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Overtime questions

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J

jem007

Guest
I live in Maryland, but this question is for my dad who
lives in Pennsylvania.

He works for a school district in western Pennsylvania. For years, he has worked overtime. But they had a limit
on the amount of compensation they would pay for overtime.
Rather than time-and-a-half for any hours over 40 per week, they paid a set amount (which is about the same as he regular pay, if not slightly less).

This was determined to be illegal, so he, and his co-workers will be paid for any overtime they worked (the difference between what they were paid, and what they should have been paid. However, they are only going back two years, and will pay the employees a lump sum, even though this practice went on for many many years.

The question is...is there a statute of limitations, or should they go back further than two years? Can a judge or some arbitrator decide two years is far enough to go back?

Also, because his employers finally got "caught" they are upset and have decided not to give anybody any extra overtime. Everyone will have to shift around their hours to cover all events, which means more work with fewer people. I assume this is legal, but wanted to check that too.

Thanks.
 


C

codderkate

Guest
Hi, I'm not a lawyer, but you should be able to find out from the Attorney General's office in Pennsylvania as to what the law states in regard to overtime pay and compensation. If they don't answer your questions, they can probably direct you to the appropriate agency. If this employer violated state law and was caught doing it, find out what they were ordered to do to remedy the situation. There must have been some ruling by a government agency that stopped them from doing this to employees.
 
B

buddy2bear

Guest
Apparently an agreement was made between either the State or Federal Wage & Hour Division and the School District that the "penalty" would only go back only two years. Your Dad should have gotten a copy of the decision which would spell it out since he was one of the "participants" in the agreement. As for changing around their hours of work, that can be done at any time unless there is a union contract which presets the hours of work. Glad to see that sometimes the "little people" win one!
 

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