Am I entitled to 40 hours per week?

[Employee709]

What is the name of your state? MA

I am a fulltime employee. I usually arrange my weekly schedule with the scheduling department one week in advance. Recently (due to an increase in employees) my company has been unable to find enough hours to fill my schedule. As a result I am left with an inconsistent and reduced paycheck. Can I insist on 40 hours per week?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Feel free to direct me to any websites or literature that you think would be relevant to my situation.

 

[hexeliebe]

Unless you have a contract stipulating a 40-hour workweek the company can give you 40, 50 or 1 hour depending on their needs.

Of course, you can insist on 40 hours, but don't be surprised if they insist on saying goodbye

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? MA

I am a fulltime employee. I usually arrange my weekly schedule with the scheduling department one week in advance. Recently (due to an increase in employees) my company has been unable to find enough hours to fill my schedule. As a result I am left with an inconsistent and reduced paycheck. Can I insist on 40 hours per week?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Feel free to direct me to any websites or literature that you think would be relevant to my situation.

**A: how many hours are they giving you on the average per week? And how many hours constitute part time and full time?

 

[Employee709]

Part time employees are expected to work 16 hours per week. Full time employees are expected to work 40. Until recently there has been plenty of overtime. However, following a recent review of the finances, management cut back all overtime and went on a hiring spree. This has resulted in many new employees and little if no overtime for anybody. In the past 10 weeks I have probably averaged 20 hours per week.

Thanks for the reply(ies).

 

[Beth3]

Determining work schedules is entirely the perogative of the employer unless you have an employment contract in place to the contrary. If you're not getting enough hours and are unhappy with your compensation, you are free to look for full-time employment elsewhere.

 

[cbg]

Here's something not many people know or remember.

When the Fair Labor Standards Act was signed into law, this country was still in recovery from the Great Depression. The original purpose of requiring an employer to pay time and a half for any hours over 40 was not for any reasons regarding quality time, a standard work week, or being a family-friendly company. It was to force employers to hire more people. The idea behind it was that instead of hiring one employee to work 50 hours a week (with 10 of those hours being at time and a half) the employer would hire two employees to work 25 hours a week each, thus ensuring that two employees got SOME hours, rather than one employee getting a lot of hours and someone else being out of work. The company paid less in wages and more people had work.

Far from being illegal, when the poster's employer cut his hours and hired additional people, he was doing precisely what the FLSA was originally designed to do; creating new jobs.

 

[dequeendistress]

Can you file for unemployment benefits to recover the lost pay? I would assume (I know the danger) that if you had been working for a set number of hours for a set amount of time in accordance with unemployment laws that you may be eligible to collect benefits for the loss. But, alas, your employer may not appreciate the filing.