IIRC he got into trouble with Dolly, or maybe it was Billy; either way one thing I know for sure, not me!
The only thing that is certain is that overtime cannot ever be compulsory - there are a number of test cases that have defined the attempt to impose compulsory overtime as a breach of the human right of self determination.
Sanctions for not undertaking so called ‘voluntary overtime’ are also considered a breach of the right to self determination.
Trouble is that in the labour market, you may well be in the right be declining overtime, but reality is that this is cold comfort when you are terminated for some other reason - even if you do win your case in court.
Do you have a cite for this? Everything I’ve ever heard or read about labor laws notes that overtime must be compensated for non-exempt personnel, but that companies are free to require overtime from employees, although some states put maximums on the amount of time per week that can be required (72 hours per week in California, for instance.)
Think about it, compulsory overtime is in effect forced labour, doesn’t matter is it is paid or not
Or in this case you could just search for the poster’s name in thread titles in ATMB, since the banning was announced. But you should not ask about bannings publicly.
:dubious:
Similarly, a 40 hour week “is in effect forced labour, doesn’t matter is it is paid or not”.
It really isn’t, nobody is forcing you to work for that or any other employer. Companies are free to create rules or policies as long as they don’t violate labour laws (like overtime in excess of X hours…), and you are free to follow them and continue working for that company or not follow them and seek employment elsewhere… or not work at all. Plenty of companies have standard 10-12 hour shifts and pay overtime accordingly.
The OP’s subject requirement would be a rather strange one.
Picture a company that is having a new CNC lathe delivered on Friday, and needs a couple of its machinists to work over the weekend to get it set up and tested for Monday. Simple.
Now imagine that to do this legally they must also offer weekend overtime to the HR staff, the graphic design department and the sales force.
There’s a lot to unpack here.
First, it depends on what laws apply to your situation. Which state are you in? What local laws apply? Does the Fair Labor Standards Act apply to your employer? Is your employer a government entity with a different set of rules?
Second, it depends on some subtle factors. If your employer is a private company, subject to FLSA, and you make less than a certain amount and you’re not a supervisor, then they are required to pay you for overtime that you work. BUT (and this is a pretty big but) if they told you not to work the overtime and you did it anyway, they are free to retaliate against you (by docking your pay, for example) as long as such retaliation doesn’t make your effective hourly wage fall below the minimum wage.
According to the FLSA: Can they tell you that not to work any overtime? Yes. If you disobey and work overtime anyway, can they refuse to pay you? No. Can they punish you financially for disobeying? Yes, unless you’re only making minimum wage already in which case, No. But they could still fire you, or reduce your hours, or schedule you to work an unpleasant shift, like 3 am to 6 am.
FWIW, the vast majority of private businesses are subject to FLSA. Basically, if your employer does any business across a state line, either buying or selling, then it’s probably subject to FLSA (unless it’s a government entity).
The OP wasn’t talking about offering overtime to the HR staff when painting needed to be done .It was pretty clear in the OP that his objection was that only a few employees out of a whole crew doing the same work were offered overtime.
I did the payroll for a company that was hit with some major fines for not following FLSA laws, which they were unaware they were subject to. I don’t recall all the requirements, but the guidelines salaried non-exempt employees were very specific. If a non-exempt employee recorded overtime hours, the first thing I did was check with their manager if it was known and authorized. if it wasn’t, it was paid, but marked as a negative disciplinary action, potentially adding up to termination. The justification not only for the failure to follow directions, but inability to perform their duties in a timely manner.
When I worked hourly for an inventory company, there were four levels of workers (not counting team leaders); new hires, regulars (been there say, 3-6 months), veterans (i.e. those that have been at it for years) and top guns (those who where the fastest and accurate). During the busy season (early in the year) the veterans and top guns could work for days on end, switching from job to job with little or no sleep, racking up the OT. If a job took 2-3 days (e.g. Sears), the new hires might work the first 8 hours, the regulars work 16 hours and the veterans and top guns continue until the end of the job. It was cheaper and more efficient (less recounts and less time spend at the location) to pay the top two tiers OT than having to recount/redo the work the bottom two tiers did. Also, everyone, even the top guns were allowed only a certain percentage of errors. If they exceeded that percentage, they’d be sent home or to another job.
Timeliness was critical, especially for stores that closed for inventory and since the jobs were obtained by bids (which could often be at a known loss, because the stores are chain) keeping pay within the budget was crucial.
The question of “whether they should” or “whether they must” has been answered already (“No”).
But as to why they would offer a temporary worker over time versus an established full-time worker, I can think of several reasons:
- The casual employee is getting the extra hours but is not already working 40 - so fewer of those 16 hours would require time and a half (e.g. normally works 30, so now doing 46, and only 6 require overtime pay, while you’d be working 56, of which all 16 require overtime)
- The casual employee’s rate is lower than yours - so the overtime costs the company less
- The boss knows something about the casual employee’s situation and is trying to help him out (family ill / needs money / something else)
- The boss is giving inappropriate preference to the casual employee (friend / family / has something to hold over the boss).
- They like the casual guy’s work more than yours
I think it is quite apt. Not all members of the crew are completely identical. A manager knows who’s better at what and is free to make decisions based on such criteria.
If “overtime” means hours worked over 40 hrs in a week, and “casual employee” means employees who work less than 40 hours per week, then either they are not casual employees or they are not working overtime.
The FLSA doesn’t apply to businesses whose gross revenue is less than $500,000.00, unless they are affecting interstate commerce. A landscaping company which works only in one state probably doesn’t qualify.
Overtime can also mean more than 8 or 12 hours in a work day depending on the jurisdiction.
Movie theaters are exempt from having to pay overtime. USC Title 29: 213 (b) (27)
One could argue that, if the landscaping company buys anything (e.g. fertilizer or tools) that were shipped across a state line, they are participating in interstate commerce, hence the FLSA actually does apply to them. If that sounds like a stretch, keep in mind that the courts once ruled that growing wheat in your own back yard, for personal consumption, fell under the umbrella of “interstate commerce”, because it had the net effect of lowering wheat prices for farmers in other states.
A small company might try to justify underpaying their employees by saying, “FLSA doesn’t apply to us.” And they could probably get away with it for years or decades. But if an employee sued for unpaid wages, the employee would have a strong case and the employer would be wise to just step up and comply with the law.