Over 40 hours salaried-under not

[Dexter680]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? North Carolina

I took a job about 3 months ago for an annual salary of $21,000. At the time I had several (approximately 6) obligations coming up that I made them aware of when I was hired that required me being out of town for 2 days each time. It was agreed that that was OK. After the 1st few times that I was gone, everything was fine, and my pay was normal. When I got my last paystub(we have direct deposit) I was only paid for the actual hours that I worked. I really didn't have as much problem with that, as I had with the fact that nobody notified me that I was being changed to an hourly employee. There were a lot of weeks before when I worked 45 and 50 hours per week to keep my job up to the point that my being away did not have any adverse effects on the company, or put a burden on any one else. When I asked my manager about it, she said that they just decided that it would be best if I were put on hourly status.

My questions:
1. Can they change me from salary to hourly without notifying me ahead of time?
2.At $21000 per year should they have been paying me overtime all along.

 

[cbg]

On August 23, 2004, the laws regarding overtime changed. Before that date, an employee who was earning $21,000 per year could legally be paid on a salaried basis (assuming that you met the other qualifications); from that point forward, an employee had to be making $23,660 before they could legally be paid on an exempt basis.

The answers to your questions:

1.) Yes. In fact, if you are only making $21,000 per year, legally they were REQUIRED to make you non-exempt.

2.) To answer that question, we would need to know (1) exactly what date you were hired and (2) what your job duties are.

 

[Dexter680]

I started work on July 16 th of this year, and my job is Purchasing Manager.
If I am non-exempt, shouldn't I recieve overtime pay for all of the hours over 40 per week that I have worked since the law changed in August?

 

[cbg]

It is not your job title that matters; it is your job duties. Telling me you are the purchasing manager does not tell me enough to say whether you could legally be considered exempt before August 23rd. You meet the salary definition; I don't know if you meet the duties definition.

Yes, you should be paid overtime for any hours over 40 you worked since August 23, since under the new laws you cannot be considered exempt. However, before you make an issue of this you will want to go over your records carefully. As a non-exempt employee, you are NOT entitled to be paid for any hours you did not work. So if there were weeks where you worked less than 40 hours and got paid the full amount, know that if you demand your OT (which you have a legal right to do; I'm not saying you shouldn't) your employer can LEGALLY deduct any time you got paid for and did not actually work it. If you worked 42 hours you have to get two hours of OT at time and a half; if you only worked 38 hours one week and got paid for 40, they can now take that time back.

You are the only one who can determine whether you would gain or lose by demanding your back OT. You can; you have that right under the law and they cannot legally take any action against you because of it. But only you can decide it you would win or lose by doing so.

 

[Dexter680]

Thank You very much for the information. I was responsible for all purchasing. This included everything from raw materials for manufacturing to office supplies.
My issue with the whole situation was that my pay structure was changed without any warning or notification. I knew it had been changed when I recieved my pay statement.Reading through the NC Labor laws, I read section section 95-25.13 item 3 states that the employer shall notify either in writing or by posting in a place accessible to the employee, any changes in their
promised wages prior to changes except in the case of wage increases. Does the change from exempt to non exempt not meet the definition of change?

Again, Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I will pull my time sheets and see how the math works out.

 

[cbg]

Dexter, you couldn't pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV for two weeks before the change in the law went into effect or a week afterwards without being bombarded with information about the "change in overtime laws" as the media termed it. Were you living under a rock all the time?

 

[Dexter680]

I understand that, and yes I remember the hoopla in the media, and I'll admit I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time(my fault),but my status was not changed until November 15th. From July 16th until November 1st I was working 45 to 50 hours per week, and recieving my regular pay with no overtime. It seems they didn't get around to changing my status until it was more cost effective for them, when I was working less than 40 hours per week in the 1st 2 weeks of November.


Again, Thanks for the information.