I was wondering if I should pursue a court case.
I have been working as a manager for a store for a little more than three years.
My pay rate is fine and I get several benifits (no insurance just fringe type things)
I have been promised in one way or another almost since the first day I started working their the ownership of the store. I would have to pay for it of course but it would be a freindly type deal kinda like putting some sweat equity in it.
Well I put in about 5-8 hours overtime in every week and on a yearly average its more due to me covering for many vacations. I take vary little time off. I figure 25 plus hours extra a month on a yearly average.
I get payed for 40 no matter how many hours i work and other employees also get only 40 even if they have no choice but work extra.
I dident really mind this for the last three years as the sweat equity could really pay off. But now I am starting to get some glimses of reality and belive that she has been leading me on for a long time in order to juice me.
She has gotten really moody latley will all of the employees and some of us are starting to think something wierd is gonna happen. She does go through mood swings but this one seems different.
She doesnt keep our time cards but I quit filling them out over two years ago after I realized that she wouldent pay overtime no matter what and she doesnt keep them any way she just enters 40 in her computer every week or what ever and thats that, Then they go in the garbage. On month I worked about 80 hours overtime when she was on vacation I keept track of my time and hid it underdsome paperwork on my desk on an offical time card and she found ot and threw it away about amonth later. I know she did it. Beacae she told me she cleaned up my desk.
I have tried keeping track but its a little hard to come home and write my hours down I guess I shoud start or something but it seems a little late being that I dont know if I have a lot of time left at the job
I also dont know if we really had a contract or not with her. Everyone seems to think that we did and that at the very least she was leading me on and would testify if asked. I havent asked them but if they think they may get some back pay as well you bet they would.
What should I do. If the mood changes I am fine with the hours I work but if she makes employmet hard on me or lays me off I think I will want something of it.
Wow, so many bad things here… I don’t know the laws of your state, but in Wisconsin, I believe employers are required to pay time and a half for anything over 40 hours per week. Next I would start tracking your hours on paper and keeping it for yourself, possibly having another employee initial the times as proof. The reason I say that, is if you were to take any sort of legal action or go for unemployment, you’ll need this, especially since she’ll have no way to prove otherwise. Which is another thing, in WI, (and maybe it’s a federal thing), you have to keep time cards for a certain amount of time, 3 years maybe. Finally, check with your local unemployment hour, I’m almost posative you can QUIT and still get unemployment if your reason for quitting was that your employer was not paying you for the hours you worked, and you could probably sue for back pay.
Find your local EEOC office and make a new friend. Their website may answer some of your questions, but if you call and talk to a lawyer there, they may be willing to take your case on for you – or at least investigate it. Good luck.
The heart of the matter is whether you are subject to, or exempt from, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This act requires employers to pay overtime unless the employee is exempt based on certain criteria. If you are truly a manager, there is a good chance you are exempt (that is, not entitled to overtime pay).
It is not uncommon for exempt employees in retail to work regular weekly schedules of 50-55+ hours.
If you are not truly a manager and therefore subject to the FLSA’s overtime provisions, you might have a case, but it would be through your state’s wage & hour office, not the EEOC. The EEOC would only apply if the situation has a race/gender/religious discrimination angle to it, which it doesn’t seem to.
There is a possibility that Alaska may have some state-specific overtime provisions which you may also want to look into.
As far as eventually buying the store, it sounds like a case where oral agreements are worth the paper they are printed on. If you really want it to happen, try to get something in writing.
Damn, I hate this my cat is all over my keyboard sorry about all of the typos.
Cats must love words because mine is always on the newspaper, the book I am reading and the keyboard. If my cat used a litter box I think I would fill it with mini alfabet pasta.
Your state will also have an employment office and they can tell you the state laws, which your employer may very well be breaking.
If they are breaking either state or federal laws, you can probably get a ruling that gives you money. Find out the state’s rules about overtime and “managers”; they should specify what an “overtime exempt” manager does and doesn’t do on the job.
Go right back to filling out your time card with the true times, and keep a copy, preferably by xeroxing what you give her, or carbon copying it. You will need something like that to make a good case, as judges much prefer to have evidence over one person’s word. It wouldn’t hurt to have a fellow employee each day verifying that you put in those hours that day.
The state or federal people will tell you what evidence they need to make the case work.
If her moods are due to the business being in the process of going bankrupt, as you may suspect, this is still a good thing to do. While you are at the state office, find out if she is paying unemployment premiums for the correct number of employees, and if not, file whatever it takes to get them investigating.