overtime

i live in new york. my employer had me working more than 50 hours a week for a period of time. he told me that he could not afford to pay employees overtime and that instead he would label it on my paycheck as commission at the regular hourly rate. i was never a commissioned employee and did not work salary. Also, i was scheduled to work those hours by my supervisor each week. they were mandatory, not optional. is this legal and am i entitled to receive the back pay? also, there were employees in the building who worked over 40 hours that did receive overtime pay, which i later discovered.

It was legal for them to require you to work overtime; however, Federal law requires that any hours over 40 in a week be paid at the rate of time and a half. Contact the state DOL for assistance.

Thanks for the response. I knew the laws regarding overtime pay, but I didn't know if my former employer could claim that i agreed to work those hours without beng paid the overtime rate. now i know my next step. thank you.

It doesn't matter if the employer claims you agreed to be paid that way or not. If you are a non-exempt employee, you HAVE to be paid time and a-half for your OT hours. An employer cannot enter into an agreement to violate the law. In fact, if they make that claim, truthful or not, it likely exposes them to more severe penalties for a willful violation.