moonraven24
Junior Member
I am a behavioral health case manager in Oklahoma. In November of 2016 my employer notified me that due to the new overtime laws that were going into effect on December 1st of 2016, I would now need to choose whether I would be an hourly employee or a fee-for-service employee. Up until this date I had been a salary employee. But because they knew that I often worked 50 to 60 hours a week, they did not wish to be subject to paying overtime on that. I was advised that if I chose to go hourly I would need to make sure that my hours did not go over 40 each week. And that if I went fee for service then I would receive 37% of everything that I billed in services, and that since my amounts billed prior to this always equalled more than what I was making salary that I should be fine, and even make more money if I billed even more hours. Flash forward to March of 2017, after working many hours. My paycheck has $440 deducted from my first paycheck in March and over $500 on the 2nd. I was told that I went over the 35 hour limit that the state of OK allows for billable time to Soonercare during the month of January, and that anything I billed over that 35 hours was recouped retroactively. Since the agency lost money, I was also deducted from, even though the work I performed and billed for was assigned and I was told to do it and bill for it. My paychecks received were only about half of what I made on salary previously after my health insurance, taxes, 401k, etc deductions. Upon discussing the situation, I was told by the office manager that "the bosses are aware". That's it. Then someone told me today that the new overtime law never actually went into effect, and that I could have just stayed salary if my employer hadn't forced me to switch. I'm livid. Are there legal issues here?