Full question:
Thank you, I currently work for a field service company. We were recently acquired in 12/ 2009. We have been on board 16 months and have been told no raises. Many of us have not had a raise since 2005 and many are 55 years old plus. The new thing now is Comp time. They want us to take comp time when we work overtime. It's expected. They tell us, if we don't buy into doing comp time, they will find other ways to fix the OT issues. Most of us take it as they will lay us off. One manager expects us to change to shift work, and work what would be OT as a normal shift. They are getting upset at us since most of the work we do is 7 by 24 contracts, and we have no choice but to take the service call. Also, the comp time must be taken within the pay period, you can't select when you would like to take the comp time, so it's really no benefit to us. When we work 3 hours OT we are allowed only 3 hours comp time off instead of 4.5 hours off.We don't want to loose our jobs, but we don't believe management is playing fair with us.I guess the question is, Is this legal and what rights do we have as employee's if they lay us off over OT or refuse to take Comp time in lieu of OT. I appreciate your time. Nobody wants to loose their job between 59 and 62, and I think we are being taken advantage of through fear.
- Category: Employment
- Subcategory: Hours
- Date:
- State: New Jersey
Answer:
The legality of your situation depends on whether you are a private or government employee and your exempt status. Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), nonexempt employees must receive overtime pay at one and a half times their regular rate for hours worked over 40 in a week. Generally, compensatory time off cannot replace overtime pay under the FLSA, except in public employment or specific cases like hospital employees with 14-day, 80-hour work periods.
According to the FLSA, overtime must be paid in cash or a negotiable instrument, like a check, on the regular payday for the pay period in which the overtime was worked. Private sector employers cannot give nonexempt employees equal time off for overtime hours. For example, if you work ten hours of overtime, receiving ten hours off the following week does not comply with the law. However, employers can provide compensatory time off at a rate of at least one and a half hours for each hour of overtime worked, as long as it is taken within the same pay period. Thus, if you work three hours of overtime, you should receive at least four and a half hours of compensatory time off within that two-week pay period.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.