How many hours can a salaried employee work in one week?

Question

I work over 50 hours a week but I am only scheduled for 40. Is it lawful for my employer to force me to work over 40 hours? Sometimes I am taken to meetings that aren't over until 3 hours after my quit time. If I come to work late, I am docked but I do not get a bonus if I work past my quit time. In fact, I am still docked if I come late and stay past my quit time. Is this legal?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Legally he can make you work 100 hours a week unfortunately. BUT... As long as he is paying you O/T it's all good. If he is only docking you when you are late and not paying O/T he/she is in some serious violation of wage & hour laws and could be reported to your State Department of Labor. Legally you cannot make a salaried employee (exempt status) an hourly employee (non exempt status). It's one or the other for face some serious fines.

Source(s):

HR 15 years and law student

Answer 2

Salary is pay for 40 hours a week. Anything over I'm pretty sure is supposed to be compensated at an hourly rate equal to salary/total hours work in a year with 40 hours a week. I know my company pays me overtime for anything over 40. But, it depends on how much u get paid. If you're close to 6 figures, suck it up, lots of people work longer for less.

Answer 3

ask to see your employee file there should be a paper in it that you signed saying your salary pay and an average hours that you will work most of the time an average salary person works 48 to 54 hours a week. They should give you what they call comp time if they work you more than what it says you are suppose to work.It's a day off with out docking you. If so you need to call your HR department. I have worked salary most of my life and they will take advantage of you if you let them.

Answer 4

No, if you are salaried you should not be docked - I would protest- If they are docking your pay then they should be paying you overtime- they can't have it both ways.

Answer 5

I guess it depends on the state you're in. In the state I'm in (RI) a salaried employees is classified as "Exempt". What exempt means is exempt from a large chunk of labor laws. Some of which are overtime pay and number of hours worked.

Answer 6

make sure u are getting over time girl otherwise is a sue for them

Answer 7

If you are docked for coming to work late you are non-exempt, period. This means you must be paid overtime for all hours over 40 in a week (and eight in a day if you live in California).

You have the following options:

(1) Talk to someone in HR. Explain the situation - you are being docked for coming to work late, but you are being treated as exempt (not being paid overtime) This is a clear violation of law, so just raising the issue with someone knowledgeable should be enough to get some changes.

(2) If that's not effective, or not possible due to work politics, you can file a complaint with your state's labor commission. To do this, pull together as much evidence as possible regarding your hours. Compile pay stubs showing where you were docked. Document as much as possible any time you work more that 40 hours per week - see what you can pull together as evidence looking backwards and from here on out always keep track of your hours, such as in an Excel sheet.

(3) Or, you can get a lawyer. If you make enough money, a lawyer will be happy to help - a competent lawyer should be able to get you back pay and a change in your work terms going forward with a minimal amount of work given that if you are telling the truth, this is a non-debatable violation of wage and hour law.

Good luck!

Source(s):

Check out www.dol.gov (the website for the U.S. Dept. of Labor) and explore the pages on wage and hour law. You will want to educate yourself on the differences between exempt and non-exempt employees (e.g. exempt from overtime laws)