The employer is violating federal law.
Please make a Pit thread or take it to PM rather than hijacking this thread.
This post is out of line for this forum, al27052. Either take it to PM or the Pit if you wish to make snarky comments about other posters.
If you feel a poster is out of line, please report the post and let a staff member handle it rather then make posts like this, which is pretty much junior modding.
Years ago…
I worked 2 weeks for a company doing work throughout the state, when I got my first paycheck was when I found out that I was only paid 40 out of the 80 hours on the job I was working.
They said,“Travel time? What do you mean? Your not Working while your Driving.”
So, what your saying is that, “I drive to the shop pick up stuff at 4pm, drive to job and set up by 10pm, work Midnight till’ 8-10am, drive back to shop in the morning around 10-12am, consisting of between 12-18 hours a day.”
Then I go home take shower and sleep for 6 hours and do it again the next day?
And you have the nerve to pay me for only 8 hours?
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUU!!!:mad:
(I had to pick up the materials before the shop closed in the day, drive to the job and be set up before the store closed in the eve, get job done before the store opened the next day, be back to shop to empty garbage and go sleep while someone prepared the truck for the next job for me to do.)
I did this at a time when employers still had the attitude that working outta town was more like a semi-vacation rather than working, and driving was considered “my own time”, like driving too and from work to the office/shop a few miles away. :rolleyes:
My point stands. What else needs to be said? TriPolar is condoning a knowing violation of federal law. That’s actually a REAL violation of the TOS. Please. I’m a moderator on my own forum, and condoning violations of federal law is just fucking stupid, and needs to be stopped.
If you feel a rule is being broken, report the post and the mods will see to it.
But my point still stands. If you have a problem with another member, take it to PM, the Pit, or ask about it in ATMB.
Do not continue the hijack in this thread.
I had to take 3 hrs and 30 minutes of time off Wednesday to handle a personal matter.
I just filed my time sheet at 726 hrs this morning for 38.5 hours, my actual time worked.
It went through with the client. I am sure the agency will not notice.
Heh.
I think their underlying goal is to avoid overtime, not to screw me on hours per se.
Just to be clear … does your “actual time worked” include that travel time in the company vehicle?
This makes a lot more sense. That agency would be unbelievably stupid otherwise. I mean, it would be like a restaurant cook knowing nothing about food safety laws.
I’m glad you filed for the proper hours. Just to be clear, I only mistakenly said you should cooperate with the agency before I realized that they had asked you to falsify your hours. I was certainly careless in not reading more thoroughly first, but had no intention of recommending you do anything illegal, and something that certainly was not in your best interests. You are certainly entitled to be paid for the time you worked before this was settled with the agency. I hope this all works out for you in the end.
Yes.
They’re still unbelievably stupid.
They:
- failed to disclose this ‘gotcha’ prior to signing the contract
- did not clarify this with the customer behind the scenes until AFTER we started
- are vulnerable to fines from federal agencies
- can be ‘zapped’ after the fact with having to pay back wages and back overtime
Yeah - and in my case, personal travel time is expected, but we can’t record the time anywhere so it’s noted. It might not be billable to the client, but we’re expected to record a certain number of hours per week and there’s a hell of a lot of pressure to have it be in client “billable” categories. They need to have a way to record the time, even if it doesn’t get charged.
If we work, say, 7 hours at a client site and spend a couple of hours travelling home, that’s 9 hours. I understand we can’t bill the client for 9 hours, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to record 7 hours, plus an hour of leave.
Oh, and for the OP: yeah, violation of the law. If you had a full day at the site 3 hours away I could understand them making you do the commute on your own time, but even that’s dodgy.
That’s also bullshit. You use your own vehicle on company business (aside from a normal commute) and they have to compensate you for it.
Now, financially, that could be a much better deal. If you spend 8 hours a day including working and travel between sites, and spend 100 miles / 2 hours of that 8 hours between sites and 6 hours onsite, that’s 8 hours at 19/hour (152 dollars). Assuming your car expenses work out to 30 cents a mile that’s 30 dollars travel compensation so you net 122 dollars. If you only got paid for the 6 hours, that’s 114 dollars. 4 hours / 4 travel / 200 miles, you’re looking at 76 dollars salary, vs. 152 dollars salary minus 60 dollars or 92 dollars net.
What should be happening, from every standard of reasonableness: you get paid for 8 hours. You either use your personal car (and get compensated at the IRS mileage rate), or use the company van (where they pay the costs).
Any way you look at it, the client and the agency are attempting to collaborate on a gang rape with you as the guest of honor.
If that last line is changed to:
At that point, I do not unload any equipment, I am off duty; I drive home in my private car
Then, I think the employer has a potential argument that you are actually off duty once you finish work at the remote location. From that point on, you are simply “going home”, and the facility is being totally awesome by giving you a ride back to your car. They could require you to drive your own car to the remote location, pay you salary and mileage to get there, then let you get home on your own, because you’re off the clock. Or, they could have someone local load up the equipment into/out of the van and just tell you to meet them at the remote location for your work today. You don’t get mileage or pay for driving, you just happen to have a 2 hour commute today.
UPDATE:
It turns out that I WAS paid for all travel time.
I believe that the customer wanted to have us work as if we were semi-salaried employees. They were happy giving us up to 39 hours, whether or not we were traveling, standing around, or working.
It turns out that due to problems with the customer’s buildings not being ready for the equipment I worked on, I got the following time in:
Week 1- 38.50 hours
Week 2- 30.50 hours
Week 3- 08.25 hours
If I’d realized I was not getting 3 full weeks in, I might or might not have taken the contract and/or skipped an interview I had a chance to take during the first week.
That being said, that’s off-topic. I’m over $900 post-tax dollars richer, and I don’t feel ripped-off.
My son was having this exact issue. First, bring it to the attention of your HR rep. And if you don’t have one, request a copy of labor laws from employer, if your state does not have their own rule in regards to travel time then they default to Federal labor laws. Then, if you find the employer in default don’t quit call the State Labor board, you should be able to find an 800 number online. They will not only be required to pay future travel time but past travel time. And DON’T be bullied, they can not fire you or not call you for jobs due to grievance-it’s a law! Many many companies get away with not paying for travel or over time because of employee ignorance. If YOU don’t care then why should they?!
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