lalabell68
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Texas
I recently left the employment of a dentist. I was an hourly paid employee. We were required to keep track of our own hours on a calendar in the office. If we came in 5 minutes late, we wrote that down and got docked for it (we're also responsible for tallying our own hours for payday). However, if we are required to work 30 minutes into our lunch, we don't get paid for that (or if we're required to attend a staff meeting during our lunch). 4 years ago the DOL came in and did an audit. At that time, they (our employers) told us we were to write down any extra time we had to work (like through lunch or past 5:00), although we wouldn't be getting paid for it. For example, I could come in 5 minutes late, be required to work 30 minutes into my lunch (due to the doctor still being with a patient) and get off 30 minutes late. While I may have worked 8 hours and 55 minutes that day, I would only get paid for 7 hours and 55 minutes. Is that legal? I should also point out that I only worked a 32 hour week, so this would not be an issue of overtime.
Also, we had a monthly bonus system that, all of a sudden in late 2006, they stopped paying it without telling us. When we confronted them, they said they had put it on hold. It took a full year to finally get any answers. They never changed the office policy to reflect that we were not eligible for a bonus, so doesn't that mean that the old bonus system, legally, still applied since the Office Manual was not updated?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!
I recently left the employment of a dentist. I was an hourly paid employee. We were required to keep track of our own hours on a calendar in the office. If we came in 5 minutes late, we wrote that down and got docked for it (we're also responsible for tallying our own hours for payday). However, if we are required to work 30 minutes into our lunch, we don't get paid for that (or if we're required to attend a staff meeting during our lunch). 4 years ago the DOL came in and did an audit. At that time, they (our employers) told us we were to write down any extra time we had to work (like through lunch or past 5:00), although we wouldn't be getting paid for it. For example, I could come in 5 minutes late, be required to work 30 minutes into my lunch (due to the doctor still being with a patient) and get off 30 minutes late. While I may have worked 8 hours and 55 minutes that day, I would only get paid for 7 hours and 55 minutes. Is that legal? I should also point out that I only worked a 32 hour week, so this would not be an issue of overtime.
Also, we had a monthly bonus system that, all of a sudden in late 2006, they stopped paying it without telling us. When we confronted them, they said they had put it on hold. It took a full year to finally get any answers. They never changed the office policy to reflect that we were not eligible for a bonus, so doesn't that mean that the old bonus system, legally, still applied since the Office Manual was not updated?
Thanks for any advice you can offer!