Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
She gets an hour unpaid lunch per day. Her actual paid work time is always well in excess of 40 hours. They calculate OT on a weekly (over 40) basis, not daily. To me, PT is used to bring one up to 40 hours if time is missed from work. Her boss is saying it matters not how many hours in a week are actually worked and that PT must be used to cover any time missed in her scheduled workday. For example, she is scheduled 9-6 everyday, but in reality stays much later than 6 every night. But even if she ends up physically being at work and working for more than 40 hours that week, but missed time any day during the 9-6 period, she must use PT to cover that time. PT used deducts from the OT they pay. For example, if she actually worked 44 hours, yet is forced to use 4 hours of PT anyway, she won't get 4 hours of OT.
This makes no sense to me..Why use PT to cover time that isn't needed to be covered as she hits her 40 hours anyway? My gut is just screaming to me this isn't allowed. Every position I've held only required PT to be used to bring you up to your required 40. Note that this is a new policy her boss has put into place. It wasn't always that way, but her boss says it is now. I'll have to ask my wife is she has access to a policy specific to this issue. IRC, all her company's policies are on an internal network drive that she'll have to access. This isn't a small mom and pop business, it's a large regional financial institution with a corporate headquarters. I asked my wife to call corporate, but she gets along well with her boss and doesn't want it to be seen as 'going above her head.'
She gets an hour unpaid lunch per day. Her actual paid work time is always well in excess of 40 hours. They calculate OT on a weekly (over 40) basis, not daily. To me, PT is used to bring one up to 40 hours if time is missed from work. Her boss is saying it matters not how many hours in a week are actually worked and that PT must be used to cover any time missed in her scheduled workday. For example, she is scheduled 9-6 everyday, but in reality stays much later than 6 every night. But even if she ends up physically being at work and working for more than 40 hours that week, but missed time any day during the 9-6 period, she must use PT to cover that time. PT used deducts from the OT they pay. For example, if she actually worked 44 hours, yet is forced to use 4 hours of PT anyway, she won't get 4 hours of OT.
This makes no sense to me..Why use PT to cover time that isn't needed to be covered as she hits her 40 hours anyway? My gut is just screaming to me this isn't allowed. Every position I've held only required PT to be used to bring you up to your required 40. Note that this is a new policy her boss has put into place. It wasn't always that way, but her boss says it is now. I'll have to ask my wife is she has access to a policy specific to this issue. IRC, all her companies policies are on an internal network drive that she'll have to access. This isn't a small mom and pop business, it's a large regional financial institution with a corporate headquarters. I asked my wife to call corporate, but the boss said (I don't believe it personally) that it was corporate who is making the change.
As I stated earlier and others have mentioned, OT is calculated on hours worked that are over forty for the week or daily based on state law.
Taking Time off during the day SHOULD not be used to calculate OT which is why they are making her put it down on her timecard. She is hourly and is only paid for time worked. If a company let's her make up time then they are being nice... They legally do not have to have her only use PTO time when she is short of forty, she took time off, they are making her use that time.
Any overtime she Gets would then be based on hours worked not vacation, sick, etc
I understand that. Here, OT is based weekly, not daily. So to clarify, here's what happened:
Her actual time worked for the week was 44 hours. On one day, she took 4 hours off for her appointment. She had to use PT to cover that 4 hours. Yet, despite missing 4 hours that day, she still actually worked 44 hours that week. She was paid 44 hours straight time, no OT. The 4 hours she worked over 40 were in effect 'canceled out' by the 4 hours PT. She worked 4 hours over 40, yet isn't being paid OT for it. I agree with PT not going towards OT as it should only be given for actual time worked. But that's the thing: Her actual time worked was 44 hours despite taking the 4 hours off.
I understand that. Here, OT is based weekly, not daily. So to clarify, here's what happened:
Her actual time worked for the week was 44 hours. On one day, she took 4 hours off for her appointment. She had to use PT to cover that 4 hours. Yet, despite missing 4 hours that day, she still actually worked 44 hours that week. She was paid 44 hours straight time, no OT. The 4 hours she worked over 40 were in effect 'canceled out' by the 4 hours PT. She worked 4 hours over 40, yet isn't being paid OT for it. I agree with PT not going towards OT as it should only be given for actual time worked. But that's the thing: Her actual time worked was 44 hours despite taking the 4 hours off.
This doesn't make sense.
If she worked 44 hours that she truly worked and took fours PTO then that means her paycheck should equal
40 hours worked
4 hours PTO
4 hours OT for a total of 48 hours accounted
Oops, you are correct. Looked at her pay stub again. It was 48 hours total, 4 hours pto, 44 hours straight time. No OT was paid for her 4 hours over 40 she actually worked.
Oops, you are correct. Looked at her pay stub again. It was 48 hours total, 4 hours pto, 44 hours straight time. No OT was paid for her 4 hours over 40 she actually worked.
She should have been paid 4 hours OT rate not straight time. She worked 48 hours-4 PTO= 44 hours worked. 40 straight time 4 hours OT 4 hours PTO.
My wife is an hourly, not salary, employee. Her 'scheduled' hours equate out to 40 hours per week. In reality, she does 48 regularly, so gets about 8 hours overtime per week, average. However, she had to miss 4 hours for an appointment. Despite that, she still worked 44 hours that week. Her boss is saying she needs to use personal time to cover the 4 hours missed. In my mind, the PT would be used to bring her up to her scheduled 40 hours per week if there are shortages. But her boss says that it doesn't matter the actual number of hours worked, if she misses any time during her scheduled day, she must cover it with PT (which lessens the over time she gets paid also). I don't see why she would need to use PT if she is actually working in excess of her scheduled 40 required for Full Time status.
Opinions?
The Boss is making sense to me.as someone pointed out, a certain number of hours are budgeted. Not to mention, she did take PERSONAL TIME off, so it makes sense to use her personal time.
Any hours physically worked over 40 hours in a week (Sunday thru Saturday) is over time for non-exempt employees.
It doesn't matter what the handbook says, DOL law is federal law and trumps any local law.
I was told this by an HR attorney.
Then, and with all due respect, either the attorney mis-stated it or you misunderstood it. The federal Wage & Hour laws are generally regarded as the minimum standard -- they do not supercede or "trump" state laws that are more stringent. For example, as SOON2BNSURPRISE stated, California law defines overtime as working more than eight hours in any one day. [There are a few, well-defined, exceptions.] Since the federal overtime laws are less stringent, the California laws apply to California employers.
To the OP:
First and foremost, employers may require hourly employees to work more than 40 hours per week, as long as they pay them the overtime. There are some upper limits on the number of mandatory hours per day/week, which vary depending on the exact job.
Second, be sure that you understand the wage & hour laws in your state. If they're more stringent than the federal wage & hour laws, they rule.
We use to let people use overtime worked to cover for time they took off during their scheduled work day - but it eventually auditing created problems. Plus time records did no show a true reflections of scheduled hours worked in addition to some employees taking advantage by taking off from 1pm to 6pm(when we really need them) then staying a hour late everyday (when there was less demand for them) to make up the time they took off during their regular scheduled work day. By requiring employees to use PTO when scheduling time off during their regular work hours - we have a more accurate reflection of an employees time worked.
Some company policies state that if the employee did not work the required scheduled 40 hours due to using PTO - they are not eligible for overtime during that pay period
Your situation is just one more reason among many,that unions are a GOOD thing...........there would be no gray areas.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
