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Mandatory meetings-unpaid

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J

jgo

Guest
What is the name of your state? ca
I am employed for an incorporated-non-profit organization. Within the given rules of employee conduct, workers were expected to attend bi- weekly (hourly) meetings. Each week that I attended the meeting I had added the hour's meeting to my time sheet(realizing that this org. was violating the law) since for years,as mandated by the employer the meetings has gone unpaid for all the various employees who decided to just go and be unpaid. well, over the course of a few months , I possibly was the only person being paid for the meeting time-but rightfully so. Quite a stir happened when I spoke openly to my co-workers about the fact that insistence and mandatory attendance at meetings(that went unpaid) was against labor law. as this trickled to the staff I finally was approached and asked to change my timesheet, to reflect an hour deduction off my timesheet. As I sat with 2 supervisors I reluctantly watched my supervisor cross off the time and rebalance my hours to reflect the change. now friends, to the question-should i pursue the one hour unpaid? I received a paycheck minus this time and now the org. has made the meetings non-mandatory-probably coming to the profound realization that they had been breaking the law! so as it goes, it is apparant to me that one hour is miniscule but what are the grievances that could be filed for all those who had attended meetings for months or even years?
 


J

jgo

Guest
mandatory meetings-unpaid

I believe I am an exempt employee. I am a worker who is employed for 20 hours per work in this non-profit's training program.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
If you are exempt, then it is legal not to pay you for the meeting. An exempt employee receives the same salary every week regardless of how many hours they worked.
 
J

jgo

Guest
mandatory meetings-unpaid

ooops! you are correct and I must declare then that I am a non-exempt employee whose hours can go above or below a 20 hour work week. I am paid a hourly rate. sorry for the confusion.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
The Department of Labor has established the following test for determining whether training time is compensable: Attendance at lectures, meetings, training programs and similar activities need not be counted as working time if the following four-prong test is met:

1. Attendance is outside of the employee’s regular working hours;
2. Attendance is voluntary;
3. The course, lecture, or meeting is not directly related to the employee’s job; and
4. The employee does not perform any productive work during such attendance.

Unless the activity meets ALL of the FOUR criteria listed above, the time is compensable.

From what you have shared, it certainly appears that this employer must pay for all time spent at these meetings by non-exempt employees.
 

StacyLB

Member
A word of caution, it is one thing to be right and quite another to be in your face. If you felt that what the organization was doing was wrong or illegal, you would have made more friends by communicating that to management rather than riling up the troops.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
By the way, jgo, the entity to contact to file a complaint over this issue is your State's Department of Labor/wage and hour divison. Even though they've made these meetings are now non-mandatory, they are still very likely compensible and of course there are back pay issues.
 
J

jgo

Guest
mandatory meetings-unpaid

I certainly will heed no caution in terms of dealing with the ruling class that are the true decision makers in this organization. It is always important to pass on the heads up to the fellow workers. Let us not forget that the working class are those individuals that realize the expenditures of their time and labor and let us not forget that the ruling class utilizes these always to serve their own best interests, not those whose backs their breaking. i have no friends to make at work, we have people to empower to know their rights and expose illegalities that are running rampant in this country.
 

stephenk

Senior Member
with your attitude dont be surprised if you get the one hour paid back and your termination slip all in the same envelope.
 

Beth3

Senior Member
jgo, you have some odd ideas about who compromises the working class and this so-called ruling class. If your bosses were truly part of some "ruling class," believe me, they wouldn't be working where you do.
 
J

jgo

Guest
mandatory meetings-unpaid

yes, the ruling class-as I deemed as such was more of the ideological sense of the term. They are bosses, those that have the capacity to exploit.
 

stephenk

Senior Member
And if your employer promoted you to a "boss" with the payraise it entails, I doubt you would turn it down so you wouldn't become an exploiter, right?
 

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