Do you have to get paid OVERTIME?

mybabyphx

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Ok my boyfriend wants me to say something to my bosses about this. But I work 50 hours/week and get paid $10 per hour. I don't ever get paid overtime, just a flat rate of $10 per hour no matter how many hours I work.

Is it illegal for a business to not pay you overtime? And if it is illegal, what do I do? I'm friends with my bosses, and I wouldn't want to screw this up!!!
 

babyharley

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At my last job- I was hired for 40 hrs a week, but anything over 40hrs (80hrs in a 2 week paycheck) was considered overtime, and I would be paid time and a 1/2.

I think they have to pay you overtime. Do you have an employees handbook that would explain how its done in your company? They should have it stated somewhere, that should explain it for you.
 

zissou'smom

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They don't have to pay you overtime unless you are considered a full-time permanent employee AND they are a large company.

I don't get anything, not even holiday pay when I worked at 8:30 AM on New Year's Day, because I am "seasonal" for a year where I work and then get hired as part-time.

Why don't you just ask them about it? Not accusatorily, but just like you're curious.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

They don't have to pay you overtime unless you are considered a full-time permanent employee AND they are a large company.
or if you're considered a 'salaried' employee, as opposed to an 'hourly' employee. i am salaried, so i don't get overtime.
 

muttigreemom

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I think this might be a state thing, not federal, so it might depend where you live.

But I could be wrong on that.

I know that in both NY and FL when I was hourly I'd get paid overtime, no matter what size the company was.

In both states when I was salaried and I worked over 40 hours, I was SOL.
 

babyharley

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Originally Posted by laureen227

or if you're considered a 'salaried' employee, as opposed to an 'hourly' employee. i am salaried, so i don't get overtime.
Being salary SUCKS!
 

lunasmom

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Originally Posted by laureen227

or if you're considered a 'salaried' employee, as opposed to an 'hourly' employee. i am salaried, so i don't get overtime.


You can still be listed as $/hr but considered salary. That all depends on how HR views your job code.

I thought that the overtime laws were federal not state. Then again though maybe it is state because if you work overtime here in MI then you will be paid 1.5 times.
 

adymarie

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You would need to check what the Employment Standards are for your State as well as see what your contract states.
 
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mybabyphx

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There is no employee handbook here, we aren't a huge company. Just a locksmith company.....I am per hour/ not by salary. When i lived in Minnesota, and in Iowa I got paid time and a half. But not here- and I work 50 hours a week.. I feel like I'm getting gipped (sp?) $$$$$!
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by laureen227

or if you're considered a 'salaried' employee, as opposed to an 'hourly' employee. i am salaried, so i don't get overtime.
Yeah, salaried employees are "exempt" from overtime. If I'm understanding things correctly, the definition of "exempt" was broadened quite a bit in 2004, with some changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act. If I'm reading things right, unless your state law is more generous, then since you earn more than $455 per week, you are "exempt" , much like a salaried employee.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallb...overtime_x.htm

http://www.hr.arizona.edu/09_rel/policies/pp311.php#eso
 
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mybabyphx

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Originally Posted by beandip

Yeah, salaried employees are "exempt" from overtime. If I'm understanding things correctly, the definition of "exempt" was broadened quite a bit in 2004, with some changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act. If I'm reading things right, unless your state law is more generous, then since you earn more than $455 per week, you are "exempt" , much like a salaried employee.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallb...overtime_x.htm

http://www.hr.arizona.edu/09_rel/policies/pp311.php#eso
Thanks for these links! I checked out the second one.... I make over $450 a week
Plus, I saw something on there about getting lunch breaks? I work 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. I don't get no :censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor: break? I am just a receptionist, so I just eat between calls... which doesn't bother me really. Also, I never got paid for training? Hmmm. I guess the one thing I'm most worried about is not getting paid for overtime!
 

babyharley

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Originally Posted by mybabyphx

Thanks for these links! I checked out the second one.... I make over $450 a week
Plus, I saw something on there about getting lunch breaks? I work 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. I don't get no :censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor::censor: break? I am just a receptionist, so I just eat between calls... which doesn't bother me really. Also, I never got paid for training? Hmmm. I guess the one thing I'm most worried about is not getting paid for overtime!
They don't give you a lunch break? Thats odd.
I'd just bring it up with your boss, thats your best bet!
 

white cat lover

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Sounds to me like they are really taking advantage of you. I think that you have to get a lunch break & 2 other breaks during the day?
At least, that's the way it is here!
 
