Required Overtime

[susiechoochoo]

(California) My husband is an exempt employee. His company recently required him to cover a Saturday shift without any compensation. Can he be required to work 6 days a week without any kind of compensation, i.e. overtime pay or comp time?

 

[newmom]

It is my understanding that an exempt employee is just that, EXEMPT. Unless they (your husband and his employer) have some sort of agreement that he gets paid OT for any hours over what he is generally required to work, he isn't entitled to it. You can try to make sure he IS an exempt employee!! What are his job duties, requirements and how much authority does he have?? All these could be factors that make him non-exempt. We may need a little more infor to answer this one.

 

[susiechoochoo]

He is exempt, but I the type of work that are having him do, particularly on these Saturdays in non-exempt work. I guess my real question is, can they require him to work 6 days a week now? It would be one thing if that was what he was hired to do, but this is something new, above and beyong what he was doing. I appreciate the advice, thank you.

 

[kenyoon]

In short, my opinion is that the company probably must pay overtime. However, that opinion is based on a severe shortage of facts.

You need to provide more details, such as your husband's job title and work description.

The second question is whether you want to do anything about this situation. Since your husband is still working at the company, keep in mind that although he is protected by the law in bringing up any workplace issues, that doesn't mean that he won't be fired, disciplined, harassed, etc. for bringing up this issue. The law only provides a penalty to the employer to discourage and punish such behavior.

You should speak with an attorney about this issue, or contact the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/dlse.html

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