overtime in TX

[ashhnyctt]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Hello,

I live in Texas and my employer(a small road paving and striping corporation) has me on salary. I am a foreman, however, my job is 99% manual labor. They do NOT pay me overtime for my 50+ hour weeks, however they justify it that they pay me for weeks when the company is closed or off for holidays and such. Is this legal, and should they pay me overtime? Or should they put me back on hourly?

Also, they continually work us for 12-13 hour shifts, then let us off for 4 hours only to come back in to work the night shift. This is not our job, but they schedule things for day and night and expect us to work both shifts, sometimes resulting in working 20 hours in 24 hours. We rarely get a full 7-8 hours in between shifts, often not telling us when to be back in until we are clocking out for the day(sometimes when we clock out on Fridays, they tell us to work on the Saturday) Is this legal for us to work this much?

Lastly, I only make $525 gross a week and they charge me for uniforms that I am required to wear, however, when I cease working for them, they will charge me a fee to "buy" the uniforms. Can they do that?

Thank you for your time.

 

[cbg]

I am not comfortable with the idea of stating with certainty whether anyone definitely is or definitely is not correctly classified as exempt, solely on the basis of what information is available in a post on a message board. On the basis of what you have stated, however, the probablity is that you do not qualify to be exempt and should be paid on a non-exempt basis.

It IS legal for them to pay a non-exempt on a salaried basis, IF AND ONLY IF they also pay you OT when you work more than 40 hours in a week.

Nothing in either Federal or Texas law restricts the number of hours they can ask you to work. They could legally require you to work 24/7/365 if they wanted to. It would be unquestionably stupid, but it would be legal.

I don't have any information on laws regarding uniforms in your state, but suggest that you contact the Texas Department of Labor for that information. They would also be the ones you would file a complaint with regarding your being misclassifed.

BTW, if you are re-classified as non-exempt they will have no legal obligation to pay you for any time you do not work. You will have no statutory right to be paid for holidays or any time when the company is closed.

 

[texaswillie]

You write that you are paid a salary and that 99% of your time is spent in manual labor.Your salary is $525/wk.

You are probally covered by federal law, the Fair Labor Standards Act.In that case to be considered an "exempt" employee, salary is not enough. There are other duty test that must be met, for example the supervisison ot two other employees and the hiring and firing of employees (or at least being able to make meaningful recommendations).

If you are not exempt, then you are entitled to overtime for hours worked over 40 in a workweek. I note you are doing paving work. Should any of this be under state of federal contracts, there are other state and federal laws that could apply.

You might want to consider calling the nearest U.S.Department of Labor's Wage Hour office and discuss this with them. They will keep the information confidential. If you are not being properly paid, then you could file a compliant at that time, however a word of caution, your complaint may not then be as confidential as promisied, especially if you are the only salaried person on the job.

 

[cbg]

Willie, is there some reason you insist upon opening up threads that have been closed for two weeks and repeating essentially the same information that's already been provided?