Feeling Exploited

[josh_rain]

What is the name of your state? Georgia -- Atlanta

Hi ,
I am a Green Card holder working at a famous restaurant ( franchisee) .. Before Joining my employee told me that i am a salaried employee ( not paid by the hour ) and would be paid at the end of every 2 weeks ... Before Joining he told that i would have to work for 3 days under probation / training .. @ 11 hrs each. So ( 33 hrs free//Unpaid) .

The pay he told me would be $520 without taxes , etc every 2 weeks.. I said OK .. ( as i was in desp need of a job) .. working 11 hrs daily....I think after taking taxes into consideration the pay comes about to $450 ...

What my question is . isnt the pay too low and aint i working many many hours for little ... For example calculating the above comes up to $3.93/ hr without taxes....

I do get lunch and dinner free ( one sandwich each ---total $10).
Yes , i agreed to it and there is no written contract ... besides the employment aplication form (which he only has ) .... There is no proof of employment.

Please advise


josh

 

[stephenk]

get another job is your only option.

you agreed to a salaried position rather than an hourly position in a job that requires many hours of work a day. next time you will know better.

 

[cbg]

"Salaried" is only a pay method. What matters is whether your job duties qualify you as an "exempt" employee.

If you qualify as exempt, then they only have to pay you your salary every week and it doesn't make any difference how many hours you work. The flip side is that except under a VERY few, VERY rigidly controlled exceptions, they MUST pay your FULL salary every week even if you work fewer hours than expected.

On the other hand, if you are non-exempt, they must pay you for every hour you worked and they must pay you time and a half for every hour worked over 40 in a week. The flip side is that they don't have to pay you for time you do not work. (BTW, while it IS legal to pay a non-exempt on a salaried basis, they still have to pay overtime for any hours over 40 in a week.)

As far as the amount is concerned, I haven't stopped to do the math but Federal minimum wage is $5.15 per hour. According to the GA DOL web site, GA follows Federal guidelines. Your gross (before taxes) pay must equal the number of hours you work times $5.15. It IS acceptable to pay you less than that if and only if you are receiving enough in tips to make up the difference. If you are not making that amount AND if you are not receiving tips to make up the difference, then they are not in compliance with the law and you can file a wage complaint with the DOL. (BTW, if you are in a position where you are or could be receiving tips, you are DEFINITELY non-exempt. From your description I strongly suspect that to be the case anyway.)

 

[josh_rain]

I definately dont receive tips .... as per user CBG it says i should file a complaint --- as the min is $5.15 (but i dont work on hours) .. One more thing there are employees also who work at the restaurant and they are part-time paid by the hour and they get $6 which is understandable (but they get less hours and the total pay of mine comes out to be higher than theirs )..

Since its a franchisee ( they got to keep the name up ) and they give paychecks with the name of the company on it ... Its very rare that they would violate the labor law and get into trouble ...

Stephen says i agreed to it and i got to look for another job....

I am confused and new to the United States as well ...

Overall i work 6 days , 11 hrs a day in a week thats 66 hrs ...(isnt this a violation ) ... dont mind the pay what about the hours ....man thats too much too work .....( a person has no life there ) worst of all pay is very very low ( but i agreed ?) ... can any thing be done ???

Also working for 3 days training unpaid is it fair ????

josh

PS: MY state is GA (Georgia )

 

[josh_rain]

One more thing ... isnt there any benifits i receive from being a salaried employee...... must be something ..... and is there a contract to sign or the pay check can serve as a proof...

josh

 

[cbg]

While I have a great deal of respect for Stephen, he is mistaken in this case. If your job duties do not qualify you to be an "exempt" il.e. salaried employee, then it is illegal to pay you as one, and the fact that you agreed to it does not change that. You cannot agree to allow the employer to violate the law. Just because they are a franchise with the employer name on the checks, doesn't mean that they won't violate the law. Major employers do it all the time. Look at Walmart.

It is not illegal for them to pay other employees more than you - what is illegal is paying you less than minimum wage. $6 per hour is legal - it doesn't matter that because of fewer hours they end up with less money in the check. It's not the total amount of the check that matters; it's the hourly wage. So the other employees do not have a wage claim. Just you.

It is not a violation to ask you to work 66 hours in a week. However, it is a violation not to pay you time and a half for all hours over 40. Federal law does not limit the number of hours you can be asked to work, and neither does Georgia law. But you do have to be paid according to the law.

It is ILLEGAL to require you to take the training unpaid. To heck with fair.

I'm not quite sure how you mean your final question. If you mean, what is the benefit of being a salaried employee, the answer is that your pay cannot be docked, ever, except in VERY limited circumstances. But if you mean, are their additional perks that I should be receiving because of being salaried, the answer is, only if your company decides to give them to you. The law does not require it.

Contact the Georgia Department of Labor. That is the only way anything is going to change. I strongly suspect that the employer is exploiting the fact that you are new to the US and do not fully understand that law, and is deliberately trying to cut his expenses by paying you less than the law allows. It's not impossible that you might even have a claim for discrimination based on national origin with the EEOC, although that may be a stretch.

Good luck and if you have any further questions, be sure to post back.

 

[josh_rain]

hi CBG , you are telling me that i should contact the Georgia DOL , but what if after doing all this he fires me later saying i am not doing my work properly and fooling around ... i mean employer can do anything ... This way i will loose my job...

I will explain you again , there are 2 type of employees ...

1.. Hourly part time college students ( they sign in and sign out and get paid $6/hr).

2.. Myself , who works full time and doing get paid by the hour..
He pays me $500 for 2 weeks fixed and for that i have to work 6 days a week for 11 hrs = 66hrs a week..
I dont receive any tips from customers .

you also said that it is illegal to be unpaid as training.. i worked 33 hrs in 3 days for free... If i do file a complaint , how do i get proof..
Eventhoug , lets assume he pays me ... Later on i will be in his bad books and will try to fire me , give me more and more work and not behaving properly (hope you understand what i mean )...

I know its illegal to do that tooo , but there are ways ...

 

[cbg]

Josh, it's up to you whether you want to report him to the GA DOL or not, but if you do not do so nothing is going to change.

If he fires you because you reported him, that is also illegal and you can sue him for wrongful termination.

I understand what you are saying about the two types of employees. Why don't you tell me a little bit about what you DO for him. What are your job duties? That is what makes the difference. If, as I suspect, you do not qualify to be an "exempt" employee, then what he is doing is illegal. It is just barely possible that you qualify as an exempt, and in that case, paying you on a salaried basis IS legal.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time here, but if you didn't want to take any action against him why did you ask the question? How did you think anything would change if you do nothing?