Looking out for my Dad, 60 year old trucker I think is being taken advantage of

[PayrollHRGuy]

I understand your concerns on how I presented this, I get it. Lets be clear, I am being sarcastic on the 3 hr lunch being expensive. My point is the employer assumes lunch is taken, fair enough. But why would it be taken from OT Pay? In a normal 9-5 lunch is within the standard 8-9 hr day not OT rate hours.

Heres an example:

Dad earns 30$ and Hr OT rate x 15 HRS a week = $450
Employer takes 3 hrs away at 30$ x 3 = 90$
$450 - 90 = 360.

90$ a week for lunch X 49 weeks (3 are vacation) = 4,410 dollars a year.

Am I missing something here aside from taxes you need to pay on that? Now multiply that by 20 employees who average around 15 hrs of OT a week. = $88,200

Overtime under both Federal and New York state law is time over 40 hours per week. So if someone works 50 hours per week they get 40 at their regular rate and 10 at the overtime rate. If 3 hours are removed from the time they work they drop to 47 hours which then is 40 hours at regular and 7 at overtime.

My advice to Dad is to follow his employer's instructions and take the required lunch hour.

 

[LdiJ]

He doesn't say the boss doesn't allow them to take lunch. In the post, he seems to imply that there isn't enough time to take lunch.

And I don't find it incredulous. I do have issues with taking the second-hand word of the worker's son as gospel.

I for one tend to believe it. It is completely typical for that kind of industry.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I for one tend to believe it. It is completely typical for that kind of industry.

The OP doesn't even really know what is going on. Why in God's name should you.

 

[FlyingRon]

Understand that there is more than wage/hour issues going here. Your father's defiance of the employer is also in violation of the commercial drivers laws. He *MUST* not drive more than eight hours without a break (be it lunch or whatever you else you want to call it, you have to stop for 30 minutes). He should check the other duty limits as well.

 

[doesntmatterz]

PayrollHRguy,

Of course I am not 100% knowledgeable on the subject at hand that is why I am here. While I appreciate all the responses, yours just seems a bit colder than others.

Now based on what I am reading here the following applies:

1-My Dad and every other worker there is in violation for not taking lunch / trading it for time to get home with their families.. cool, sucks but the law is the law.
2-Based on a 50 hr work week, it is acceptable and lawful to deduct 3 hours of lunch from the OT pay rate as opposed to normal pay rate.

Is this the definitive answer?

 

[Zigner]

2-Based on a 50 hr work week is acceptable and lawful to deduct 3 hours of lunch from the OT pay rate as opposed to normal pay rate.

They are NOT deducting 3 hours from OVERTIME. They are deducting 3 hours from the TOTAL HOURS WORKED.

Is this the definitive answer?

Yep

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

PayrollHRguy,

Now based on what I am reading here the following applies:

1-My Dad and every other worker there is in violation for not taking lunch / trading it for time to get home with their families.. cool, sucks but the law is the law.
2-Based on a 50 hr work week is acceptable and lawful to deduct 3 hours of lunch from the OT pay rate as opposed to normal pay rate.

Is this the definitive answer?

1. Your father's employer is allowed to set his schedule. If this schedule includes a one hour break for lunch during the day you father should take that break or risk being terminated. Failing to do so is no different than him deciding he doesn't want to go in until an hour after his scheduled time.

2. I really don't know another way to explain this so I'm just going to cut and paste what I wrote before.

Overtime under both Federal and New York state law is time over 40 hours per week. So if someone works 50 hours per week they get 40 at their regular rate and 10 at the overtime rate. If 3 hours are removed from the time they work they drop to 47 hours which then is 40 hours at regular and 7 at overtime.

 

[Shadowbunny]

The union rep has basically said "yea wow thats interesting that the boss is doing that, he shouldn't. Let me get some lawyers to look into that for you, sit tight buddy". Its been 4 weeks now yet I called a lawyer in 2 min to tell me that they shouldn't be doing that? .

Four weeks is NOT that long. You nor your father have any idea what's going on behind the scenes. Has your father called his union rep back to get a status update? Furthermore, if Dad and his coworkers were to take the required lunch, would the Union have their back? If so, then what's really driving this complaint? Is it your/his (mistaken) belief that the employer is taking "3 hours of OT" from him? Has Dad taken an appropriate lunch break and gotten into trouble?

 

[not2cleverRed]

Thanks for all the feedback on this.

This is exactly what I meant by lunch. Employer is a bully, my Dad and other truckers need the job. They get beaten down to work 12-15 hour days but then the boss says "take a lunch guys its great" but at the same time keeps adding more and more to the work load.

You either eat lunch and end up spending even more time out on the day because in a truckers route TIME is everything. Time effects the delivery, the traffic worsens, your time back home, etc etc.

