Can a company demand you work over time without paying you time and a half?
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Can a company demand you work over time without paying you time and a half?
Owners of company are American and payroll checks are issued from a U.S. bank. The owners claim our company is Canada based and demand that we work 6 days a week without paying
time and a half. I think this is unfair to hard working Americans such as myself and co-workers, how is this possible? I thought it was a federal law that any time worked over 40 is time and a half. Also, the company is in a county which passed a law that an employer shall accumulate sick day hours, which we were never informed of by the company. If you ask me this is unfair to an American person as myself.
Asked on October 17, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Illinois
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
1) Labor law is local: your job is governed by the law of where you *work*. If you work in the U.S., U.S. law applies; if you work in Canada, Canadian law; etc.
Since this website deals in U.S., we will assume that you work in the U.S.
2) If you are an hourly employee, you must be paid for all hours worked and overtime when you work more than 40 hours in a week.
3) If you are salaried, if you are not "exempt" you would get additional overtime pay when working more than 40 hours in a week. You are not exempt if your salary is less than $23,600 per year or you do not meet at least one of the tests or criteria for exemption, such as the "executive" (which should really be called the "managerial" exemption, since it applies to non-executive managers, too), "administrative employee," "professional," etc. criteria or tests. You can find them on the U.S Dept. of Labor website under "overtime": review each test compare to your job. If your job does not meet at least one test, you are non-exempt and are entitled to overtime.
If either hourly or salaried non-exempt, contact the state or federal department of labor about filling an overtime complaint.
4) If you are salaried and exempt from overtime, they do NOT need to pay you overtime.
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