<p>My recently graduated DS took a job as a temporary employee for a company that he wants to work for. He was advised that the job was for one year, and within that year they would promote him to a permanent job. Because the job is temporary, there are no benefits (which is fine, he has health insurance under his dad).
He was asked to do a special project which entailed his working overtime to the tune of 16 hours a week for the past two week. He actually had to come in on his day off. When he got his paycheck he was not paid for the overtime. When he questioned them, they said his paycheck is $XXX dollars a week regardless of how many hours he works.
What? I don’t understand. You told him he had to work this extra time and NOW you’re not paying him? Is this even legal? This is a very well known company, not some little podunk place. Has anyone ever heard of this?</p>
<p>Is your son an hourly paid employee or a salaried employee? At my DHs place of employment, the salaried workers are occasionally asked to do extra hours to complete a project. They get no additional compensation but are offered comp time off.</p>
<p>They told him hourly, but if he is getting paid a set amount each week I assume salaried. Which would make sense. It was kind of a blow as he was expecting a big paycheck.</p>
<p>If he’s an hourly worker, he should be paid the additional time.</p>
<p>If he doesn’t work a full week, is he paid less? I would assume so.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if he wants to get a “permanent” job and work for this company long-term, maybe he should suck it up.</p>
<p>He should have been told whether he was an exempt or non-exempt employee. Non-exempt are hourly workers so if they work over time, they should get paid for the time (and a half?). Exempt employees do not get any extra pay but often they get comprehensive with extra time off - this seems unlikely for a temp.</p>
<p>My sense is temp positions are non-exempt but I’m not an HR person, just someone who has worked in a lot of different places.</p>
<p>It may depend on the definition of “temporary”, too. If he is a contract employee that may be hired at the end of the year, he probably is hourly. He should look at his offer letter or emails if he has something. If he is contracting in some way, there should be some kind of document for that that lays out his compensation. As stated above, if it says he is exempt, he won’t get paid for OT. Non-exempt, he should get paid at least his normal hourly wage for the extra work.</p>
<p>Now… even if he is hourly, he runs the risk if he raises the issue with someplace like HR that it will annoy those who would be hiring him at the end of the year. Another option would be to discuss it with his boss and say that the past work isn’t something he is worried about, but going forward he thinks his arrangement documentation shows he should be paid for OT.</p>
<p>I am also someone who has worked for a lot of employers. I personally would not put up with this, and if they didn’t hire me at the end of the year I would figure it was okay because I don’t want to work for a company that doesn’t follow fair labor practices anyway. But he may feel differently and decide to just do what is needed to get hired, too – as his parent you obviously can’t really interfere.</p>
<p>Is your son being paid a salary, ie., “You are being paid $500/week” or is he being paid hourly,ie., “you are being paid $12/hour.”</p>
<p>Salaried workers don’t get overtime for over 40 hours/week. Most professional level jobs are salaried.</p>
<p>And most professional salaried jobs are way over 40 hours per week as a rule. No OT and most companies do not offer comp time. It’s just expected you work those hours.</p>
<p>“Salaried” is not the same as “exempt.”</p>
<p>Does he have some documentation spelling out the terms of his employment? He’s an <em>employee</em> not a contract worker, correct? </p>
<p>And who told him that he is on salary, exempt from overtime? HR or his manager? </p>
<p>I’m wondering if this is the manager’s mistake, and HR will look at it differently.</p>
<p>Is your son required to badge in or fill out some sort of time sheet?</p>
<p>If not, how does payroll get informed to make adjustments?</p>
<p>No way he could be qualified as “exempt” - As HR rep for a large firm, in a tiny satellite office (3 strong) I have had this discussion numerous times with HR over the years (and never a pretty discussion) - “exempt salaried” (meaning salaried with no additional “benefit” from working OT (like comp time or additional money) can ONLY be associated with an employee in a position of authority, and who spends 51% or more of their time supervising others. This classification has been so badly misused that in California there was a class action lawsuit over it. </p>
<p>The OPs son is entitled, by labor law, to time and one half for any hours worked over and above his customary 40 hours (assuming he works 40 hours a week). In CA, the time and one half applies to any hours over 8 in one day, or cumulative over 40 in one week. IF an employee works more than 12 hours in one day that overtime pops up to double time. Every state differs on this particular calculation. </p>
<p>Now, the question is, how to deal with it, and not be seen as a problem.</p>
<p>First, go online to the state employment development department for the state he works in, and learn all the rules for overtime payment (every state is different). Then review his paperwork to read up on what was actually offered to him (although in many cases a written offer to an hourly employee cannot supersede the law of the state) and compare. I would suggest that once knowledgeable in the law of the state, he (without fanfare) go to the HR Manager (not a payroll person) and kindly ask for explanation. After hearing the explanation he can offer up the information he garnered and see what comes next. </p>
