Can an employer make a statutory employee work certain days and hours?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
Can an employer make a statutory employee work certain days and hours?
I work from home as a statutory employee, providing services for my employer in the regular course of their
business. I am considered full-time but they don’t provide insurance, paid vacation or sick days, and there’s no
such thing as overtime pay. They are telling me after 10 years that I now have to work Saturdays. Is it legal for
them to tell me I have to work extra days or hours?
Asked on December 15, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
There is no limit as to how many housrs or days in a row that an employee can be made to work. That is unless such a schedule violates the terms of any exisiting union agreement or employment contract. The fact is that a company can set the conditions of work much as it sees fit (absent some form of legally actionable discrimination). That having been said, if you are eligible for overtime pay (i.e. you are a "non-exempt" worker), then you must be paid at 1 1/2 times your regular hourly rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in your workweek.
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Unless you have a written employment contract for a set period of time (e.g. a one-year, two-year, etc. contract), which contract is still in effect (e.g. unexpired), limiting or specifying your work hours or days, your employer may hae you work extra days or hours. In the absence of a contract, your work days or hours is 100% under the employer's control.
That said, if you are not exempt from overtime, you need to be paid for all hours worked, and overtime when working more than 40 hours in a week. You can find the criteria for exemption on the U.S. Dept. of Labor website; compare to your job to see if you meet at least one of the exemptions. If you do not--if you are not exempt--you may have a wage-and-hour or overtime claim and should contact the department of labor (state or federal).
They do not have to give you insurance, vacation, or sick days--those things are not required by law.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.