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mybabyphx

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I don't want to sound like I'm trying to defend the company or anything.... but it's a small company. It's just me (the receptionist) and the boss comes and goes throughout the day. Other than that, there is noone else here to answer phones while I took my break. When I worked at convienance stores in both Minnesota and Iowa-- they didn't give me breaks. I occasionally could take 1\\2 to eat at one place.... but I had to ask for it! But I've worked at 4 different convienance stores and only 1 place let me have break, the other 3 told me to eat between customers.???

Me not getting breaks doesn't bother me as much as my overtime!
 

valanhb

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There's also a loophole for small businesses. Even if the federal guidelines state that you have to do x, y, and z, it is only truly in effect if the company employs more than 50 people. (Don't know how they get around that for convenience stores, probably because it's an individually owned store, even if it's under a national name.).

That said, I've always worked for small companies and they have always paid overtime for anything over 40 hours/week.
 

lunasmom

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Originally Posted by mybabyphx

I don't want to sound like I'm trying to defend the company or anything.... but it's a small company. It's just me (the receptionist) and the boss comes and goes throughout the day. Other than that, there is noone else here to answer phones while I took my break. When I worked at convienance stores in both Minnesota and Iowa-- they didn't give me breaks. I occasionally could take 1\\2 to eat at one place.... but I had to ask for it! But I've worked at 4 different convienance stores and only 1 place let me have break, the other 3 told me to eat between customers.???

Me not getting breaks doesn't bother me as much as my overtime!
Still though, via federal laws if you work 8 hours or more a day you're entitled to an hour of unpaid break. Most employers allow you to choose 1 hour lunch or 1/2 lunch with 2 15 minute breaks.

We only have one receptionist, and she still gets her lunch and breaks. We just rotate people around to cover her. We're a small company too: 40 employees.
 
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mybabyphx

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Originally Posted by lunasmom

Still though, via federal laws if you work 8 hours or more a day you're entitled to an hour of unpaid break. Most employers allow you to choose 1 hour lunch or 1/2 lunch with 2 15 minute breaks.

We only have one receptionist, and she still gets her lunch and breaks. We just rotate people around to cover her. We're a small company too: 40 employees.


That's funny, 40 employees.... wait until you hear how many we got


There's 3 bosses. 3 receptionist total.

I do 1st shift, then there's my friend that does 2nd shift then a guy that does 3rd shift. We are open 24/7. So those are the only people....

We are a locksmith company, so of course we have technicians, but they are SUB CONTRACTORS. So I don't think that includes them as our employees does it? Still even if we couldn't all receptionists, and technicians (not the bosses) We would have 12 people total
 

essayons89

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I've only had one job where I didn't get paid any overtime and that was my first. It was a small family owned restaurant that I ended up working at off and on for around 10 years or so. Most of the time I just used it as a second job to supplement my income.

Now, anything outside of 8 hours in a day I get paid time-and-a-half. My shift starts at 7pm and ends at 3:30am. If I go in at 5pm I get paid two hours overtime and from 3:30am to 5am I also get paid OT (we get a lot of overtime). I work 12 hours a day between two and three days a week, depending on the mail volume. We also get paid 25% of our base pay as a weekend premium and there is also another 10% added on for night differential. We get a half hour lunch and there is a 15 minute break every two hours. All that said, it's a federal job and union so that makes a big difference.
 

neetanddave

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There should be a local office of your state Labor Board. They should be able to tell you what classification you fall under, and what the overtime rules are for you.
 
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