The idea behind the movie “Horrible Bosses” was not dreamt out of thin air. Regardless of your critique of the movie, I think we are all well aware that not all bosses are great. In fact some are downright horrible. Hopefully you have not had the unfortunate pleasure of working under one, but if you have you know how miserable life can be for forty hours per week. Or more if you count overtime.
You Are Exempt
One common excuse that employers use to avoid paying employees overtime is claiming that the employee is exempt. To verify if you truly are exempt, you will want to run down the list of exemptions.
If you are a salaried employee, you are more than likely exempt. However, there is a caveat to this but more on that later. Another common exemption relates to job duties. For example, if your primary duties contain any supervisory role, you are usually exempt. The key to this is determining if your primary job duties consist of managerial or supervisory role. Simply having the job title of “Managing Supervisor” does not mean that you are exempt.
Executive, administrative, and professional job duties are also considered exempt. Professional job duties include doctors, lawyers, teachers and others.
You Are a Salaried Employee
As mentioned earlier salaried employees are typically exempt. In fact, most employers believe that any salaried employee loses their right to overtime pay. However, this is untrue. If you are not making at least $455 per week in salary, you are still entitled to overtime pay. Currently, this rate is in debate for being raised. Additionally, you must still fit into one of the other exemptions as state by the Fair Labor Standards Act.
That Was Off-the-clock Work
Another common excuse employers give to avoid paying you overtime is that the work you did was off-the-clock.
There are a number of ways in which employees can force you to do off-the-clock work. A common way is to make you work through your lunch or your break even though you’ve clocked out. They could also demand that you stay late, even if you’ve clocked out. Some employees do not even have a physical system for clocking in and out. In this case you are most likely required to keep a timesheet in which you are marked for eight hours each day, even though you worked through your lunch or stay late.
Hours Worked From Home Don’t Count
Another common example of employer excuses for not paying overtime is not paying your for the time you worked at home. Some jobs require that you respond to emails, texts, or phone calls even after you have left the office and are home.
If you are an hourly employee, you are entitled to earn your wage during that time period. So if you have spent an additional thirty minutes responding to emails before bed, make a point to track that time and add it to your daily total. Some employers think that they can get away with not paying you since you are not physically in the office.
Preventing You From Clocking In
The list of excuses continues as some bosses will actually require that you be in the office or jobsite at a certain time, but prevent you from clocking in until later. For example your boss may require you to come in at 8 a.m. but not allow you to clock in until 9 a.m. when the main business hours start. Regardless of if you are doing work in that hour or not, you are still legally entitled to that hour of pay. Your time worked starts the moment you enter the workplace.
All of these excuses can lead to employees missing out on some serious overtime pay. If you feel you have been cheated from overtime pay, you can contact your local labor commissioner or get in touch with an attorney that specializes in overtime wage disputes.
