I'm not good at researching these things. Can anyone help me find out the laws for working overtime for salary based employees? I want to print it out and show it to the owner of the company I work at.

Lets say you get paid on salary (considering your work week is 40 hours per week, 5 days a week)... but you only worked about 38 hours in that one week/5 day period. Can your company legally make you come in to work a couple hours during the weekend (without extra pay) because you didn't technically work 40 hours that week (or previous weeks)?

Isn't the law for overtime considered anything over 40 hours in one week or anything more than 5 days in one week (even if you didn't work the full 40 hours)?

On the same note, can your company legally cut your salary if you aren't willing to come in during the weekend?

Any help/links will be appreciated!


::edit::

To make a long story short, my company rents out offices & conference rooms by the hour to people. I'm the office manager and I do all the billing and accounting.

They want me to come in on a saturday for a few hours (without pay) to unlock the doors for a client and stay there untill they finish using it. I don't think that's fair at all. WTF? Not even reimburse me for gas or pay me a small hourly rate to be there on a weekend???

If they want me to come in on a weekend to finish something I didn't do during the week (like invoices/billing), then I understand. But they want me to come in and waste my time sitting there while the client is using our conference room.

Also, we don't have an employee handbook... and when I first got hired there over a year ago, they didn't mention to me that I would have to come in during the weekend (without pay).

Last edited by Miss Julia on Oct-17-2008 at 04:20

if you're paid salary, there is no overtime requirement. salary workers can be made to work as long as it takes to complete the task they're paid to do.

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I would also look in your employee manual and see what it says about overtime. There should be everything you need to know about your company's specific policies in regards to salaried workers.

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Originally posted by Miss Julia I'm not good at researching these things. Can anyone help me find out the laws for working overtime for salary based employees? I want to print it out and show it to the owner of the company I work at. Lets say you get paid on salary (considering your work week is 40 hours per week, 5 days a week)... but you only worked about 38 hours in that one week/5 day period. Can your company legally make you come in to work a couple hours during the weekend (without extra pay) because you didn't technically work 40 hours that week (or previous weeks)?

Your company can't 'make' you do anything. If you are a salaried exempt employee, which most likely you are, there is no set number of hours that your pay is based on. You are expected to work however many hours it takes to complete your work.

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Isn't the law for overtime considered anything over 40 hours in one week or anything more than 5 days in one week (even if you didn't work the full 40 hours)?

This if for non-salaried workers such as wage slaves or consultants that get paid on an hourly basis, or salaried workers that are non-exempt.

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On the same note, can your company legally cut your salary if you aren't willing to come in during the weekend? Any help/links will be appreciated!

This issue is a little more difficult but since employment is 'at will' on both sides in California your employer can just fire you for 'no reason' at any time. They can also cut your salary, demote you, just as easily as they can promote you or increase your salary. In the tech space it's very common for ppl to work 100hr weeks when things are busy as it is common to hardly work at all in november/december when tech is slow. My advice is to be an entrepreneur and make other people work to make you rich, it's fun!

What does "salaried exempt" mean?

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Originally posted by Andrieux I would also look in your employee manual and see what it says about overtime. There should be everything you need to know about your company's specific policies in regards to salaried workers.

Believe it or not, we don't have an employee manual. It's a family owned business (not my family). I'm the office manager and I do all the billing and accounting.

To make a long story short, my company rents out offices & conference rooms by the hour to people. They want me to come in on a saturday for a few hours (without pay) to unlock the doors for a client and stay there untill they finish using it.

I don't think that's fair at all. WTF? Not even reimburse me for gas or pay me a small hourly rate to be there on a weekend???

If they want me to come in on a weekend to finish something I didn't do during the week (like invoices/billing), then I understand. But they want me to come in and waste my time sitting there while the client is using our conference room.

If you are salary, so as long as they aren't abusing overtime, they can have you come in on any day, so as long as it's within the boundries of your job description (in detail) and the company handbook. See if either specifically says what days you are expected to work. What days. What hours.

Generally, exempt employee descriptions and handbooks of companies that have one entail that you may be required to work more than 40 hours, and may be required to work on weekends. If there is no employee description (I think employers in California _may_ be required to have a full one on hand for law purposes. The wording of your description can determine if, by law, you can be exempt or not).

If they have neither though, I would imagine it should generally be expected that you may have to work extra hours, or come on during non-normal hours, including weekends, when it's necessdary. It's the point of having exempt employees. If they would never need you for odd hours, on the weekend, or for a significant amount of overtime, they would be no reason for them to have exempt employees.

Both are the norm at my work. But, when things are slow, things are pretty laxed on you coming in a bit late or leaving early w/o using any PTO or sick hours. And on some weeks, there's just no need to work the full 40 hours. So while on average we probably still work more than 40 hours/week, it somewhat evens out when you add in the slow weeks or short days because you have errands.

Last edited by DaveT on Oct-17-2008 at 04:01

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Originally posted by Miss Julia What does "salaried exempt" mean?

It basically means they can abuse you...it's often unfair, but within their right as your employer.


Exempt Employee
Definition: [p An exempt employee is an employee who, because of his or her positional duties and responsibilities and level of decision making authority is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Exempt employees are expected, by most organizations, to work whatever hours are necessary to accomplish the goals and deliverables of the position. Thus, exempt employees have more flexibility in their schedules to come and go as necessary to accomplish work than non-exempt or hourly employees.

Last edited by DaveT on Oct-17-2008 at 04:09

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Originally posted by DaveT Exempt Employee Definition: [p An exempt employee is an employee who, because of his or her positional duties and responsibilities and level of decision making authority is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Exempt employees are expected, by most organizations, to work whatever hours are necessary to accomplish the goals and deliverables of the position. Thus, exempt employees have more flexibility in their schedules to come and go as necessary to accomplish work than non-exempt or hourly employees.

Awesome Dave, thanks! I've been working as Exempt all this time without really knowing what Exempt Employee really means hehehe

** Now I can go fuck around all I want as long as I get my projects done woohooo!! jk

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Originally posted by DaveT It basically means they can abuse you...it's often unfair, but within their right as your employer. Exempt Employee Definition: [p An exempt employee is an employee who, because of his or her positional duties and responsibilities and level of decision making authority is exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Exempt employees are expected, by most organizations, to work whatever hours are necessary to accomplish the goals and deliverables of the position. Thus, exempt employees have more flexibility in their schedules to come and go as necessary to accomplish work than non-exempt or hourly employees.

They want me to come in on a weekend to do something that has nothing to do with my normal work (invoices/billing). They want me to come in to just sit there for a few hours while someone is using the conference room.

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Originally posted by Miss Julia They want me to come in on a weekend to do something that has nothing to do with my normal work (invoices/billing). They want me to come in to just sit there for a few hours while someone is using the conference room.

If they are not going to pay you overtime, see if you can leave early one day for whatever hours you worked on the weekend.

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Originally posted by Miss Julia They want me to come in on a weekend to do something that has nothing to do with my normal work (invoices/billing). They want me to come in to just sit there for a few hours while someone is using the conference room.

that probably doesn't matter. if your job is invoices/billing and they're trying to make you clean the toilets, that's one thing, but something generic like coming in to open and close the office is something that can be part of anyone's job. either way it probably isn't worth it for you to make a big deal out of it since they aren't asking much of you. you can literally just unlock the door and do whatever you want in the meantime and if you complain to your boss about that with no good reason (like a doctor's appointment or a funeral), it'll probably change his opinion of you. i would do what andrieux says and try to gain favor by doing it rather than make things difficult for your boss by trying to get out of it.

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