What to do if your employer increases lyour work hours for the same pay?
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What to do if your employer increases lyour work hours for the same pay?
Can an employer hire salary-paid people (without any official contract), stating that work hours are from 9-5:30, but later continue increasing length of work day without extra pay? On a daily basis we must be in the office now before 8:30 or he flips out, and we can’t leave before 5:45.
Asked on March 22, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
If you are salaried, you may be required to work any number of hours (early, late, extra shifts, weekends, etc.) without receiving any increase in pay; your only recourse is to seek other employment if you don't like the working conditions or hours.
Note one imporant exception to the above: not all salaried staff are exempt from overtime. To be exempt from overtime, you must be salaried, but you must also meet one or another of the tests or criteria for exemption, which can be found on the Department of Labor website. (The main ones to consider are the executive or managerial exemption, the administrative employee exemption, the professional exemption, and, if you work on a part-commission basis in a retail establishment, the retail sales staff exemption.)
If you do not meet the criteria to be exempt, then even if you are salaried, if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you must be paid additional amounts for hours over 40. It can be complex to determine how much for salaried staff, so if you think this is the case, consult with an employment law attorney.
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