Overtime pay

There is no such thing, legally, as unpaid overtime.
Comp days cannot be stored up and taken down the road. By law, they have to be taken during the next pay period.
If you go to your boss, he cannot retaliate.
If you go to HR, he cannot retaliate.
If you go to your Labor Department district office, he cannot retaliate.
If he does, he's going to have more serious problems than fudging on your hours or comp days.
Some of you guys need to sac up and fight for yourselves.

 

Where is this a law? I work for the federal government and we have a year to use it (or until we change posts), but I thought that was more policy than law.

Also, for the record, the unpaid OT issue isn't limited to journalism. It's expected where I work, as well. Not for all the extra work we do, but some thing -- such as working the party for the Fourth of July -- it is expected that you will not file for OT. For many positions, it's expected you will stay late and work through lunch. Up until tenure you can claim it if your supervisor lets you, but that doesn't always work. And after tenure it goes away -- you're just expected to do it.

 

How many newsroom bosses still throw around that "What have you done for me lately?" attitude? That kind of shit went hand-in-hand with making you afraid to go after your overtime money. Still does.

 

How many writers are hourly workers? I always assumed beat writers were on salary.

 

I'm a beat writer. I'm hourly.

 

To which you should be saying, "I did, A, B, C, D, E and F for you. It took X amount of hours, which I had told you it would. And if I had done G, it would have been even more. So I'll expect to see my overtime pay in my next paycheck."

 

I've got a good boss and a good company now, but I've had plenty of Jonah Jameson managers in the past.

These days, it's the other way around: "Oh, yeah? What are you doing for us? Besides tripling the workload, I mean."

So, yeah, anyone that tries to dodge paying overtime on top of that, report 'em if they won't make it right.

 

I do'nt think that first part is true. My dad worked a government job (county) for 30 years and he was able to bank overtime (1.5 hours of "vacation" time for every hour of OT worked) and I believe he was able to bank it for as long as he worked there (and if he'd left, he would receive a check)

 

I'm salaried and part of a two-person department, when the other guys was out on vacation, I worked all seven shifts during the week, which included a double on Friday as we have Sunday as an off day. I worked nearly 70 hours, and checked seven boxes on my time card, but didn't fill in the number of days worked.
I made a photocopy of the time card and never heard a word from my ME who I assume filled in the numbers.

This happens every time there is a vacation for either of us. Do I call the state department of labor? What are my options?

 

Yes, you call the Dept. Of Labor. One of the requirements., I believe, of being a manager is that you are supposed to be supervising two people, not just one.

The first thing I would do, though is talk to your manager and see if they know what the requirements for being salaried actually is. If they don't, or pull the "tough shit" attitude, don't get mad. Just make the phone call.

 

Thank you.

 

There are non-manager, salaried employees that are not entitled to overtime. Professionals aren't entitled to overtime.

Fact Sheet - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of Labor