Current employer forcing overtime without hourly pay.

[dw21011]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

We're a smaller company with a 24/7 support service. They're axing the overnight team, forcing the people they're keeping to work dayside but they're intending to keep the overnight support.

The plan is currently to have the remaining support employees work their normal, 40 hour work week for hourly pay then additional, mandatory graveyard shifts but not for hourly pay. Instead, giving a tiny, per-call incentive.

If there aren't any calls, you don't get paid for staying up overnight monitoring the phones. They're also intending to force everyone to install IP phones in their homes so no one is in the office overnight.

No one has agreed to anything yet but people will start losing their jobs if they don't comply.

Just wanting to know if there's anything, legally speaking, we can do/reference to address this change or even take them to court for wrongful termination when the firing starts.

 

[FlyingRon]

If you're not an exempt employee (not enough information here to tell if you are or not, but I suspect you aren't), then the issue is what the nature of the on-call time.
If you are at the office, then they must pay you even if you are sleeping. If you are free to do other things with your time pending a potential call back, that time may be in the "waiting to be engaged" category and need not be paid until you actually get the call. Having an IP phone or carrying a cell or pager doesn't necessarily put you on the clock. Note that once you go on the clock, they have to pay you your standard pay (and overtime if this puts you over 40 hours).

If you are an exempt employee, the employer is free to give you as many additional graveyard shifts as they like (at home or otherwise) for no additional pay.

 

[dw21011]

Very much appreciate the response.

We get paid hourly wages and overtime over 40 hours under normal circumstances if that means anything to you. Not salary-based pay or anything like that.

As far as being free to do other things, there's down time between calls/chats but we have to be ready to take them as soon as they come in. Within 30 to 60 seconds of the phone ringing is the general metric we've been given. No messages or call backs.

Seems extremely suspect that it's going to be a mandatory, sit at your desk and wait for calls, shift. It's the exact same job I've been doing for the last 6 years, only thing that has changed is the physical location and the lack of pay.

Like they want to keep the 24/7 support label but not have to pay us to have it.

 

[FlyingRon]

We get paid hourly wages and overtime over 40 hours under normal circumstances if that means anything to you. Not salary-based pay or anything like that.

It actually, doesn't mean much. An employer is free to pay overtime to exempt employees; they just aren't required to. Salary vs. Hourly isn't defining as exempt / non-exempt.

As far as being free to do other things, there's down time between calls/chats but we have to be ready to take them as soon as they come in. Within 30 to 60 seconds of the phone ringing is the general metric we've been given. No messages or call backs.

If you need to be spring loaded such that it avoids you having free use of your time, then it is "engaged for waiting" and they need to pay you. I.e., if you can read a book or watch TV or whatever but you have to drop that immediately, then you're on-call time is working. If it was you were waiting to see if you need to respond but you could reasonably shop, do chores, etc... then your on-call is not.

Seems extremely suspect that it's going to be a mandatory, sit at your desk and wait for calls, shift. It's the exact same job I've been doing for the last 6 years, only thing that has changed is the physical location and the lack of pay.

None of that matters at all. The nature of your job (barring a collective bargaining unit or contract) is allowed to change at your employer's whim.


Again, the two things that are important here are:
Exempt vs. Non-exempt

and

"Waiting to be engaged" vs. "Engaged to Wait."

You can certainly inquire with your state DOL: https://www.ok.gov/odol/ or the feds https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.htm

 

[dw21011]

Definitely engaged to wait by that example. It's the reason they want us to install the home lines.

I'll contact my HR department and get the specifics on my exempt status but I suspect you were right the first time.

Again, very much appreciate the responses. Much more prepared for the oncoming truckload of problems they're creating.