. My guess is that your best recourse in that case would be to start hunting for a new job... and negotiating that kind of thing in the new contract. I'd be interested to see what others in the forum would say, though...

Ben

 

[edfair]

Probably better than batting the gums here you should do a google search for "overtime pay". There are several links to sites that give relevant federal law.

Sounds like you could help a lawyer get richer.

Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[JohnBates]

Thanks for your feedback Ben.

My attorney thinks there may be an exclusion in the Dept of Labor regulations for programmers. But that is not the final word.

And no, I dont have anything in writing from my employer
as to a "contract". Yes, I'm looking - but it is a tough market now - especially so because I have a very good salary that I want to maintain.

I'd like to hear other's ideas on the legality aspect.
Thanks, John

 

[dilettante]

Poeple in many professional and paraprofessional (i.e. programmer) job classifications can readily be treated as "exempt" staff in most U.S. states now. This means (among other things) that you can't get overtime pay unless specific arrangements have been made, often related to a project or with some other "sunset" clause making the special situation temporary.

Exempt is sort of a no-man's-land between salaried and hourly. I'd think you could still get the extra 30 minutes each day at the regular pay rate.

Of course if they consider you salaried then why are they being nit-picky about the total hours put in?

Have they taken your stapler yet?

 

[PCLine]

Hi,
I am assuming that you are in the US so I can't help you with any details.

From the UK perspective; if you are now expected to do more "contracted" hours for the same pay, you have been given a pay cut. Can employers arbitrarily impose pay cuts in the US?

You say that you don't have a written contract from your employer, does that also mean you don't have anything in writing (such as a job advertisement) to say what your starting hours and pay actually were? Has the employer given you any formal written notification of your "change in contracted hours" etc.

The process of establishing that your pay has been "cut" is relatively straight forward if you have pay slips that document your worked hours as well as the pay.

You are between a rock and a hard place, I realise, but how is the employer going to enforce the extra 30 minutes work per day? It seems to me that if they "get away" with this increase in hours, it will only be a matter of time before they do it again.

Is there such a thing in US employment law as "constructive dismissal"?

From an ethical perspective, the employer is way out of line here (IMHO).

If you are going to pursue this matter I would say that you need to look at it from the "pay cut" angle of the down-trodden worker ~ it is easier to defend than "loss of overtime pay" of the greedy worker.

The only other way to approach it is to work the hours you originally started for and make them sack you ~ then go to a tribunal for unfair dismissal.

Somehow I get the feeling that US employees rights are not as well protected as the right of speech. Could that be because speech doesn't cost anything but employee rights do? Not very ethical in my book.

I sincerely wish you well.

All the best.