<p>Sometimes the payroll people haven’t a clue (same with most employee’s supervisors). Case in point…Same firm, only me this time (rather than “someone I know”) I was hired as p/t (24 hrs a week), hourly, “no benefits.” 4 years in (oh, don’t ask 
) I was reviewing the company handbook for something unrelated, and read about how 20 hours a week or more entitles an employee to paid time off (including company holidays that fall on your scheduled work day, vacation, and even personal time) equivalent to the percentage of hours worked to that of a f/t hourly employee. Wait, what? I WAS entitled to those hours lost (several vacations, a multitude of holidays, and even some personal time I took off)??? I e-mailed payroll. “No, sorry, no benefits.” - hmmm, something didn’t sit well about that for me. I spent an entire weekend recreating 4 years worth of service, holidays that fell on my scheduled work days, vacation days that fell on my scheduled work days, and personal time (including the few days I was sick) that fell on my scheduled work days. It was A LOT. Over 200 hours. Armed with that, I contacted the HR Director, and actually started by saying “I don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker, however, I think a mistake has been made.” I cited the section in the handbook, passed her the Excel spreadsheet I created (crossing all t’s and dotting all i’s), and the e-mail I received from payroll. HA! Payroll was wrong and I was correct in what the handbook was telling me. I was entitled to those hours. HR Director asked for a few days to have someone in payroll audit what I’d brought to the table, and within 2 weeks I had a very large check cut to me for those missed hours. Honestly I could have gone to the labor board and fought for a penalty on those dollars (and it would have doubled the check amount) but I wanted to keep the job, and I did. BTW, the “no benefits” statement had to do with medical and life insurance, “pay” is not a benefit, and cannot be overruled by an offer. </p>
<p>So yes, there are ways to approach this that won’t ruffle feathers, but one needs to know the state law(s) and what their offer documentation says.</p>
<p>^^^^Wow, impressive. Way to go. :)</p>
<p>When D2 was offered a summer camp counselor job by our local Y, it clearly stated that she would be an exempt employee, which meant she wouldn’t get any over time pay. She would be required to work on parents night, training, stay late if parents were late in picking up kids. I thought it was slave labor, so she didn’t take the job. But they were very clear that D2 would be an exempt employee in her offer letter.</p>
<p>Since OP’s son is a temp, I am sure he wouldn’t be entitled to sick day or vacation day. I have hired temps, and I either paid them by the hour or by day. If the temp didn’t show up for work I didn’t pay, likewise if we asked the temp to work over time we also paid extra. </p>
<p>I personally think OP’s son should be paid for extra time he worked because he is a temp. I would work with the payroll first to see if they’ve made a mistake, then I would speak with the manager to see if he/she could help out. If they refuse to pay then I would ask if he would be paid for sick/vaca days, or maybe use the extra hours he worked as comp time when he needs to time off.</p>
<p>Oldfort, it depends on the type of “temp” the OP’s son is. There is the type through a temporary staffing firm (possibly on a contract for hire basis), there are independent contractor type temps (he probably isn’t this type), and there are introductory positions in companies that are not guaranteed long term positions until after the introductory period.</p>
<p>intparent - I don’t quite understand what you are saying. “it depends on the type of “temp” the OP’s son is.” What depends on the type of temp OP’s son is? He is not from a temporary staffing firm. I don’t see how the last two are different, whether he is a contractor or an introductory position. As long as he is not an employee, which is what a temp is, then he is not entitled to any benefits (insurance, time off) and should be paid for time worked.</p>
<p>He is indeed in an introductory position. He expects to be offered a full time permanent position sometime in the next year. It’s hard. He definitely doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers. He was told it was hourly, but when he asked about why he wasn’t paid for the overtime, he was told it was a set amount each week, regardless of what he works. They did tell him to keep track of the OT and they would use it to give him days off. It all sounds shady to me, but this is a huge national company. Weird</p>
<p>It sounds shady to me too.</p>
<p>dkitty21, I think it sounds shady also. The problem is that IMO that these companies know that if this kid doesn’t like these terms there are 10 kids who would put up with it.</p>
<p>It’s why some industries used a large amount of kids in unpaid internships. It wasn’t right not to pay them and they knew it. But it didn’t stop them from using unpaid interns and cheap labor, they know that for every person who wouldn’t or couldn’t work for free, there were 10 more who would for the “experience”.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is not accurate IMO.</p>
<p>Professional jobs (lawyers, engineers, etc) can be exempt without performing supervisory duties. Some administrative jobs can also be exempt. Both assuming the salary is high enough.</p>
<p>The OP didn’t say what kind of work it is.</p>
<p>I found a nice summary here:</p>
<p>[Fair</a> Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Coverage (Exempt vs. Non-Exempt – The Online Wages, Hours and Overtime Pay Resource](<a href=“http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html]Fair”>Flsa.com)</p>