What can I do if my employer wants to triple my schedule for the same amount of pay?
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What can I do if my employer wants to triple my schedule for the same amount of pay?
I work on salary but I have a 15-hour a week part-time schedule. I was originally hired to work full-time but realized that I would have to quit because I wasn’t making enough to live off of. Due to this, it was arranged with my superior that I work part-time, which I have done for over a year. Now, under a new superior, they are asking me to work 45 hours a week with the same part-time pay.
Asked on December 4, 2015 under Employment Labor Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Yes, they can do this--they can require you to work more, even three times as much, for the same pay, so long as you are earning at least minimum wage (i.e. that if you divide your pay by the number of hours worked per week, the hourly rate is at least minimum wage). Employers have full discretion over pay and hours worked, subject to the wage and hour laws: i.e. minimum wage and overtime.
Note: if you are not exempt from overtime--you can find the tests for when an employee is exempt on the U.S. Department of Labor website--then if you work more than 40 hours in week, you must be paid overtime for all hours past 40. And note further that just because someone is paid a salary does not mean they may not get overtime: to be exempt, you must be paid a salary *and* meet one or more of the tests for exemption; salaried staff can receive extra pay for working more than 40 hours in a week.
If you don't work the hours they want you to, you can be terminated. But if you do work them and are paid less than minimum, or should receive overtime (see above) but do not, you could file a wage-and-hour complaint with the department of labor.
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