Employer is basically bullying people but hiding behind his "you can take you lunch and you have to" but behind the scenes he knows he is overworking his guys to the point they cant. On top of this he steals the lunch from the OT pay. Does that make sense?

So... If you actually take lunch, then you work later (not working more hours, just you go home later), so the hours paid for add up to what you actually worked.

And, if you time lunch correctly, you might avoid some bad traffic?

 

[doesntmatterz]

Four weeks is NOT that long. You nor your father have any idea what's going on behind the scenes. Has your father called his union rep back to get a status update? Furthermore, if Dad and his coworkers were to take the required lunch, would the Union have their back? If so, then what's really driving this complaint? Is it your/his (mistaken) belief that the employer is taking "3 hours of OT" from him? Has Dad taken an appropriate lunch break and gotten into trouble?

Yes the mistaken belief that he is deducting 3 hrs of OT from him. Based on what your all saying though, it doesn't matter based on the deduction of total hours worked.

Yes we don't know what is going on behind the scenes and nor did I imply that. The implication is the union rep has been unhelpful even though he is in the office everyday.

 

[doesntmatterz]

So... If you actually take lunch, then you work later (not working more hours, just you go home later), so the hours paid for add up to what you actually worked.

And, if you time lunch correctly, you might avoid some bad traffic?

I understand how that may come across as being "not a big deal" to you, I get it this is the internet where it is easy not see see the full picture.

I have one perspective because of course hes my dad, hes not in the best condition, works from 1AM midnight to 2PM everyday lifting and pulling large jugs of water up and down a truck in Manhattan. It is not easy so I have a bias and compassion that I dont expect everyone to have because its not your dad. I understand that completely.

Put yourself in my shoes, when I first heard about this and when I mentioned it to the majority of people I know they were also under the impression that deducting the time from "OT rate" was "crazy" and "not right". I stand corrected if this is the way things are and I appreciate all the feedback.

Still... in my opinion, that is xxx that they can get away with that. They should deduct lunch from standard 40 hr rate not the OT pay rate, period. Yes the law is in place but that doesn't mean the law isn't xxx in some respects.

 

[HighwayMan]

Understand that there is more than wage/hour issues going here. Your father's defiance of the employer is also in violation of the commercial drivers laws. He *MUST* not drive more than eight hours without a break (be it lunch or whatever you else you want to call it, you have to stop for 30 minutes). He should check the other duty limits as well.

I could very well be wrong, but as I understand it, hours of service regulations only apply to CV operators who drive more than 100 air miles from their starting point. A local trucker would not be subject to them and would have no need to maintain a logbook in order to provide any documentation of compliance.

 

[HighwayMan]

Put yourself in my shoes...

You father is an adult. He should be speaking to his union about the problems as he sees them. If he hasn't gotten an answer then HE needs to stay on top of that.

In addition, maybe he should start looking around for another job. He should consider getting a passenger endorsement on his license (if he doesn't have one already) and look to drive a bus - maybe even a school bus.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I understand how that may come across as being "not a big deal" to you, I get it this is the internet where it is easy not see see the full picture.

I have one perspective because of course hes my dad, hes not in the best condition, works from 1AM midnight to 2PM everyday lifting and pulling large jugs of water up and down a truck in Manhattan. It is not easy so I have a bias and compassion that I dont expect everyone to have because its not your dad. I understand that completely.

Put yourself in my shoes, when I first heard about this and when I mentioned it to the majority of people I know they were also under the impression that deducting the time from "OT rate" was "crazy" and "not right". I stand corrected if this is the way things are and I appreciate all the feedback.

Still... in my opinion, that is xxx that they can get away with that. They should deduct lunch from standard 40 hr rate not the OT pay rate, period. Yes the law is in place but that doesn't mean the law isn't xxx in some respects.

And you are clearly not understanding what *I* said.

Your father has been told that his compensation is based on having a lunch break.

The only reason you have stated that he doesn't take a lunch break is so that he leaves work earlier.

A man should take a break to eat once in 12-15 hours.

P.S. Perhaps what you need is a support group. You asked a legal question.

 

[Just Blue]

And you are clearly not understanding what *I* said.

Your father has been told that his compensation is based on having a lunch break.

The only reason you have stated that he doesn't take a lunch break is so that he leaves work earlier.

A man should take a break to eat once in 12-15 hours.

P.S. Perhaps what you need is a support group. You asked a legal question.

Are there support groups for adult children of hard working/perhaps overworked 60 year old wo/men?



ETA: I let my fingers do the walking through Google...and NO. There is not. Perhaps there is not enough adults that question their parents work ethic and ability to deal with their bosses to warrant a support group. How surprising...