My employer told me when they hired me I would receive overtime pay If I worked over 40 hrs. I clock in & out and they refuse to pay for OT.
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My employer told me when they hired me I would receive overtime pay If I worked over 40 hrs. I clock in & out and they refuse to pay for OT.
When I agreed to take my current job I was promised overtime pay for over 4o hrs. I was also told if my work was completed early in the day I could leave and not have my pay docked. Neither of these have been true and I have worked there several years. One of the partners recently signed a note to pay me OT as I was leaving for another job. I turned down the other job when they put in writing I would receive OT pay. When my 2nd check had no OT pay I questioned this partner who told me they weren’t giving me any OT pay when I had to work OT.
Asked on July 4, 2009 under Employment Labor Law, Ohio
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
Employees who are not "exempt" (see below) MUST be paid overtime--it's the law. If you are not an exempt attorney and have not been paid overtime for working more than 40 hours per week, you can collect back overtime. You can call the federal Dept. of Labor or your state dept. or division and file a complaint with them to get the ball rolling--they can tell you what your odds are of recovering and whether they can help you recover. (You could also get your own attorney, but call the gov't agency first--may as well take advantage of free advice and assistance.)
Exempt employees are generally trained professionals (like engineers, lawyers, etc.) with specialized or technical training; managers and executives; and some administrative staff if they exercise some managerial-type discretion. These people are paid annual salaries, not hourly wages, and they don't clock in. Employees who are paid hourly are non-exempt and get overtime.
Note that the company is not under an obligation to let you leave early if there's no work to be done--but if they make you stay, they do have to pay you for the hours.
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