concretejoe
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Kentucky
I have posted here before about overtime exemptions in the FLSA. My co-worker and I worked for a ready mix concrete company as dispatcher and batchman respectively. We were paid on a salary basis. We talked with the wage and hour division in our city and they agreed that they owed us overtime. We then consulted a lawyer and he agreed. So we hired a lawyer to represent us in the matter. The week that the lawyer was preparing the letter to our employer they called us both in and explained that they were going to initiate some changes as far as our jobs were concerned. They explained that they only wanted one of us to run the dispatch office. (On a side note, I believe that they had figured out what we were doing and were trying to make us quit) On Thursday they explained that one of three things were going to happen either my co-worker would run dispatch and I would go back to driving a mixer with my original place on the seniority list, I would run dispatch and my co-worker would go back to driving a mixer with his original place on the seniority list or we both would go back driving and the vice president would run dispatch. They wanted us to choose what happened, but we told them that it was thier decision and whatever position they wanted us in was fine. On Monday of the next week, we were called into the owners office and he explained that they had come up with another idea. He offered to let us alternate between running dispatch and driving. The kicker was that when we were in dispatch we would be paid a daily portion of our old salary, and when we were drivng we would be paid the top pay (which we would have gotten anyway) by the hour. I knew that that particular set up was wrong, but I agreed to it to keep my job. On Tuesday, they recieved the letter from our attorney explaining our intentions to bring suit for failure to pay overtime. Wednesday was my turn to drive. I worked from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. When I arrived back at the plant, I was instructed to meet the owner in his office. When I entered his office he informed me that he had discussed our current arrangement with his attorney (mentioned nothing about the letter of course) and was informed that it was illegal so he was going to lay me off instead. He didn't say that I could go back to being a driver, just have a nice life. The only thing I can think of that changed between Thursday of the week before and that Wednesday was the fact that they found out we were going to sue them. My attorney and I think we've also got a real good case for wrongful termination. What do you think?
I have posted here before about overtime exemptions in the FLSA. My co-worker and I worked for a ready mix concrete company as dispatcher and batchman respectively. We were paid on a salary basis. We talked with the wage and hour division in our city and they agreed that they owed us overtime. We then consulted a lawyer and he agreed. So we hired a lawyer to represent us in the matter. The week that the lawyer was preparing the letter to our employer they called us both in and explained that they were going to initiate some changes as far as our jobs were concerned. They explained that they only wanted one of us to run the dispatch office. (On a side note, I believe that they had figured out what we were doing and were trying to make us quit) On Thursday they explained that one of three things were going to happen either my co-worker would run dispatch and I would go back to driving a mixer with my original place on the seniority list, I would run dispatch and my co-worker would go back to driving a mixer with his original place on the seniority list or we both would go back driving and the vice president would run dispatch. They wanted us to choose what happened, but we told them that it was thier decision and whatever position they wanted us in was fine. On Monday of the next week, we were called into the owners office and he explained that they had come up with another idea. He offered to let us alternate between running dispatch and driving. The kicker was that when we were in dispatch we would be paid a daily portion of our old salary, and when we were drivng we would be paid the top pay (which we would have gotten anyway) by the hour. I knew that that particular set up was wrong, but I agreed to it to keep my job. On Tuesday, they recieved the letter from our attorney explaining our intentions to bring suit for failure to pay overtime. Wednesday was my turn to drive. I worked from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. When I arrived back at the plant, I was instructed to meet the owner in his office. When I entered his office he informed me that he had discussed our current arrangement with his attorney (mentioned nothing about the letter of course) and was informed that it was illegal so he was going to lay me off instead. He didn't say that I could go back to being a driver, just have a nice life. The only thing I can think of that changed between Thursday of the week before and that Wednesday was the fact that they found out we were going to sue them. My attorney and I think we've also got a real good case for wrongful termination. What do you think?