Question about my employer not paying me for overtime...?

Question

I work for a home health company. My time calendar is the 1st to the 15th then 15th to end of month. Within the 2 weeks I work over 80 hours. Last pay was 92 hours. The company does not pay me over time. Is this against the law? They also gave me a raise the beginning of year and here Sept 07 they took 25 cents from me because im not working every other weekend. They cant take my hourly pay or my raise from me like that can they? Help me please.

I live in Virginia. Not working for a union.

I work hourly not salary.

Answer 1

If you have a written contract, they must honor it. You must also honor any contract with them...don't forget! (If you agreed to work on weekends, you need to do it.) They are not liable for time and a half unless there is some kind of contract, written or oral, that you can sue them in court for. In fact, they are not liable for anything more than minimum wage unless there is an agreement, written or oral. I once had an employer hold my last two paychecks, and I called the labor commission to see what my rights were...I suggest you do the same. And they told me that to recover the moneys owed, I would need to take them to court, and unless it was a lot of money, that I would be better off spending the time finding a better employer that wasting it on the thieves. Also, to go to court possibly means lawyers, and they would get 33.3% of anything they recover...plus an initial consultation fee.
They can take at least some of your hourly pay, I'm sorry to tell you, but not without warning. And, they don't have to work you at all.
Usually when an employer does something like this, it indicates one or more of these things: Financial trouble, a need to downsize, deliberate harassment, discrimination: (racial, sexual, personal, or otherwise) poor work performance (on your part and/or theirs), and finally, incompetence.
Legally, what you're dealing with here is 'breach of promise', or 'breach of contract', so be absolutely sure that it is not YOU who have broken your word, and not done your part.
Confronting your management in a polite, courteous, professional way is what you need to do next. If that fails, you must decide whether to prosecute them, or move on to bigger and better things. Best wishes!

Answer 2

It is federal law to pay any employee overtime, IF the employee is an hourly employee - anything over 40 hours a week is considered overtime, and they MUST pay you AT LEAST time and a half. It is against the law if they do not. If, however, you are a salaried employee, your salary is your salary, and many times overtime is not offered. You would have to look into your hiring and company guidelines for that answer. As for the demotion is wages, it may or may not be legal - did you agree upon your hire that you would work every other weekend, either verbally or in writing? Some states consider that legal and a demotion in pay may be "acceptable." However, you should check your state's department of labor website to get all the information. The federal site is www.dol.gov, and that can direct you to your state's Department of Labor site, which will give you more information and what you can do in this situation. You can talk to you manager about their neglect in paying you overtime, and, if they ignore you, fire you, etc., report this RIGHT away to the Department of Labor. However, I would suggest talking to them first - it may have been a mistake in payroll or accounts payable, and you may be able to reclaim those lost wages.
Good luck.

Answer 3

You need to check your Employee Handbook (or something with a similar title). There may be a requirement that your boss has overlooked. Someone in the front office may have decided to be hard-assed about it all of a sudden. I would go the begging route and state you've been an excellent employee etc. Ask for compensatory time off or ask if you can post the overtime on a future time card. If you get refusals all around, you might also want to think about whether the company is having payroll/budget problems. Maybe there's been an edict from on high that they don't have money to pay for overtime and the supervisors should try to squeeze it out for free.

Answer 4

1. Are you exempt or non-exempt? If you are non-exempt and work over 40 hours in a week, you are entitled to overtime. If you are exempt, you are not entitled to overtime.
2. Unless a contract provides otherwise, raises can be revoked, with or without cause. However, (1) it cannot be retroactively revoked: you are entitled to pay at the increased wage for the time from when they gave you the raise until the time that they took it away, (2) they cannot reduce your pay to less than minimum wage, (3) they cannot do so in a way that discriminates based on race, gender, etc.
3. Unless a contract provides otherwise, paycuts are allowed, with or without cause. However, (1) it cannot be retroactively cut: you are entitled to pay at the old wage for the time prior to when they told you they were cutting your pay; the pay cut can apply only after it was announced, (2) they cannot reduce your pay to less than minimum wage, (3) they cannot do so in a way that discriminates based on race, gender, etc.

Answer 5

In the companies office, you will find a chart concerning pay. It is a Federal Law poster and must be hung there. It states what constitutes overtime. As far as your pay, thats a company issue and can be raised or lowered. Your choices are to accept or reject the terms of pay.

Answer 6

well in the state that i live in the state is call the right to work state so they can give you a raise and take away from you that is why i do not work at home

Answer 7

is this job union? if so call a union rep. if not look into their rules & regulations. some jobs dont pay overtime they just let you build it up to 8 hours and give you paid days off. its called comp. time. check & see if they have it. hope this helps

Answer 8

sadly, if you have a salary they usually dont pay O.T but if you get paid by the hour, then they have to pay you for every hour that you work

Answer 9

THAY CAN LOWER YOUR PAY,BUT THEY MUST!!! PAY YOU OT!!!